As unimaginable as this is........it's getting worse. Part II

William Taylor testifies about deep-seated push for Ukraine quid pro quo

"President Donald Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine told House impeachment investigators on Tuesday of intense efforts by administration officials to secure politically-motivated investigations of Trump’s rivals in exchange for a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president and critical military aid, according to sources in the room for the testimony."
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/22/william-taylor-ukraine-testimony-trump-054259

U.S. envoy says he was told release of Ukraine aid was contingent on public declaration to investigate Bidens, 2016 election
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...6fb850-f436-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html

"The senior U.S. diplomat in Ukraine said Tuesday he was told release of military aid was contingent on public declarations from Ukraine that it would investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, contradicting President Trump’s denial that he used the money as leverage for political gain.

Acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr. testified behind closed doors in the House impeachment probe of Trump that he stands by his characterization that it was “crazy” to make the assistance contingent on investigations he found troubling."
............................................................................................................................
Witness after witness, despite Don's attempt to silence them, have come forward to testify the POTUS put personal politics above national interests (a classic example of an abuse of power) in an effort to use the withholding of military aid and an Oval Office meeting to get Zelensky to agree to produce damaging material on the Bidens to be used in the next election.

Now that President Flip Flop has been forced to move the G-7 to another location, meaning an article of impeachment will not be written for that crime, the focus once again fails on Ukraine. Suffice to say things are not looking up for the Orange Turd.

 

BTW, for all you unhinged Adam Schiff haters, no Repub who is a member of the committees conducting these depositions was prevented from attending or asking questions. So much for the lunacy swirling around the right wing echo chamber that the inquiry is being held in secret.

 

READ: Taylor’s Damning Testimony On Ukraine Pressure Campaign
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/read-amb-taylors-opening-statement-on

 

Trump supporters have given up disputing the overwhelming parade of facts raining down on the Ukraine situation. Their objections have shifted to process. This will be a tough battle because everything being done is strictly Constitutional and by the book. Dems have been careful about that. So, let the rain continue.

 

I can't wait to hear how the right will try to spin this. I know they'll spin it. I'm just wondering how. It should be a lesson on Goebels propaganda tactics at the highest level.

The 20% chance that Trump will be removed to the Senate now has to be at least 40%. And I'm being prudent. I just don't know how any Republican in Congress could defend Trump now?

Probably Trump's worst day to date.... But I'm sure there is much more to come.

 

opion8d and Golem,

Definitely the worst day yet. The level of detail offered by Taylor annihilates the "no QPQ" argument. But, yes, they will find a way to spin it if only to outright deny the facts...........which they do every day about everything all the time.

 

Don't overlook the disaster in Syria and Trump's willingness to cooperate with Putin.

With the exception of Trump's followers who support his cooperation with Vladimir Putin, Trump has accomplished the impossible. He has made Americans feel ashamed of being an American.

He betrayed an ally. He has proven, that under his stewardship, America cannot be trusted. He has ceded power broker status in the Middle East to Russia.

"Russia Assumes Mantle of Supreme Power Broker in the Middle East," proclaimed Britain's Telegraph. "Russia's status as the undisputed power-broker in the Middle East was cemented as Vladimir Putin continued a triumphant tour of capitals traditionally allied to the US."

"Donald Trump Has Handed Putin the Middle East on a Plate," according to the Telegraph. "Putin Seizes on Trump's Syria Retreat to Cement Middle East Role," said the Financial Times.

The conservative leaning Washington Examiner writes, "The awful and obviously predictable outcome of President Trump’s surrender in Syria has now come to pass.

"Turkey and Russia have announced an agreement to remove Kurdish fighters from northern Syria, a horrible development for the forces of freedom and Middle Eastern stability. This agreement supersedes the Kurds' earlier attempt at an agreement with Russia and the government of Bashar Assad. Now, Turkey will move against YPG Kurdish units in northern Syria from one side, while Russia and its Syrian government clients will move in from the other. Crucially, all Kurdish fighting “elements and their weapons” will “be removed from Manbij and Tal Rifat.”

"Those towns, especially the large town of Manbij, are strategic linchpins. Without them, the Kurds can be essentially starved out. There could be an immense humanitarian crisis."

If Russia ends up effectively dominating Turkey, the damage it can do in the eastern Mediterranean region is immense.

The conservative Examiner concludes, There is not a single strategic or tactical gain for U.S. interests that has been gained from Trump’s order of withdrawal. In fact, more U.S. troops will be in the Middle East than before, but nations traditionally hostile to the U.S. are now ascendant.

This is disastrous, pure and simple.

 

No wonder Trump was trying to block the testimony of all these witnesses who are decimating his no QPQ defense.

 

Trump and the few Republicans who try to defend him in the impeachment inquiry completely avoid the evidence against Trump and falsely characterize the process of the House impeachment inquiry. Let's begin with Trump himself.

“So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Twitter. “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here — a lynching. But we will WIN!” Trump tweeted.

This is quite representative of Trump's tweets and statements regarding impeachment. He never addresses the evidence against him which has been provided by the White House as well as current and former White House advisors. He never has explained what he means by the absence of due process. For that mater, neither have Republicans who use the same reasoning.

Is Trump willing to come forward in the hearings to face his accusers? Of course not, so what are Trump and his Republican defenders talking about? They never say.

Republicans defending Trump will not deal with the evidence against Trump. All condemned him for his language. “Given the history of our country, I would not compare this to a lynching,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Tuesday. “That was an unfortunate choice of words.”

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the lone African-American GOP senator had this say after criticizing Trump for his language, “This is the political version of a death row trial. The president is up in arms in anger about it. He’s putting his political life on trial. His comments reflect it.” No mention of the evidence.

“This is a lynching in every sense. This is un-American,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters at the Capitol, calling the impeachment process “a sham” and a “joke.”

“It’s not just racial, my friend. I’m from South Carolina. I understand it very well. Here’s what you don’t get. Mob rule is what lynching is all about. You grab somebody because you don’t like them,” Graham said. “This is what happened to Kavanaugh: You’re guilty unless you can prove yourself innocent.”

Graham has defended Trump many times. Not once has he dealt with the evidence.

"The connotation the president is carrying forward is a political mob seeking an outcome regardless of facts. And that I think is an objectively true description of what is happening in the House right now," so says Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who completely avoided the facts.

In my research for this report, I could not find many Republicans who were willing to defend Trump. The evidence against him is substantial and getting more so each and every day. In response, Republicans have only meaningless rhetoric.

 

The best evidence is provided by Trump's acting chief of staff. Mulvaney, who may be fired soon, is still trying to live that one down.

 

Word on the street is that John Ratcliffe squashed Bill Taylors' QPQ opinion.

Oh well, on to the next gullible sap witness.

 

From article: "...described by sources in the room for the closed-door testimony."

Closed door. That means we, the American people, are not getting the real story because that's exactly now the Democrats want it. They want to control the narrative by controlling what is leaked.

Are you OK with that?

 

Word is also out on the street that Ukraine didn't know the aid was held up; which can be for MANY reasons.

 

And President Zelensky publicly stated that he never felt pressured during the call.

 

Oh boy, sounds like the end....this time...ZZZzzz

 

Taylor said Sondland recommended specific language for Zelensky to use when speaking to Trump about the investigations.
“Ambassador Sondland told me that he had recommended to President Zelensky that he use the phrase, ‘I will leave no stone unturned’ with regard to ‘investigations’ when President Zelensky spoke with President Trump,” Taylor said.

 

OH! Well impeach him then! Oh wait..

 

O.K.

 

You are not going to be happy; again!

 

It took them a while to work there way up to the aid.

 

There will be an Impeachment and the hearing in the Senate is not looking for for Trump

 

And now for the real story...
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ukrainian-official-appears-to-cast-doubt-on-quid-pro-quo-claim

 

Of course he's going to say that. Get real.

 

Let thr Russians waste money and lives on that lost cause of a region. I myself am not a war hawk neocon, I support withdrawal.

 

So, now you have to prove that he didn't mean it.

*crickets*