Donald Trump has been accused of a lot of things — so what makes this whole Ukraine scandal special?
It’s kind of a tricky thing to understand, so let’s take a look…
Related: Trump Mocks 16-Year-Old Greta Thunberg
(This post contains legal opinions of a celebrity news blogger who has never seen a single episode of Suits. Caveat lector!)
CLOSE YOUR EYES
We want you to imagine something:
You get a new job, and it comes with a sweet signing bonus. But the day the check is supposed to come, it doesn’t. Nor the next day. You call the company and ask about it, they say it was put on hold by the boss, they don’t know why.
While you’re waiting to hear back, with the landlord breathing down your neck, you get a phone call from the new boss himself to congratulate you on getting the job. He reminds you how big the signing bonus is, how much he knows that money is going to help out.
Then he says he wants to make sure the company is getting its money’s worth. He asks you to do him a favor once you’re working there. He asks you to file a harassment complaint against your supervisor.
He tells you this will prove you’re a team player, the kind of employee he can count on.
HERE’S THE QUESTION:
Did he just withhold your money in exchange for this illicit favor?
He didn’t explicitly say the words, “I am holding up the money unless you agree to this favor.” But he is holding it. And he did ask for the favor. Was that the message you got??
OK, keep that in mind as we break down this Ukraine business…
THE BASICS
Earlier this year Congress authorized $250 million in aid money to the Ukraine to help them fend off attacks by Russia. Out of nowhere Trump held it up with no explanation.
If you’re the Ukrainian president, you’re crapping your pants waiting for that money! Russia’s attacks are no joke!
Then Trump calls the new president, a guy named Volodymyr Zelensky. He asks him to reopen an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. It’s a long story, but Hunter has been cleared and near as anyone can tell, neither did anything wrong. But an open investigation sure makes the Bidens look bad!
Oh hey, isn’t Joe Biden running for president against Donald Trump? Huh. Funny coincidence.
This whole thing came to light after a member of our own intelligence community decided to become a whistleblower, apparently based on what Trump said in this phone call, though we don’t yet know for sure.
That of course is because the White House, the Attorney General, and the new Acting Director of National Intelligence are blocking the whistleblower’s complaint from getting to Congress.
Of note: Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats resigned three days after the call. He reportedly busted into a meeting and told his deputy to resign, too. We can’t know for sure, but it def looks like they knew this was all WAY too sketchy and didn’t want to have anything to do with it.
https://giphy.com/gifs/people-jane-my-need-me-VaEIpoB2tqu2c
Yep. If this is true, it means Trump used his power as the President of the United States to threaten the well-being of another country for his personal gain — which was getting a foreign government to reopen an investigation against his main political opponent.
THE PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT
Oh, did we say if this is true??
After changing his approach on the scandal from denial to spin to a different spin, Trump actually released a transcript of the call PROVING he did exactly what reports have been saying!
First off, the “transcript” is not a transcript. It’s a memo breaking down the basics of the call, released by the White House. So there may be things missing. But what’s here is PLENTY. We’re talking Lori Loughlin levels of evidence.
It starts with Trump congratulating Zelensky on his election victory, followed by the new Ukrainian President buttering up the leader of the free world.
But it doesn’t take long for it to get verrry close to a quid pro quo.
“I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. …the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.”
The US is helping you.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.”
He says it’s not reciprocal. Meaning he thinks the US is owed more from the Ukraine.
https://giphy.com/gifs/reactiongifs-P2LBXomM0KbUQ
Zelensky changes the subject to obliquely refer to the money, saying his country is “almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.” You know, with that sweet quarter mil.
But the very next thing Trump says in response is:
“I would like you to do us a favor.”
What things are happening that are “not good”?
Trump specifically mentions two things. First, he says:
“I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it.”
WTF is Crowdstrike? It’s the security company the DNC hired to see who hacked their server. Crowdstrike determined it was Russia.
BTW, our own intelligence agencies have also determined it was Russia. Basically every intelligence agency on the planet says it was Russia.
But there’s a pro-Russia conspiracy theory that says everyone else is lying, and it was really the Ukraine — one of our allies against Russia. Is Trump trying to clear his buddy Putin‘s name??
Second, he specifically mentions the Bidens:
“The other thing, There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me.”
OK, then Zelensky 100% agrees to everything, saying Rudy Giuliani had in fact already tried to reach out.
Trump then goes right from Zelensky agreeing to saying:
“I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it out. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fair prosecutor so good luck with everything. Your economy is going to get better and better I predict.“
“Oh, that money you’re waiting on? I predict your economy will get better very soon.”
Hint. Hint.
No, Trump never specifically says YOU WILL GET YOUR MILLIONS ONCE YOU OPEN THESE INVESTIGATIONS FOR ME, but holy crap he sure comes close!
And don’t forget, the money is being withheld this entire time! Remember our hypothetical. Your boss doesn’t stop being the guy in charge of your money just because he doesn’t specifically mention it. That’s the context in which this call is taking place.
Holding back money Congress has set aside for another country. Asking that country’s government to investigate a political opponent, which indisputably will help Trump in the election. (Hell, it’s already helping — Biden is being connected with some vague Ukrainian corruption scandal in people’s minds, provided they have jobs and personal lives and don’t have the time to look into it any further.)
This is a TOTAL abuse of power! This is authoritarian strong-arm stuff.
BTW, Trump has now shifted to the defense of saying he didn’t “threaten” anyone. Nice.
IMPEACHMENT?
Look, we realize Trump has been beset with scandal since the beginning of his campaign for president, when he put his fear-mongering populism on full display by saying Mexicans coming over our border are “rapists.”
He covered up an extramarital affair with a porn star by paying her hush money right before the election (his personal lawyer is currently serving prison time after pleading guilty to the charges; legally Trump remains an unindicted co-conspirator in the crime).
The biggest investigation found Trump got help from Russia in the 2016 election and covered it up. In his massive report, special counsel Robert Mueller said there was insufficient evidence Trump committed conspiracy to take it to trial, but did say the campaign was made well aware of Russia’s election interference and were “responsive” to it.
On the question of obstruction of justice, Mueller laid out a rock solid case of all the times Trump committed it. However, he didn’t charge the president with a crime, saying explicitly in the report that doing so was Congress’ job:
“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.”
Yeah. The Mueller Report did not clear him. Just the opposite.
(If you thought it did, Trump’s ALL CAPS DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN is working.)
So the question is, WHY NOW??
What’s going on with this latest scandal that makes it so big Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who previously opposed impeachment are now fully in favor of it?
What makes the Ukraine scandal so different is three things:
- This isn’t Trump finding out another country is illegally trying to get him elected and letting it happen. Trump went to them. He is the aggressor here.
- Trump and his dolt sons can’t claim ignorance this time. They can’t say they didn’t understand what they were doing was a crime as they JUST got through an entire investigation about it.
- This time Trump isn’t a candidate. He’s the president. And he’s using the powers of the Office of the US Presidency here.
So will things be different this time? Will this scandal end up any different?
We don’t know about you, but we’ll be watching closely!
[Image via Wheatley/WENN.]
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