{"id":37842,"date":"2019-10-04T10:19:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T17:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=37842"},"modified":"2019-10-04T10:19:41","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T17:19:41","slug":"ukraine-probe-sizzles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2019\/10\/04\/ukraine-probe-sizzles\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine Probe Sizzles"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a huge day into the investigation of Resident Donald Trump and the Republican Reich over their attempt to coerce a foreign leader to fabricate evidence to assist Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and to hide Russia’s role in the Republican election theft of 2016.  The proof of that attempt has become so damning in the last 24 hours, that Trump is now asking for multiple countries to investigate Joe Biden in public!  The idea is to bluff that it must be OK if he does it blatantly.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"1004taylor-sondland-volker\"<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday night, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives released a set of <\/font><\/font><\/span>text messages<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/font> they have received in their investigation of the State Department and its involvement in the Ukraine scandal\u2026<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026Here are 7 key details from the texts:<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Ukraine feared it would be used as an \u201cinstrument\u201d in American \u201cdomestic, reelection politics.\u201d<\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Top U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor comes out the cleanest from the texts of the State employees, showing the most consistent concern for the wellbeing of Ukraine. In one exchange, he wrote on July 21 to United States Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland \u2014 a top donor to Trump \u2014 that Ukrainian \u201cPresident Zelenskyy is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington domestic, reelection politics.\u201d\u2026<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Sondland replies \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d but quickly pivots back to getting a conversation started between Trump and Zelensky. This shows that even before Trump\u2019s infamous July 25 call with Ukraine, the country\u2019s government feared it would be used for the president\u2019s reelection campaign. This is exactly what Democrats accuse Trump of doing when he told Zelensky to open an investigation into Joe Biden, a potential 2020 opponent. It\u2019s the whole reason the House\u2019s impeachment inquiry has been reinvigorated.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

But it gets worse.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 <\/font><\/span>2. <\/span><\/font>An explicit quid pro quo<\/font><\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

Former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker \u2014 who recently resigned after his involvement in the scandal was revealed \u2014 sends one of the most jaw-dropping single messages in the bunch. He lays out an explicit quid pro quo in a text to Ukrainian official Andrey Yermak on July 25, the same day as Trump\u2019s call:<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Kurt Volker: Good lunch \u2013 thanks.  Heard from the White House\u2014assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate \/ \u201cget to the bottom of what happened\u201d in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington.  Good luck! See you tomorrow- kurt<\/em><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a bombshell. It shows the White House set up a clear offer of an official U.S. government action \u2014 a visit to the White House \u2014 in exchange for Ukraine\u2019s delivering investigations of the president\u2019s political rivals. (In addition to the investigation of Biden and his son Hunter\u2019s company Burisma, Trump has asked Zelensky to investigate conspiracy theories about the 2016 election and collusion between Ukraine and Hillary Clinton\u2026<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Alternet<\/a>><\/font><\/p>\n

I shared two of seven. Click through for the other five.  I recommend it in the strongest possible terms.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Here is a complete transcript of the Ukraine texts<\/a>.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Lawrence O’Donnell<\/a> did an amazing job covering this last night, and he devoted three segments of his show to it.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Lawrence: The Smoking Guns Keep Coming On President Donald Trump And Ukraine<\/a> <\/p>\n