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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
November 17, 2019
"You're goddamned right we're mad."
Heywood Jablome
4 mins ·
'You're just mad because he won the 2016 election!' - conservative 'one size fits all' rebuttal to every criticism levied against Trump.
You're goddamned right we're mad. During the 2016 election, everyone on planet earth except Trump's cult was already becoming aware of Russian election meddling. Then we witnessed Trump publicly welcome that interference. And then we all watched Michael Flynn, followed by a host of other Trump contemporaries getting indicted for failing to file as foreign agents and then lying about it with stains from Trump's spray tan still lingering on the inaugural podium.
Then we learn that Obama's plan to formally announce Russia's election interference, which was corroborated by several intelligence agencies amongst ourselves and our closest allies, was stifled by Mitch McConnell, who threatened to attack those allegations relentlessly as a politically motivated hoax. A display of Trumpian loyalty that got McConnell's wife a cabinet position heading the Dept. of Transportation.
And then we all watched conservative Christians who spent years whining about where Bill Clinton stuck his dick suddenly go deaf and dumb when Trump paid off a porn actress and a nude model while lying about it to TV reporters.
Trump has been a slow motion train wreck ever since being sworn into office. Tax breaks for private planes and golf courses, refusal to release his taxes after promising to do so if elected. Dangling pardons whenever his corrupt collaborators stared down the barrel of our legal system as well as our constitution. Openly calling for foreign interference to safeguard his personal greed while desperately fueling Putin's wet dreams by burning every conceivable bridge between our nation and it's most loyal allies.
Winning the election wasn't what angered us the most. The flashpoint was Trump's unbridled enthusiasm to meet and then exceed our most cynical predictions regarding the damage he would do if given the opportunity. And he started doing that during the primaries before the election was held.
So go ahead and wave your one-size-fits-all rebuttal within the safe confines of your cult. The pendulum is beginning to swing back. And the first thing that's going to be severed is the myth that republicans know what to do with power when it's given to them. The second thing that's going to be severed is the myth that they have any inclination or ability to figure that out for themselves while learning on the job. Perhaps they'll figure it out once it's been permanently stamped on the termination notices currently being written by their employers.
And seriously, at this point does it really matter when those notices started being written?
You're goddamned right we're mad. During the 2016 election, everyone on planet earth except Trump's cult was already becoming aware of Russian election meddling. Then we witnessed Trump publicly welcome that interference. And then we all watched Michael Flynn, followed by a host of other Trump contemporaries getting indicted for failing to file as foreign agents and then lying about it with stains from Trump's spray tan still lingering on the inaugural podium.
Then we learn that Obama's plan to formally announce Russia's election interference, which was corroborated by several intelligence agencies amongst ourselves and our closest allies, was stifled by Mitch McConnell, who threatened to attack those allegations relentlessly as a politically motivated hoax. A display of Trumpian loyalty that got McConnell's wife a cabinet position heading the Dept. of Transportation.
And then we all watched conservative Christians who spent years whining about where Bill Clinton stuck his dick suddenly go deaf and dumb when Trump paid off a porn actress and a nude model while lying about it to TV reporters.
Trump has been a slow motion train wreck ever since being sworn into office. Tax breaks for private planes and golf courses, refusal to release his taxes after promising to do so if elected. Dangling pardons whenever his corrupt collaborators stared down the barrel of our legal system as well as our constitution. Openly calling for foreign interference to safeguard his personal greed while desperately fueling Putin's wet dreams by burning every conceivable bridge between our nation and it's most loyal allies.
Winning the election wasn't what angered us the most. The flashpoint was Trump's unbridled enthusiasm to meet and then exceed our most cynical predictions regarding the damage he would do if given the opportunity. And he started doing that during the primaries before the election was held.
So go ahead and wave your one-size-fits-all rebuttal within the safe confines of your cult. The pendulum is beginning to swing back. And the first thing that's going to be severed is the myth that republicans know what to do with power when it's given to them. The second thing that's going to be severed is the myth that they have any inclination or ability to figure that out for themselves while learning on the job. Perhaps they'll figure it out once it's been permanently stamped on the termination notices currently being written by their employers.
And seriously, at this point does it really matter when those notices started being written?
November 17, 2019
11/16/19 1:03pm
Malcolm Nance Connects Alt-Right, GOP, White Nationalism, And Russia
Joy Reid and Malcolm Nance pinpoint the hold Russia has over the Republican party.
By Aliza Worthington
VIDEO AT LINK~
When you're right, you're right, and Malcolm Nance was right a loooong time ago. He joined Joy Reid, who played a clip from three long years ago of Nance saying the following:
Nance's last book was about Trump alone, but his new book focuses on TEAM Trump, and how they've embraced the enemy Russia and endangered our country and its very foundations. It's not just Donald Trump that Russia has bought and received lock stock and barrel — they've got the entire Republican party in the palm of their hands now. Joy said as much earlier in the same show in an exchange with Evelyn Farkas:
So, while sitting down with Nance, Reid mentioned that Trump himself had been of interest to Russia since the 1970s, but now it's the entire Republican party that's all in with Russia. Nance ran with it as only he can, saying, "Team Trump is a wide-ranging organization of dirty tricksters, cons, and frauds. And you know what's funny? One of them just got convicted yesterday." Roger Stone, of course.
Nance answers this point by getting to the core of what it was about Russia's core operating values that makes it so appealing to Republicans. It's so simple, one wonders why it took so long for the GOP to cross over to the Putin and Russian-loving party they've become.
White supremacy. Of course. That, and money.
Greed and racism. Money and white supremacy. What more does the GOP need to switch teams? And how long will it take for people in THIS country to realize the GOP isn't coming back from that?
Malcolm Nance Connects Alt-Right, GOP, White Nationalism, And Russia
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/11/malcolm-nance-connects-alt-right-gop-white11/16/19 1:03pm
Malcolm Nance Connects Alt-Right, GOP, White Nationalism, And Russia
Joy Reid and Malcolm Nance pinpoint the hold Russia has over the Republican party.
By Aliza Worthington
VIDEO AT LINK~
When you're right, you're right, and Malcolm Nance was right a loooong time ago. He joined Joy Reid, who played a clip from three long years ago of Nance saying the following:
NANCE: I think we are in a situation of a national security crisis that is only going to get bigger. I think the Russians are running a strategic political warfare operation against the United States. I think Katy Tur hit it right on the head -- do you have any pause about what you're doing? He had no pause whatsoever.
Nance's last book was about Trump alone, but his new book focuses on TEAM Trump, and how they've embraced the enemy Russia and endangered our country and its very foundations. It's not just Donald Trump that Russia has bought and received lock stock and barrel — they've got the entire Republican party in the palm of their hands now. Joy said as much earlier in the same show in an exchange with Evelyn Farkas:
REID: The thing that I'm not sure that Russia anticipated they would get for their money, and not even a lot of money that they spent to interfere in our election, is they got an American political party that used to be the most hard[-core anti-Russia, anti-then-Soviet party. They got the Republican party because we now see the Republican party also adopting the pro-Russian line.
FARKAS: Well, yeah, Joy, this is the most distressing development that I've taken note of, certainly with regard to the hearings this week. You have Republican members of the Intelligence Committee, of all committees, actually giving credence to these ridiculous falsehoods about Ukraine's involvement, so we need the Intelligence Community to have an Intelligence Committee that stands up for the truth, and unfortunately now the Republicans are getting dragged into a situation where they're on the side of the Kremlin.
REID: Yeah. And where oligarchs can pump money into states like Kentucky, you know, money into the NRA. They got themselves a political party along with the bargain.
FARKAS: Well, yeah, Joy, this is the most distressing development that I've taken note of, certainly with regard to the hearings this week. You have Republican members of the Intelligence Committee, of all committees, actually giving credence to these ridiculous falsehoods about Ukraine's involvement, so we need the Intelligence Community to have an Intelligence Committee that stands up for the truth, and unfortunately now the Republicans are getting dragged into a situation where they're on the side of the Kremlin.
REID: Yeah. And where oligarchs can pump money into states like Kentucky, you know, money into the NRA. They got themselves a political party along with the bargain.
So, while sitting down with Nance, Reid mentioned that Trump himself had been of interest to Russia since the 1970s, but now it's the entire Republican party that's all in with Russia. Nance ran with it as only he can, saying, "Team Trump is a wide-ranging organization of dirty tricksters, cons, and frauds. And you know what's funny? One of them just got convicted yesterday." Roger Stone, of course.
NANCE: The chips for these guys are falling everywhere. But the danger here is they have really compromised U.S. national security. We are in grave danger in some instances, the whole intercepted phone call thing, you know, from Ukraine is a good example of that. But working with Saudi Arabia, Michael Flynn to get them Russian nuclear reactors, which the Trump administration has already gone ahead and approved, working with Turkey to extradite U.S. citizens and then allowing them to buy Russian weapons systems, so long as Trump Tower Istanbul stays in. I mean, the whole thing is a disaster and it will damage us for decades to come.
REID: You write in the book about the Republicans. "By the time Trump had sworn the oath of office in January of 2017 and gave his inaugural carnage speech, his followers had come to believe that their loyalty to his love of Russia was purely patriotic, and their devotion to him superseded any loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. Such a transformation from a rabidly anti-Russian party to docile admirers in less than four years was Putin's dream come true." I mean, even the Javelins that they bragged Trump gave to Ukraine, the condition on them was that they couldn't use them against Russia.
REID: You write in the book about the Republicans. "By the time Trump had sworn the oath of office in January of 2017 and gave his inaugural carnage speech, his followers had come to believe that their loyalty to his love of Russia was purely patriotic, and their devotion to him superseded any loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. Such a transformation from a rabidly anti-Russian party to docile admirers in less than four years was Putin's dream come true." I mean, even the Javelins that they bragged Trump gave to Ukraine, the condition on them was that they couldn't use them against Russia.
Nance answers this point by getting to the core of what it was about Russia's core operating values that makes it so appealing to Republicans. It's so simple, one wonders why it took so long for the GOP to cross over to the Putin and Russian-loving party they've become.
NANCE: Right. You like that? What has happened to the Republican party is no less than a complete co-option. You know, I've written about this before in one of my other books. I refer to this as an American Fifth Column now, to where people who were formerly against the Soviet Union -- after the year 2000, when Russia was going through its own counterterrorism paroxysm there after the Beslan massacre, conservatives started admiring Vladimir Putin and the way he would take on Islam. And then over ten years, with some Russian assistance, they were actually co-opting Evangelicals. We saw them actually send agents into the National Rifle Association. The Alt-Right. We found that some of their biggest leaders -- David Duke, Richard Spencer -- had homes in Moscow and were meeting over there with these fascist groups. These groups view Moscow as a natural ally, as a center of white Christianity in their view a war against immigration and Islam. And that's why they all now love Russia.
White supremacy. Of course. That, and money.
NANCE: There is a pot of money out there from the Russian oligarchy that I think was introduced to Donald Trump in 2014. I've said this many times. At the Miss Universe pageant, when he had a secret meeting at the Noble restaurant with the 12 richest oligarchs in Russia. When he came out of that meeting, all he talked about was Trump Tower 2.0 in Moscow's a go, and then from that minute on, he has done nothing but lavish devoted praise to Vladimir Putin, ex-KGB spymaster, which tells me there is a pot of money that is bigger and deeper than the Constitution of the United States and loyalty to our flag.
Greed and racism. Money and white supremacy. What more does the GOP need to switch teams? And how long will it take for people in THIS country to realize the GOP isn't coming back from that?
November 16, 2019
Secret Service Records Contradict Trump’s Claim on Doral G-7
November 15, 2019
CREW received records from the United States Secret Service that, along with emails from Doral city officials, undermine President Trump’s dubious claim that members of the Secret Service wanted the 2020 G-7 Summit to be hosted at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami. The reality appears to be quite different, with the Secret Service instead expressing reluctance, saying “the property does present[] some challenges,” followed by a redaction that implies security concerns. The records also seem to show that Doral was added for consideration at the last minute, saying “y departure, they had already cut two (California and North Carolina) and added Miami on the back end.” Taken together, the records that CREW obtained call into question nearly every aspect of Trump’s justification of his choice.
Trump leaned heavily on a claim that after an exhaustive search, members of the government preferred Doral, saying “When my people came back…They went to places all over the country. And they came back and they said, ‘This [Doral] is where we would like to be.’ Now we had military people doing it. We had Secret Service people doing it.”
On August 27 and 28, CREW requested records about that claim from the city of Doral, the Secret Service, and the State Department on the prospect of hosting the G-7 at Doral. After receiving nothing from State, or the Secret Service, CREW sued for those records on October 18.
The email that was ultimately provided suggests a disjointed process, where Doral was added on as an afterthought. Signed by a member of Dignitary Protective Division’s Special Events team, the email suggests the Secret Service wasn’t able to make it down to Doral until a month after the original itinerary concluded. “Yesterday was the first time we put eyes on this property,” the email, dated July 12, says, apparently referring to Doral.
more...
https://www.citizensforethics.org/secret-service-docs-contradict-trump-doral-g-7/
Secret Service Records Contradict Trump's Claim on Doral G-7
Secret Service Records Contradict Trump’s Claim on Doral G-7
November 15, 2019
CREW received records from the United States Secret Service that, along with emails from Doral city officials, undermine President Trump’s dubious claim that members of the Secret Service wanted the 2020 G-7 Summit to be hosted at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami. The reality appears to be quite different, with the Secret Service instead expressing reluctance, saying “the property does present[] some challenges,” followed by a redaction that implies security concerns. The records also seem to show that Doral was added for consideration at the last minute, saying “y departure, they had already cut two (California and North Carolina) and added Miami on the back end.” Taken together, the records that CREW obtained call into question nearly every aspect of Trump’s justification of his choice.
Trump leaned heavily on a claim that after an exhaustive search, members of the government preferred Doral, saying “When my people came back…They went to places all over the country. And they came back and they said, ‘This [Doral] is where we would like to be.’ Now we had military people doing it. We had Secret Service people doing it.”
On August 27 and 28, CREW requested records about that claim from the city of Doral, the Secret Service, and the State Department on the prospect of hosting the G-7 at Doral. After receiving nothing from State, or the Secret Service, CREW sued for those records on October 18.
The email that was ultimately provided suggests a disjointed process, where Doral was added on as an afterthought. Signed by a member of Dignitary Protective Division’s Special Events team, the email suggests the Secret Service wasn’t able to make it down to Doral until a month after the original itinerary concluded. “Yesterday was the first time we put eyes on this property,” the email, dated July 12, says, apparently referring to Doral.
more...
https://www.citizensforethics.org/secret-service-docs-contradict-trump-doral-g-7/
November 16, 2019
Fox News? More Like Trump’s Impeachment Shield
Nixon lacked the cable network’s advantage, but are its viewers misled?
Nicholas Kristof
Nov. 16, 2019, 2:15 p.m. ET
When President Richard Nixon’s Watergate misconduct was being dissected before congressional committees in 1973 and 1974, Republican support for him collapsed because most Americans shared news sources and inhabited a similar political reality.
In short, facts mattered.
Aides to Nixon did propose to him a plan to create sympathetic television news coverage; Roger Ailes backed the idea; and it eventually evolved into Fox News. And today Fox gives President Trump an important defense system that Nixon never had.
Fox was the most popular television network for watching the first day of impeachment hearings this week, with 2.9 million viewers (57 percent more than CNN had), and Fox viewers encountered a very different hearing than viewers of other channels.
With Rep. Adam Schiff on the screen, Fox News’s graphic declared in all caps: “TRUMP HAS REPEATEDLY IMPLIED THAT SCHIFF HAS COMMITTED TREASON.” At a different moment, the screen warned: “9/26: SCHIFF PUBLICLY EXAGGERATED SUBSTANCE OF TRUMP-ZELENSKY CALL.”
Fox downplayed the news and undermined the witnesses. While Ambassador William Taylor was shown testifying, the Fox News screen graphic declared: “OCT 23: PRESIDENT TRUMP DISMISSED TAYLOR AS A “NEVER TRUMPER.” It also suggested his comments were, “TRIPLE HEARSAY.”
snip//
I wonder if Fox viewers are again being misled when they watch Hannity celebrate the opening of the impeachment hearings as a victory for Trump and as “a lousy day for the corrupt, do-nothing-for-three-years radical extreme socialist Democrats.” That is, shall we say, a quixotic interpretation.
In the meantime, Fox News is aggressively defending Trump, joining in smears of public servants and playing a role in history that embarrasses many of us in journalism.
Nicholas Kristof: Fox News? More Like Trump's Impeachment Shield
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/16/opinion/sunday/fox-news-donald-trump.html?fbclid=IwAR2KQ7koWYIGjzSHXLLGyuKMyiGZ-Ti_1c-xW_55DqRgKxX64_LrkWyyMfcFox News? More Like Trump’s Impeachment Shield
Nixon lacked the cable network’s advantage, but are its viewers misled?
Nicholas Kristof
Nov. 16, 2019, 2:15 p.m. ET
When President Richard Nixon’s Watergate misconduct was being dissected before congressional committees in 1973 and 1974, Republican support for him collapsed because most Americans shared news sources and inhabited a similar political reality.
In short, facts mattered.
Aides to Nixon did propose to him a plan to create sympathetic television news coverage; Roger Ailes backed the idea; and it eventually evolved into Fox News. And today Fox gives President Trump an important defense system that Nixon never had.
Fox was the most popular television network for watching the first day of impeachment hearings this week, with 2.9 million viewers (57 percent more than CNN had), and Fox viewers encountered a very different hearing than viewers of other channels.
With Rep. Adam Schiff on the screen, Fox News’s graphic declared in all caps: “TRUMP HAS REPEATEDLY IMPLIED THAT SCHIFF HAS COMMITTED TREASON.” At a different moment, the screen warned: “9/26: SCHIFF PUBLICLY EXAGGERATED SUBSTANCE OF TRUMP-ZELENSKY CALL.”
Fox downplayed the news and undermined the witnesses. While Ambassador William Taylor was shown testifying, the Fox News screen graphic declared: “OCT 23: PRESIDENT TRUMP DISMISSED TAYLOR AS A “NEVER TRUMPER.” It also suggested his comments were, “TRIPLE HEARSAY.”
snip//
I wonder if Fox viewers are again being misled when they watch Hannity celebrate the opening of the impeachment hearings as a victory for Trump and as “a lousy day for the corrupt, do-nothing-for-three-years radical extreme socialist Democrats.” That is, shall we say, a quixotic interpretation.
In the meantime, Fox News is aggressively defending Trump, joining in smears of public servants and playing a role in history that embarrasses many of us in journalism.
November 16, 2019
In Trump's Jaded Capital, Marie Yovanovitch's Uncynical Outrage
Letter from Trump’s Washington
In Trump’s Jaded Capital, Marie Yovanovitch’s Uncynical Outrage
A fired Ambassador demonstrates that it is apparently still possible to be shocked by the President.
By Susan B. Glasser
November 15, 2019
For a few hours on Friday, an unassuming career diplomat named Marie (Masha) Yovanovitch did something that I thought had become impossible in Donald Trump’s Washington: she managed to hold on to her amazement and outrage at the President’s amazing and outrageous actions. In this hyper-partisan, hyper-political time, she was neither. Nearly three years into this Presidency, that is no given. A state of weary cynicism has taken hold regarding Trump, among his supporters and also his critics. He is what he is. What can we do about it? Even impeachment has quickly come to be seen through this lens. Members of Congress are all too likely to vote the party line. Does any of it matter?
In hours of spellbinding testimony, on the second day of the House’s public impeachment hearings, Yovanovitch offered a decisive rebuttal to that way of thinking. She said that she had been surprised and appalled when Trump succumbed to a foreign disinformation campaign and fired her as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine based on false allegations trafficked by Rudy Giuliani, his private lawyer. She had taken on corrupt interests inside Ukraine, and those parties had, in turn, targeted her—and, unbelievably, it had worked. The President, the most powerful man in the world, had gone along with it. “It was terrible,” she said. Yovanovitch said that she was shocked when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo failed to issue a statement in her defense, although she had spent thirty-three years in the Foreign Service. She said that she was intimidated and incredulous when the President attacked her in a phone call with a foreign leader. She said that she felt threatened. These are simple truths, which is why they were so powerful. So was the question she posed to the members of the House Intelligence Committee arrayed on the dais in front of her: “How could our system fail like this?” That, of course, is a question for which Americans as yet have no real answer.
As with most truly memorable public moments, there was something raw and unexpected about Yovanovitch’s appearance on Friday; it cut through the rote posturing and partisanship to get at an essential fact. Yovanovitch reminded us that all of this is, in fact, amazing and shocking and outrageous. It is not normal. Trump is not on the brink of impeachment because of some arcane dispute over differing philosophies about anti-corruption policies in Ukraine. Yovanovitch, who spent her career fighting corruption in the former Soviet Union, was dumped because the President had allied himself with Ukrainians who wanted to stop America’s anti-corruption efforts. He personally ordered her fired. He spoke threateningly of her during a phone call with Ukraine’s new President and did it again, on Twitter, while she was testifying on Capitol Hill. No previous President—of either party—has ever acted in this way.
That is why Yovanovitch’s appearance was ultimately about what the hell the country is supposed to do with a President who is so manifestly unpresidential. Friday offered a chance to reflect on Trump’s conduct, to consider the extent of his boorishness, his poor judgment, his ignorance, his recklessness, and his callous disregard for anything other than his own personal interests. There will be many days and weeks to come in which to hash out what, if anything, in all this saga involving Ukraine, should be considered impeachable by Congress. But that is not the real import of Friday’s hearing, which was a rare opportunity for America to stop and take stock of Trump and what he has wrought. This was a day to contemplate the excesses of Donald John Trump.
more...
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/in-trumps-jaded-capital-marie-yovanovitchs-uncynical-outrage?fbclid=IwAR2XpnFhE7cYAk8jBitMZUd9wKWCwNE2caKjthvHjgH6EZDIgXJfnRYAdMU
November 16, 2019
Watching Impeachment Unfold In Real Time
November 16, 2019 at 8:35 am EST By Taegan Goddard
Watching Impeachment Unfold In Real Time
https://politicalwire.com/2019/11/16/watching-impeachment-unfold-in-real-time/Watching Impeachment Unfold In Real Time
November 16, 2019 at 8:35 am EST By Taegan Goddard
Timothy Naftali: “Even those of us with two impeachments under our belts have never seen anything quite like this one. Besides the modern procedural innovation that this time the House Judiciary Committee is not in charge of all aspects of the inquiry, this is also the first impeachment investigation that a citizen (let alone a member of Congress) can watch unfold in real time. In the Clinton era, the public practically learned the whole case for the prosecution at once, when the House dumped Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s salacious report, unedited, on the web.”
“In the Nixon era, the televised Senate Watergate Hearings and the very public struggle that ensued between the White House and the Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox introduced the public to a lot of the data points of presidential misconduct and issues of possible criminality but neither the Senate nor the special prosecutor initially had impeachment as their goal. It was the Saturday Night Massacre a few months later that led to impeachment. The House Judiciary Committee that ultimately impeached Nixon did most of its work in closed sessions, only publicly revealing the additional important tapes and documents it had collected once the members had largely made up their minds and their televised debate had started.”
“But what we saw this week was much more than just a dramatic retelling before the cameras of testimony already released in transcript form by the three House Committees assigned responsibility for the inquiry. Witnesses Ambassador Bill Taylor, George Kent and Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, especially Taylor, had important new information to share in real time.”
“In the Nixon era, the televised Senate Watergate Hearings and the very public struggle that ensued between the White House and the Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox introduced the public to a lot of the data points of presidential misconduct and issues of possible criminality but neither the Senate nor the special prosecutor initially had impeachment as their goal. It was the Saturday Night Massacre a few months later that led to impeachment. The House Judiciary Committee that ultimately impeached Nixon did most of its work in closed sessions, only publicly revealing the additional important tapes and documents it had collected once the members had largely made up their minds and their televised debate had started.”
“But what we saw this week was much more than just a dramatic retelling before the cameras of testimony already released in transcript form by the three House Committees assigned responsibility for the inquiry. Witnesses Ambassador Bill Taylor, George Kent and Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, especially Taylor, had important new information to share in real time.”
November 16, 2019
Trump’s Contemptible Attack on Marie Yovanovitch
November 15, 2019|
11:27 am
Daniel Larison
Marie Yovanovitch is testifying this morning about being recalled from her post as ambassador to Ukraine and the subsequent revelation of the president’s hostility towards her in the White House’s summary of the July 25 Zelensky call. While she was testifying, Trump started attacking her on Twitter:
The president’s public and personal attack on a member of the Foreign Service is contemptible and unprecedented. Going after a career diplomat like this reflects not only the president’s usual disdain for our diplomats, but it shows his willingness to target and threaten public servants in the pursuit of his own personal interest. He abused his power by removing Yovanovitch, and he removed her because she was an obstacle to the shadow foreign policy that was being used to advance the president’s personal interests.
The content of the attack is predictably nonsensical. U.S. diplomats are not responsible for the conditions in the country where they serve, and in any case the most difficult assignments are typically given to the best Foreign Service Officers. The fact that Yovanovitch was given hard assignments is a testament to her qualifications. Zelensky was going along with whatever Trump said because he wanted to stay on Trump’s good side. When Trump declared that Yovanovitch was “bad news,” Zelensky hastened to agree with him because he didn’t want to make him angry. Trump does have the right to recall an ambassador, but the reason why he recalled this one underscores that his motives were bad, self-serving ones.
Now he is publicly attacking a witness in the impeachment inquiry, which almost certainly exposes him to new charges of illegal conduct. When someone as powerful as the president publicly goes after a witness, it is bound to have an intimidating effect on her and other witnesses. Trump has responded to an investigation into his abuse of power by committing more abuses that make impeachment that much more likely and necessary.
The American Conservative: Trump's Contemptible Attack on Marie Yovanovitch
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trumps-contemptible-attack-on-marie-yovanovitch/?fbclid=IwAR21EJawvB5KiyLdfb3cs_9ZkoapT7i4B-97hLZfjcunHpmDXWMCEVLg9RwTrump’s Contemptible Attack on Marie Yovanovitch
November 15, 2019|
11:27 am
Daniel Larison
Marie Yovanovitch is testifying this morning about being recalled from her post as ambassador to Ukraine and the subsequent revelation of the president’s hostility towards her in the White House’s summary of the July 25 Zelensky call. While she was testifying, Trump started attacking her on Twitter:
Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019
The president’s public and personal attack on a member of the Foreign Service is contemptible and unprecedented. Going after a career diplomat like this reflects not only the president’s usual disdain for our diplomats, but it shows his willingness to target and threaten public servants in the pursuit of his own personal interest. He abused his power by removing Yovanovitch, and he removed her because she was an obstacle to the shadow foreign policy that was being used to advance the president’s personal interests.
The content of the attack is predictably nonsensical. U.S. diplomats are not responsible for the conditions in the country where they serve, and in any case the most difficult assignments are typically given to the best Foreign Service Officers. The fact that Yovanovitch was given hard assignments is a testament to her qualifications. Zelensky was going along with whatever Trump said because he wanted to stay on Trump’s good side. When Trump declared that Yovanovitch was “bad news,” Zelensky hastened to agree with him because he didn’t want to make him angry. Trump does have the right to recall an ambassador, but the reason why he recalled this one underscores that his motives were bad, self-serving ones.
Now he is publicly attacking a witness in the impeachment inquiry, which almost certainly exposes him to new charges of illegal conduct. When someone as powerful as the president publicly goes after a witness, it is bound to have an intimidating effect on her and other witnesses. Trump has responded to an investigation into his abuse of power by committing more abuses that make impeachment that much more likely and necessary.
November 16, 2019
Trump issues pardons in war-crimes cases, despite Pentagon opposition to the move
Dan Lamothe
The Washington Post
Nov 15, 2019
6:54 PM
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump intervened in three military justice cases involving war-crimes accusations Friday, issuing at least two pardons that will prevent the Pentagon from pursuing future charges against the individuals involved, according to one of their lawyers and a U.S. official.
The service members involved were notified by Mr. Trump over the phone, said the U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who faced a murder trial scheduled to begin next year, took the phone call and was informed he would receive a full pardon, said his lawyer, Phillip Stackhouse.
The calls were made at the tail end of a day dominated by impeachment hearings against Mr. Trump, and after days of efforts by some senior Pentagon officials to change his mind, according to three U.S. officials. The officials, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that some commanders have raised concerns that Mr. Trump’s move will undermine the military justice system.
Other U.S. officials and advocates for the service members involved have said that adopting the president’s desires in the military justice system should not be difficult. It typically focuses with commanders overseeing the process, with Mr. Trump serving at the top of that system as commander in chief.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/trump-dismisses-murder-charge-against-green-beret-pardons-army-officer-n1079941?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR24kKSRA0lEVUH6-2QhyJWbzLCEVOMStEsiF-hiQlL4alq6pS70oEq5JdQ
Trump dismisses murder charge against Green Beret, pardons Army officer
Trump issues pardons in war-crimes cases, despite Pentagon opposition to the move
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2019/11/15/Trump-issues-pardons-in-war-crimes-cases-despite-Pentagon-opposition-to-the-move/stories/201911150162Trump issues pardons in war-crimes cases, despite Pentagon opposition to the move
Dan Lamothe
The Washington Post
Nov 15, 2019
6:54 PM
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump intervened in three military justice cases involving war-crimes accusations Friday, issuing at least two pardons that will prevent the Pentagon from pursuing future charges against the individuals involved, according to one of their lawyers and a U.S. official.
The service members involved were notified by Mr. Trump over the phone, said the U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who faced a murder trial scheduled to begin next year, took the phone call and was informed he would receive a full pardon, said his lawyer, Phillip Stackhouse.
The calls were made at the tail end of a day dominated by impeachment hearings against Mr. Trump, and after days of efforts by some senior Pentagon officials to change his mind, according to three U.S. officials. The officials, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that some commanders have raised concerns that Mr. Trump’s move will undermine the military justice system.
Other U.S. officials and advocates for the service members involved have said that adopting the president’s desires in the military justice system should not be difficult. It typically focuses with commanders overseeing the process, with Mr. Trump serving at the top of that system as commander in chief.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/trump-dismisses-murder-charge-against-green-beret-pardons-army-officer-n1079941?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR24kKSRA0lEVUH6-2QhyJWbzLCEVOMStEsiF-hiQlL4alq6pS70oEq5JdQ
Trump dismisses murder charge against Green Beret, pardons Army officer
November 15, 2019
Trump's honesty was on trial in the Roger Stone case. The verdict was harsh.
Analysis: If prosecutors at Roger Stone's trial believed Trump was telling the truth about hacked emails and WikiLeaks, it wasn't evident in the courtroom.
Nov. 15, 2019, 12:43 PM EST
By Ken Dilanian
WASHINGTON — In his final statement to the jury in the trial of political operative Roger Stone, federal prosecutor Michael Marando sought to boil the case down to a simple and stark premise.
Marando didn't mention President Donald Trump in that portion of his closing — he didn't have to. He and his colleagues had already made Trump a central character in the trial that ended with a conviction of the president's longtime associate on seven felonies — a trial that presented new information about the Trump campaign's zeal to capitalize on Russia's election interference in 2016.
Prosecutors argued that Stone, charged with obstructing a Congressional investigation, lied to Congress because the truth was "terrible" for Trump. They presented evidence painting a picture of a candidate who was actively involved in his campaign's effort to benefit from hacked emails obtained by WikiLeaks that were the fruits of a Russian intelligence operation. And they presented phone records and testimony suggesting that Trump didn't tell the truth in written answers to special counsel Robert Mueller, when Trump said he didn't remember ever discussing WikiLeaks with Stone.
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1083296?fbclid=IwAR1CFrk0cZeEEJM1EY9MB6gwce0TdFcHxIq0HPoNlUx3kzNRo4Ke7xqbzuc
Trump's honesty was on trial in the Roger Stone case. The verdict was harsh.
Trump's honesty was on trial in the Roger Stone case. The verdict was harsh.
Analysis: If prosecutors at Roger Stone's trial believed Trump was telling the truth about hacked emails and WikiLeaks, it wasn't evident in the courtroom.
Nov. 15, 2019, 12:43 PM EST
By Ken Dilanian
WASHINGTON — In his final statement to the jury in the trial of political operative Roger Stone, federal prosecutor Michael Marando sought to boil the case down to a simple and stark premise.
"I know we live in a world nowadays with Twitter, tweets, social media, where you can find any political view you want," he said. "However, in our institutions of self-governance — courts of law or committee hearings, where people under oath have to testify — truth still matters."
Marando didn't mention President Donald Trump in that portion of his closing — he didn't have to. He and his colleagues had already made Trump a central character in the trial that ended with a conviction of the president's longtime associate on seven felonies — a trial that presented new information about the Trump campaign's zeal to capitalize on Russia's election interference in 2016.
Prosecutors argued that Stone, charged with obstructing a Congressional investigation, lied to Congress because the truth was "terrible" for Trump. They presented evidence painting a picture of a candidate who was actively involved in his campaign's effort to benefit from hacked emails obtained by WikiLeaks that were the fruits of a Russian intelligence operation. And they presented phone records and testimony suggesting that Trump didn't tell the truth in written answers to special counsel Robert Mueller, when Trump said he didn't remember ever discussing WikiLeaks with Stone.
"Trump was in the conspiratorial loop," said Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and NBC News legal analyst who watched the trial. "He was in the hard collusion loop by virtue of him having phone calls in real time with Roger Stone while these email dumps were in progress."
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1083296?fbclid=IwAR1CFrk0cZeEEJM1EY9MB6gwce0TdFcHxIq0HPoNlUx3kzNRo4Ke7xqbzuc
November 15, 2019
Mike Pompeo Took Over a Crumbling State Department. Marie Yovanovitch’s Testimony Shows How He Made It Worse.
Dan Spinelli
When Mike Pompeo took over as secretary of state last year, he inherited a slimmed-down workforce still reeling from the impact of a 16-month hiring freeze. In his first address to State Department employees, he vowed to restore their “swagger” and rebuild the department’s flagging role in Donald Trump’s administration.
On Friday, roughly 16 months after Pompeo’s first day at State, former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch gave House impeachment investigators a far different portrait of his leadership. Far from “swaggering,” US diplomats had been subjected to smear campaigns, co-signed by Trump, “from individuals with questionable motives.”
If anyone has the authority to speak about smear campaigns, it’s Yovanovitch. A Foreign Service Officer with more than three decades of experience in government, she was abruptly ousted from her post in Kyiv after pushing an anti-corruption effort—in line with stated US policy at the time—that made her a target of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who convinced the president that she was disloyal. The campaign of disinformation is in line with several instances of Trump’s cronies, in cahoots with corrupt foreign oligarchs, pushing discredited attacks against career US officials, especially those with experience during the Obama administration. The smears frequently center around liberal billionaire George Soros, who Giuliani and his allies portray—with all the relevant anti-Semitic innuendo—as a puppet master controlling US diplomats and intelligence operatives.
In her testimony opening remarks, Yovanovitch detailed the impact of that right-wing conspiracy feedback loop on not just her, but the State Department writ large:
It’s a familiar, if dispiriting comment on Trump’s treatment of the State Department—and Pompeo’s complicity in the attacks on career bureaucrats within it. Since his election, Trump has appointed more inexperienced ambassadors than any president since World War II, leading to roughly 40 percent of ambassadors coming from outside the Foreign Service, the corps of highly-trained diplomatic professionals meant to serve apolitically across administrations, a sharp increase from 30 percent under Obama. Among the least qualified of Trump’s handpicked diplomats is as ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. As I wrote this week, while career professionals like Yovanovitch were being pushed aside, Trump tasked personal cronies like Giuliani and Sondland, whose official portfolio does not include Ukraine, to pressure the Eastern European country’s leaders to investigate Trump’s political rivals.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/mike-pompeo-marie-yovanovitchs-testimony-impeachment-donald-trump-state-department/
Pompeo Took Over a Crumbling State Department. Yovanovitch's Testimony Shows How He Made It Worse.
Mike Pompeo Took Over a Crumbling State Department. Marie Yovanovitch’s Testimony Shows How He Made It Worse.
Dan Spinelli
When Mike Pompeo took over as secretary of state last year, he inherited a slimmed-down workforce still reeling from the impact of a 16-month hiring freeze. In his first address to State Department employees, he vowed to restore their “swagger” and rebuild the department’s flagging role in Donald Trump’s administration.
On Friday, roughly 16 months after Pompeo’s first day at State, former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch gave House impeachment investigators a far different portrait of his leadership. Far from “swaggering,” US diplomats had been subjected to smear campaigns, co-signed by Trump, “from individuals with questionable motives.”
If anyone has the authority to speak about smear campaigns, it’s Yovanovitch. A Foreign Service Officer with more than three decades of experience in government, she was abruptly ousted from her post in Kyiv after pushing an anti-corruption effort—in line with stated US policy at the time—that made her a target of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who convinced the president that she was disloyal. The campaign of disinformation is in line with several instances of Trump’s cronies, in cahoots with corrupt foreign oligarchs, pushing discredited attacks against career US officials, especially those with experience during the Obama administration. The smears frequently center around liberal billionaire George Soros, who Giuliani and his allies portray—with all the relevant anti-Semitic innuendo—as a puppet master controlling US diplomats and intelligence operatives.
In her testimony opening remarks, Yovanovitch detailed the impact of that right-wing conspiracy feedback loop on not just her, but the State Department writ large:
The attacks are leading to a crisis in the State Department as the policy process is visibly unravelling, leadership vacancies go unfilled, and senior and midlevel officers ponder an uncertain future and head for the doors. The crisis has moved from the impact on individuals to an impact on the institution. The State Department is being hollowed out from within at a competitive and complex time on the world stage. This is not a time to undercut our diplomats.
It’s a familiar, if dispiriting comment on Trump’s treatment of the State Department—and Pompeo’s complicity in the attacks on career bureaucrats within it. Since his election, Trump has appointed more inexperienced ambassadors than any president since World War II, leading to roughly 40 percent of ambassadors coming from outside the Foreign Service, the corps of highly-trained diplomatic professionals meant to serve apolitically across administrations, a sharp increase from 30 percent under Obama. Among the least qualified of Trump’s handpicked diplomats is as ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. As I wrote this week, while career professionals like Yovanovitch were being pushed aside, Trump tasked personal cronies like Giuliani and Sondland, whose official portfolio does not include Ukraine, to pressure the Eastern European country’s leaders to investigate Trump’s political rivals.
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/11/mike-pompeo-marie-yovanovitchs-testimony-impeachment-donald-trump-state-department/
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