Comments by "" (@DavidJ222) on "CBS Evening News"
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If Trump did nothing wrong as he claims, then why is he blocking people from testifying in the Senate trial, like Mulvaney, Bolton, and his White House counsel John Eisenberg? If he did nothing wrong, then surely these people should be able to testify and prove that he did nothing wrong.
When Lt.Col Vindman twice told a superior of his concerns about Trump’s efforts to force Ukraine for the investigation in exchange for military aid, the White House lawyer John Eisenberg had the full transcript of Trump's phone call moved to the highly classified White House server, which is usually reserved for code-word level intelligence but not transcripts of diplomatic discussions. Why would the full transcript of Trump's so called "perfect" phone call be hidden? If he did nothing wrong, releasing the full transcript should exonerate him of any wrong doing.
The only logical conclusion is that Trump is guilty, and he knows that releasing the full transcript, and allowing Mulvaney, Bolton and others to testify under oath would be his undoing. Trump knows that after seeing what happened to Manafort, Cohen and Stone, that no one else is going to risk going to prison for his crimes.
Trump's own National Security Adviser, John Bolton quit over Trump's scheme to bribe Ukraine.
JULY 10
At the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Mr. Zelensky, asks Mr. Volker to connect him to Giuliani. The two men later meet in Madrid.
At a White House meeting later that day in Bolton’s office, two Ukrainian officials press for an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Mr. Zelensky. Sondland blurts out that Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, promised that Mr. Zelensky would be invited if Ukraine announces “investigations.”
Bolton immediately halts the meeting. At a follow-up meeting, Sondland again presses the Ukrainians to announce investigations, this time specifying Burisma and the 2016 election as targets. Fiona Hill, one of Bolton’s top deputies, calls that session to a halt.
She and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, her subordinate, report the meetings to John Eisenberg, the chief legal adviser to the National Security Council. Bolton tells Ms. Hill to deliver a message from him: “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.”
The fact that Trump refuses to allow these people to testify is an admission of guilt.
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An immoral man like Trump, who clearly has no honor, is naturally drawn to other men like Gallagher, who has no honor.
On the flip side, Trump has nothing but contempt for men and women of honor, like General Mattis, John McCain, Lt.Col Vindman, Ambassador Bill Taylor, Ambassador Yovanovitch, and Dr. Fiona Hill..
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The articles of impeachment against Traitor Trump..
ARTICLE I: ABUSE OF POWER
Using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 United States Presidential election. He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 United States Presidential election to his advantage. President Trump also sought to pressure the Government of Ukraine to take these steps by conditioning official United States Government acts of significant value to Ukraine on its public announcement of the investigations. President Trump engaged in this scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of personal political benefit. In so doing, President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process. He thus ignored and injured the interests of the Nation.
ARTICLE II: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald J. Trump has directed the unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives pursuant to its "sole Power of Impeachment". President Trump has abused the powers of the Presidency in a manner offensive to, and subversive of, the Constitution.
In the history of the Republic, no President has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the House of Representatives to investigate "high Crimes and Misdemeanors". This abuse of office served to cover up the President's own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment—and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the House of Representatives.
In all of this, President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore, President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
Article II, Section 4, says the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
So shall it be written, so shall it be done..
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It's no secret that Trump has absolutely no respect for our men and women in uniform. Trump waited two whole years after being sworn in before he ever visited our Troops in Iraq. President Obama visited our troops in Iraq just 3 months after taking office. Trump did however find time to make Saudi Arabia his first overseas trip as president. But of course, that was for personal and financial business reasons.
An immoral man like Trump, who clearly has no honor, is naturally drawn to other men like Eddie Gallagher, who has no honor.
On the flip side, Trump has nothing but contempt for men and women of honor, like General Mattis, John McCain, Lt.Col. Vindman, Ambassador Bill Taylor, Ambassador Yovanovitch, and Dr. Fiona Hill.
Trump wants people around him who will throw their morals, principles, and integrity out the window whenever he demands it. Ultimately, Trump wants people around him who will always choose him, over the oaths that they have taken.
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Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy, helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for Devin Nunes in 2018, Parnas’ lawyer Ed MacMahon has stated.
Congressional records show Nunes traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2018. Three of his aides—Harvey, Scott Glabe, and George Pappas—traveled with him, per the records. U.S. government funds paid for the group’s four-day trip, which cost just over $63,000.
Nunes, Trump's top Republican sycophant presiding over the impeachment hearings — in which Parnas has repeatedly been referenced — was central to Trump’s efforts to discredit the Mueller probe. Nunes infamously made a late-night trip to the White House after Congress launched a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and then announced he had magically discovered evidence of wrongdoing by officials inside the Intelligence Community. Because of his shameless skulduggery, Nunes was forced to step down from the Intelligence Committee’s investigation.
While Parnas helped Nunes arrange meetings, he also assisted Rudy in smearing Ukraine Ambassador Yovanovitch, who was fired by Trump because he believed she was interfering with his criminal scheme. Last month, the SDNY charged Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman with illegally moving money from foreign donors to American political campaigns, all of which were republican campaigns. Hmmmm😞
Parnas and Fruman both pleaded not guilty. Both men retained former Trump attorney John Dowd after their arrest, but Parnas later fired Dowd after the Trump claimed not to know him — even though they have met several times.
Since firing Trump's lawyers Dowd, Parnas told associates that Trump tasked him with a “secret mission” at a 2018 White House Hanukkah party to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens.
Parnas also met Trump at a small fundraising dinner at his Washington, D.C. hotel in April 2018 where he says he convinced Trump to fire Yovanovitch.
After Zelensky won the Ukrainian presidential election, Parnas told the new administration that aid would be withheld and VP Pence would not attend Zelensky's inauguration without a public announcement of the investigations, according to his attorney. Fruman acknowledges the meeting happened. And in fact, Pence did pulled out of the inauguration.
Lev Parnas' lawyer MacMahon said that Parnas is willing to tell Congress everything he knows because he is upset that Trump claimed not to know him.😂
( Don't feel bad Lev, Trump does that to everyone whenever he's in trouble.😄)
“President Trump’s recent and regrettable disavowal of Mr. Parnas has caused him to rethink his involvement and the true reasons for his having been recruited to participate in the President’s activities,” MacMahon said. “Mr. Parnas is prepared to testify completely and accurately about his involvement in the President and Rudy Giuliani’s quid pro quo demands of Ukraine.”
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A perfect example of what happens when Don the Con testifies under oath.
I'm sure Trump never wants to see Tim O'Brien again after their last encounter.😂
In 2007, Trump sued reporter, Tim O'Brien and Warner Books for 5 billion dollars. In 2009, a judge dismissed Trump’s case against O’Brien. Trump appealed, but in 2011 that was denied, too. Trump accused O'Brien of being reckless and dishonest in a book that raised questions about Trump’s net worth. The reporter’s attorneys turned the tables on Trump, and brought Trump in for a deposition. During the deposition on Dec.19 and 20, 2007, Trump was caught lying at least 30 times.
Trump had to acknowledge 30 times during that deposition that he had lied over the years about a wide range of issues: his ownership stake in a large Manhattan real estate development, the cost of a membership to one of his golf clubs, the size of the Trump Organization, his wealth, the rate for his speaking appearances, how many condos he had sold, the debt he owed, and whether he borrowed money from his family to stave off personal bankruptcy."
The lies Trump told were unstrategic, needless, highly specific, and easy to disprove. When he was caught lying, Trump sometimes blamed others for the error or explained that the untrue thing really was true, at least in his mind. Trump's lying deposition is now a part of the public record.
This is a perfect example of why Trump's lawyers never permitted Trump to be interviewed by Mueller. They know that Trump is morally and pathologically incapable of telling the truth, about anything.
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The problem Trump is having is that everyone is not going to go along with his lies and schemes. Everyone isn't going to be willing to throw their careers and reputations away for him. Everyone isn't willing to be his shoeshine boy like Barr, Moscow Mitch, Graham, and Nunes. People like Lt.Col. Vindman, Dr. Fiona Hill, Ambassadors Bill Taylor, and Marie Yovanovitch, are examples of Americans who serve a cause greater than themselves. The moral character, courage, and integrity of true patriots like these, will always be obstacles to traitors, cowards, and to the evil that men do....
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We already know that Trump bribed the President of Ukraine with taxpayer money. This fact has been corroborated by the whistleblower, by official documents, texts messages, by the under oath testimony of multiple witnesses, by Trump's own senior white house aides and staff, by Mulvaney, and by State Department officials, and by Trump's own words. Trump's own National Security Adviser Bolton quit over Trump's scheme to bribe Ukraine.
Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution clearly states, that the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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Trump and his family are literally running a criminal enterprise out of the white house.
The notion that Trump was actually concerned about corruption in Ukraine, or corruption in general, is laughable.
Trump is not only the most corrupt president in American history, he's the most corrupt president imaginable. If someone had told me years ago that we would ever have a president this immoral, unethical, deceitful, and sociopathic, I would have laughed. Well....I'm not laughing now. 😔 Nixon's ghost can finally rest in peace, because Nixon is no longer the most corrupt president in American history.
November of last year, Trump was ordered by a judge to pay $2 m in damages for illegally using funds intended for charity to boost his 2016 presidential election campaign.
Trump had to admit to personally misusing the money, according to the New York’s attorney general office, despite having previously denied any wrongdoing. The fine adds to several other investigations into allegations that he is using public office for self-enrichment.
The lawsuit last year states that Trump, and his three money grubbing useless children - Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric - broke campaign finance laws in 2016 by using Trump Foundation’s tax-exempt status “as little more than a checkbook to serve Trump’s business and political interests.
Trump and his talentless children, had violated their fiduciary duties as officers and directors of the now-shuttered Trump Foundation. As a result of that failure, charitable dollars — consistently and over many years — often benefited Trump rather than the causes he repeatedly claimed he supports.
There was “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation – including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more,” the suit claimed.
In the agreements, Trump admitted to misusing funds from the foundation, which he dissolved last year, including to pay for a portrait himself that cost $10,000. He also agreed to pay back $11,525 he spent on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala.
Trump also directed the foundation to use money for charity to buy a Tim Tebow helmet for himself, and to settle a couple of lawsuits.
Trump also admitted in the agreements to directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over an 80-foot flagpole he had built at his Mar-a-Lago resort, instead of paying the expense out of his own pocket..
In addition, the charity foundation paid $158,000 to resolve a lawsuit over a prize for a hole-in-one contest at a Trump-owned golf course, and $5,000 for ads promoting Trump’s hotels in the programs for charitable events. Trump admitted these transactions were also improper.
But let's be honest, what Trump did wasn't just improper, it was downright criminal and reprehensible..
Jan, 2016
Trump: "My whole life I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy."
Jan 9, 2016
"Now, I’ll tell you, I’m good at that – so, you know, I’ve always taken in money,” he said at a rally in Iowa. “I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person. I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy – I’ve always been greedy. I love money, right?
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Ya think.😂
Here's a perfect example of what happens when Don the Con testifies under oath.
I'm sure Trump never wants to see Tim O'Brien again after their last encounter.😂
In 2007, Trump sued reporter, Tim O'Brien and Warner Books for 5 billion dollars. In 2009, a judge dismissed Trump’s case against O’Brien. Trump appealed, but in 2011 that was denied, too. Trump accused O'Brien of being reckless and dishonest in a book that raised questions about Trump’s net worth. The reporter’s attorneys turned the tables on Trump, and brought Trump in for a deposition. During the deposition on Dec.19 and 20, 2007, Trump was caught lying at least 30 times.
Trump had to acknowledge 30 times during that deposition that he had lied over the years about a wide range of issues: his ownership stake in a large Manhattan real estate development, the cost of a membership to one of his golf clubs, the size of the Trump Organization, his wealth, the rate for his speaking appearances, how many condos he had sold, the debt he owed, and whether he borrowed money from his family to stave off personal bankruptcy."
The lies Trump told were unstrategic, needless, highly specific, and easy to disprove. When he was caught lying, Trump sometimes blamed others for the error or explained that the untrue thing really was true, at least in his mind. Trump's lying deposition is now a part of the public record.
This is a perfect example of why Trump's lawyers never permitted Trump to be interviewed by Mueller. They know that Trump is morally and pathologically incapable of telling the truth, about anything..
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First Trump betrayed America, then he betrayed the Kurds, then he betrayed Ukraine, all the while betraying his oath of office.
As a Marine veteran, it warms my heart to know that there are still some true American patriots out there who are still willing to resist, still willing to stand-up and speak truth to power. Patriots who still believe in putting country first. Patriots who still believe in serving a cause greater than themselves. Patriots like Dr. Fiona Hill, Ambassador Bill Taylor, Ambassador Yovanovitch, Lt.Col. Vindman, David Holmes, Jennifer Williams, and others. To all of these patriots, and others out there like them, I salute you.
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First Trump betrayed America, then he betrayed the Kurds, then he betrayed Ukraine, all the while betraying his oath of office.
As a Marine veteran, it warms my heart to know that there are still some true American patriots out there who are still willing to resist, still willing to stand-up and speak truth to power. Patriots who still believe in putting country first. Patriots who still believe in serving a cause greater than themselves. Patriots like Dr. Fiona Hill, Ambassador Bill Taylor, Ambassador Yovanovitch, Lt.Col. Vindman, David Holmes, Jennifer Williams, and others. To all of these patriots, and others out there like them, I salute you.
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Dr. Fiona Hill testimony before the House Intel committee.
"Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country—and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.
The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified.
The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined.
Right now, Russia’s security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests.
Ukraine is a valued partner of the United States, and it plays an important role in our national security. And as I told this Committee last month, I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine—not Russia—attacked us in 2016.
These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes. President Putin and the Russian security services operate like a Super PAC. They deploy millions of dollars to weaponize our own political opposition research and false narratives.
If the President, or anyone else, impedes or subverts the national security of the United States in order to further domestic political or personal interests, that is more than worthy of your attention. But we must not let domestic politics stop us from defending ourselves against the foreign powers who truly wish us harm."
Russian propaganda and disinformation is bad enough as it is, but it's even worse when it's coming from fox, the current president, and his defenders like Graham, Nunes, Jordan, and Rudy. It should be reported that these traitors are all willing partners in Russia's disinformation campaign on America. And they should be treated as a threat to America, because that's exactly what they are. They are all carrying water for Putin. By spreading Russian GRU lies, conspiracies, and propaganda, they have all become Putin's proxies here in America.
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Dr. Fiona Hill testimony before the House Intel committee.
"Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country—and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves..
The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified."
Ukraine is a valued partner of the United States, and it plays an important role in our national security. And as I told this Committee last month, I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine—not Russia—attacked us in 2016."
Trump, fox, and his defenders like Graham, Nunes, Kennedy, Jordan, and Rudy, are knowingly
aiding and abetting Russia in it's disinformation campaign on America. They are all carrying water for Putin. By spreading Russian GRU lies, conspiracies, and propaganda, they have all become Putin's proxies here in America.
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Trump is terrified that Flynn and Roger Stone won't be able to do a long stretch in prison, and will decide to cut a deal instead, and reveal all of Trump's crimes. Stone could corroborate Rick Gates' testimony that Trump did in fact collude with WikiLeaks..
In the video of a December 2015 dinner celebrating the 10th birthday of Putin's propaganda network RT at a Moscow hotel, Putin and a host of Russian luminaries toasted the state-controlled news channel that U.S. intelligence calls a Kremlin mouthpiece. And next to Putin at the head table, in the seat of honor, was Michael Flynn, who would later become Trump's national security adviser, was already advising Trump's campaign when he was being paid $45,000 to speak at the gala.
"It is not a coincidence that Flynn was placed next to President Putin," said Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador in Moscow "Flynn was considered a close Trump adviser. Why else would they want him there?"
Flynn's Moscow jaunt, like his oddly timed phone chats with the Russian ambassador, has been well reported. The video shows that the Dec. 10, 2015 dinner, was attended by a healthy serving of ex-russian spies, Putin's cronies and oligarchs.
Sergey Ivanov, then Putin's chief of staff, sat directly across the table from Flynn. A former KGB general who at one point ran KGB operations in Africa, he has also served as Russian defense minister and deputy prime minister. Ivanov had been under U.S. and European sanctions for a year and a half by the date of the dinner.
Next to Ivanov was Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, but more importantly his de facto national security adviser, say U.S. officials. Flanking Putin on his right, two seats from Flynn, sat Alexey Gromov, Putin's deputy chief of staff. U.S. intelligence considers Gromov to be Putin's head propagandist. According to the January 6 Intelligence Community report on Russian interference in the U.S. election. He too was on U.S. and European sanctions the day of the dinner.
After Putin got up to make his speech, his place at Flynn's side was taken by Margarita Simonyan, RT's editor-in-chief. A personal friend of Putin, she worked in one of his presidential campaigns before being chosen by Gromov to head RT. U.S. intelligence assessment of RT paints Simonyan as the lead person, along with Gromov, engaging in information warfare against U.S. policies. She is described as closely tied to, controlled by the Kremlin.
Beyond the head table, Russia's oligarchs filled many of the seats. Like Viktor Vekselberg, whose billions are in oil and aluminum and who is a business partner of Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the owner of the world's largest collection of Faberge eggs.
Flynn had already been a frequent guest on RT in the months prior to the dinner. When Putin finished his speech that night, Flynn was among the first to leap to his feet and offer a standing ovation.
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boopsynana
Trump's white house is operating the same as Barter Town in Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome.. It's nonstop chaos, pandemonium, betrayal, back-stabbing, buffoonery, thievery, treason, upheaval, nepotism, cronyism, bedlam, and sanctioned lawlessness. And they are all swimming in a sea of moral turpitude.
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"Ignorance is Strength." This is the official moto of the cult known as Trumpism. We know this because of Trump sycophants like Kellyanne, who promotes the idea of "alternative facts." And Rudy Giuliani, who famously declared that " truth isn't truth."
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party (Trump) is always right.”
-- George Orwell, 1984
In George Orwell's novel 1984, a Thoughtcrime is the criminal act of holding beliefs that oppose or question the Party. Thoughtcrime is thinking of anything that the Thought Police and the Party deem is illegal. Doubting the party line, or thinking anything contrary to the Party's message.
Within Trump's cult, he has a name for those who commit "Thoughtcrimes" against him, like questioning his actions, and calling out his lies, Trump refers to these people as "Never Trumpers."
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Only a criminally incompetent fraud like Trump would believe that going back to having NO inspectors, cameras, check marks, and inspections, is better than the Iran deal. Pulling out of the Iran deal put us back to where we were before, which is exactly where we are today, which is totally blind to what's going on in Iran and NK.
President Obama was able to bring 5 countries together, and secure a deal with Iran. It was something we had never had before, and the deal was working.
In July 2015, Iran had almost 20,000 centrifuges. Under the Iran deal--JCPOA, it was limited to installing no more than 5,060 of the oldest and least efficient centrifuges at Natanz until 2026. Iran's uranium stockpile was reduced by 98% to 300kg (660lbs), a figure that must not be exceeded until 2031. It must also keep the stockpile's level of enrichment at 3.67%.
By January 2016, Iran had drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at Natanz and Fordo. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, continuously monitored Iran's declared nuclear sites and also verified that no fissile material is moved covertly to a secret location to build a bomb. Iran also agreed to implement the Additional Protocol to their IAEA Safeguards Agreement, which allowed inspectors to access any site anywhere in the country they deem suspicious.
But the best part about it was that President Obama didn't have to praise the Ayatollahs or the Iranian leadership. He didn’t demean himself, or the office of the presidency, by meeting with them, which would have only given them the perception of being on the same footing as a US President. Trump on the other hand, disgraced himself, and the office of the presidency, by meeting with the most despotic and maniacal dictator on the planet....not once, but twice. He then proceeded to compliment him, and wax poetically about how he and Kim Jung Un fell in love after exchanging letters. And what does Trump have to show for disgracing himself and the office of the presidency? NOTHING....other than love letters, a photo-op, and heightened tensions with Iran and NK. Trump is simply an agent of chaos, mind blowing ineptitude, and corruption. Trump doesn't solve problems, he only creates them..
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Trump has been violating the Constitution since noon on January 20, 2017. His decision prior to his inauguration to keep ownership and control of his businesses —a move that went against both long-standing historical practice and the advice of career government ethics officials—put him at odds with the Constitution’s original anti-corruption provisions the moment he was sworn in.
Emoluments Clauses, prohibit the president from receiving any profit, gain, or advantage from any foreign or domestic government. Impeachment, as outlined by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 65, is a political remedy for a president’s egregious violations of these prohibitions.
The Framers of the Constitution were very aware of the dangers from foreign influence on any president. This is why they created rules to prevent foreign governments from purchasing undue influence on a sitting President. Essentially buying a sitting President, which is basically what Putin and Saudi Arabia have done withTrump.
The rule prohibits anyone holding any “Office of Profit or Trust under the United States” from receiving any “emolument” from foreign powers. An emolument, for purposes of the Constitution, according to two courts, is any “profit, gain or advantage.” This rule is what has become known as the Foreign Emoluments Clause, and is located at Article I, Section 9, Clause 8.
The Framers of the Constitution were also worried about undue influence from individual States in the union, and by officials profiteering from new federal offices. The Framers were concerned that a powerful state might sway the president’s decisionmaking to its own benefit.
To prevent against these types of abuses, the Framers developed the Domestic Emoluments Clause, at Article II, Section 1, Clause 7, which is a blanket prohibition against the president receiving any sort of advantage from any state government, or from the new federal government.
Not only have U.S. and foreign governments spent money at properties owned by Trump, but Trump's own political campaign and affiliated political committees have also spent about $16.8 million at his businesses since he launched his 2016 bid, according to an analysis of federal election spending records. Republican political campaigns and PACs have spent just under $1.8 million at Trump-owned businesses so far this year in the 2020 election cycle.
A recent example of Trump's emoluments clause violations came last year in August when a visit from Saudi officials to Trump's Trump International Hotel in NYC helped boost the hotel's quarterly revenue by 13% in 2018's first quarter. The bump came after two straight years of booking declines for the property.
Since Trump took the oath of office, the Saudi government and lobbying groups for it have been lucrative customers for Trump’s hotels. A public relations firm working for the kingdom spent nearly $270,000 on lodging at his Washington hotel through March of last year, according to filings to the Justice Department. A spokesman for the firm told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump hotel payments came as part of a Saudi-backed lobbying campaign against a bill that allowed Americans to sue foreign governments for responsibility in the Sept. 11 terror attacks..
Fun fact: The emoluments clauses are our country’s original anti-corruption laws. They are written into the document that created our government and defined our system of laws.
At a Cabinet meeting, Trump blamed the backlash and outrage over his attempt to profit from holding the G7 Summit at his Doral resort on “you people with this phony emoluments clause."😲😲
A perfect example of the utter contempt that Trump has for our Constitution, and the rule of law.
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Or maybe, just maybe, he's just a con-man, like he's been his entire adult life.
Back in 1986 and likely for many years before, Trump colluded in tax evasion with Bulgari Jewelry Store in NY, a high-end posh location with tony clientele right out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Here's how the scam worked:
Trump would go into the store with his wife, his girlfriend, his...whatever (to use his vernacular). He would then buy her an expensive necklace or wristwatch. Normally, such a transaction would face the NY and state sales tax, which would be pretty high on luxury jewelry.
In an illegal attempt to evade the tax, Trump "asked" the store to instead ship the jewelry to an out of state location, where no NY sales tax could be collected. In fact, the store would merely send an empty jewelry box to the location, while Trump and his lady friends walked out the door with the jewelry that very day.
The state and city tax collectors eventually caught onto this scheme, and Trump promptly testified against his erstwhile tax evasion colluding partners at the jewelry store in order to save his own skin.😲 Anyone who gets close to a disease like Trump will end up getting pushed off a curb by him, and into an oncoming bus.
The empty box scam is just one example of Trump's history of illegal tax evasion. Another story can be told about his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida by local reporter Frank Cerabino.
Trump bought the property from the estate of breakfast cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. He got it for a relative bargain at $7.5 million, something he bragged about in The Art of the Deal. Yet he refused for years to pay local property taxes on the actual value of the property, $11.5 million at the time he bought it. He tried to have it both ways--buy the property for a steep discount and also pay property taxes at that same under-valued level.
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The unredacted emails between Defense Department and Office of Management and Budget officials revealed that between June and September — when the Ukrainian aid was ultimately released following the whistleblower's complaint — the Defense Department repeatedly asked the OMB why the military aid was being held up.
The unredacted emails were secured through a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act launched by the Center for Public Integrity. The DoD warned several times that continuing to withhold the aid violated the Impoundment Control Act, which stipulates that if the federal funds are not spent on their designated purpose within a certain period, they will be taken, or impounded, by the Treasury Department.
The timeline of Trump's impeachable acts, and the DoJ sloppy attempt at a cover-up:
● June 19, OMB aide, Robert Blair, learned that Trump was questioning the delivery of the aid package, at which point Blair told Russell Vought, the acting head of the office, that "we need to hold it up."
● That day, another OMB official, Michael Duffey, emailed the acting Defense Department comptroller, Elaine McCusker, and copied Mark Sandy, an OMB official on national-security programs, to ask if she had "insight on this funding."
● After McCusker explained on June 25 which companies were producing the military equipment and said that only $7 million of the Pentagon's $250 million part of the package had been spent, Blair told Mick Mulvaney on June 27 that they should "expect Congress to become unhinged" by withholding the aid.
● July 25, Sandy officially froze the Ukraine aid. This was also the day Trump spoke with President Zelensky on the phone and asked him to launch a bogus investigation on Joe Biden and his son. Shortly after Trump's call, Duffey emailed several Pentagon officials and asked them to "please hold off on any additional DOD obligations of these funds." He requested that the recipients keep the directive "closely held to those who need to know" because of "the sensitive nature of the request."
● McCusker replied that same day and asked whether the OMB had cleared the hold with the Defense Department's lawyers. This was the first sign of the Pentagon's concerns about the legality of withholding the aid.
● July 26, John Rood, the head of policy at the Pentagon, emailed Defense Secretary Mark Esper a readout of a meeting in which top national-security officials voiced their "unanimous support" for sending the security assistance. On August 9, McCusker warned Sandy, Duffey, and other senior OMB officials that if the aid was not released soon, it might affect the "timely execution" of the program. "We hope it won't and will do all we can to execute once the policy decision is made, but can no longer make that declarative statement," she wrote. The DOJ redacted this warning from McCusker, which, notably, contradicted the OMB's talking points.
● August 12, when it became clear that Trump would continue the aid freeze, McCusker emailed Duffey and asked him to include language in a footnote in a budgeting document to reflect the growing risk of withholding funding. The language was not included, and the request was redacted in the initial document release.The DOJ also redacted several emails from McCusker near the end of August raising additional legal questions about withholding the aid and the possibility that Trump's actions violated the Impoundment Control Act.
● August 28, after Politico publicly revealed the aid freeze, the OMB's general counsel, Mark Paoletta, sent around talking points including that "no action has been taken by OMB that would preclude the obligation of these funds before the end of the fiscal year."
● McCusker pushed back, writing: "I don't agree to the revised TPs — the last one is just not accurate from a financial execution standpoint, something we have been consistently conveying for a few weeks." Her response was initially redacted.
● As September came around, McCusker raised concerns about whether the Defense Department would be "adequately protected from what may happen as a result of the Ukraine obligation pause." She added, "I realize we need to continue to give the WH as much decision space as possible, but am concerned we have not officially documented the fact that we can not promise full execution at this point in the fiscal year."
● September 9, Duffey sent McCusker a misleading email suggesting that if the president greenlighted the aid but the Pentagon was not able to obligate the funding, it would be on the Pentagon and not the OMB.
● McCusker responded: "You can't be serious. I am speechless."
● September 11, after Congress became aware of a whistleblower's complaint accusing Trump of "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country" in the 2020 election, Duffey emailed McCusker and said the president had lifted the hold on Ukraine's military aid.
● "Glad to have this behind us," he wrote.
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At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. In the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention, a lady asked Dr. Franklin: “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
Benjamin Franklin replied: “A republic....if you can keep it.”
Trump and Republicans are telling us that we can no longer keep it. They are basically giving the Constitution, and the American people the middle finger. It is my sincere hope, that we the Amercan, return that middle finger to them on election day 2020. 💙
Will we keep are constitutional republic, or will we lose it, and see it replaced with a monarchy? Will we still have a democracy, or will we be ruled by a tyrant without boundaries? These are the questions that will be on the ballot box in 2020. This election will be the most important election in our nation's history.
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If Trump and republicans withhold witnesses and evidence that are directly connected to what Trump is being accused of, it will be clear to the world that the Senate trial is an egregious sham. It will go down as the biggest cover-up in American history..
The evidence is clear.
90 minutes after Trump’s phone call, the call he used to bribe the President of Ukraine into opening up a fabricated investigation on the Bidens, Michael Duffey, a Trump-appointed senior official with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), sent this July 25 email to Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker and other Trump administration officials.
"Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration's plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional [Department of Defense] obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process."
"Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction."
Sept 9,
The whistleblower's complaint is delivered to the House intel committee. Trump now realizes that he's been busted, and the JIG IS UP!!!😲
SEPT. 11
Two days after the House intel committee is notified of the whistle-blower complaint and opens an investigation, Trump reverses course and releases the hold on the military aid after withholding it for 55 days.
Michael Duffey's email to OMB Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker on Sept 11, informing her that Ukrainian funds will finally be released.
Duffey: "I will be issuing an apportionment this evening to immediately release all USAI funds for obligation. I will alert you as soon as I have signed the apportionment. Thank you."
McCusker: "Copy...what happened? Thanks
Duffey: "Still waiting on my staff to send me apportionment. Hoping to sign tonight yet. Glad to have this behind us."
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The Founders understanding of bribery was derived from English law, under which bribery was understood as an officeholder’s abuse of the power of an office to obtain a private benefit rather than for the public interest. This definition not only encompasses Trump’s conduct—it practically defines it.
The Ukraine scandal began in the spring of 2019, with a series of contacts between Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy, and Ukrainian officials. In mid-July, Trump decided to withhold nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine that had already been appropriated by Congress. The White House offered no explanation, except to blame “interagency delay.” A week later, Trump spoke by phone to the recently elected Ukrainian president, Zelensky. The memorandum released by the White House describing that call—which is consistent with the accounts of the whistleblower complaint that first brought this scandal to light—reads like a classic shakedown.
According to the memo, after exchanges of flattery, Trump states that “we do a lot for Ukraine” and that “we spend a lot of effort and a lot of time,” before he complains that the relationship is not always “reciprocal.” Zelensky then raises the question of military aid to Ukraine, to which Trump immediately responds, “I would like you to do us a favor though,” and proceeds to ask Zelensky to investigate two unfounded conspiracy theories: one involving the server containing emails stolen from the DNC during the 2016 election, and the other involving the thoroughly debunked claim about then-VP Biden, his potential reelection opponent.
Trump asks Zelensky to work with Giuliani and AG Barr to investigate his potential opponent and so aid his own reelection campaign. There can be no misunderstanding that Traitor Trump was abusing his official power in the conduct of foreign policy to get a foreign government to investigate his political rival.
Article II, Section 4, says the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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The Founders understanding of bribery was derived from English law, under which bribery was understood as an officeholder’s abuse of the power of an office to obtain a private benefit rather than for the public interest. This definition not only encompasses Trump’s conduct—it practically defines it.
Trump took 400 million in taxpayer dollars, which had been appropriated by Congress, and used it to bribe a foreign country into taking specific actions that would only benefit him personally.
What Trump did, is the equivalent of a Mayor of a city, taking funds that have been allocated for the city's local Police Department, and withholding it until they launch a bogus investigation on one of his political opponents in the upcoming elections.
The Founders placed articles of impeachment in the Constitution for the purpose of protecting our democracy. A democracy that Trump clearly has no respect for, and is trying to tear apart.
Article II, Section 4, says the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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We already know that Trump bribed the President of Ukraine with taxpayer money. This fact has been corroborated by the whistleblower, by official documents, texts messages, by the under oath testimony of multiple witnesses, by Trump's own senior white house aides and staff, by Mulvaney, and by State Department officials, and by Trump's own words. Trump's own National Security Adviser Bolton quit over Trump's scheme to bribe Ukraine.
Article II, Section 4, of the Constitution clearly states, that the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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What do Putin, Kim Jong Un, Saudi Royal MBS, and Xi Jinping all have in common? They are all brutal strongmen and dictators who demand respect, obedience, loyalty, and want their followers to willingly believe and do anything they tell them. This is exactly why Trump has a sick and demented admiration for these tyrants. He sees himself as one of them.
Trump: “ Kim Jong Un speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.” Trump later said anyone who doesn’t cheer for anything he says is a traitor committing treason..
It doesn’t matter to Trump cultists that he chooses to side with Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia over America, because all Trump has to do is hold a rally, hug the American flag, while telling the crowd to shout, “U-S-A!” And then all of a sudden, that warm and fuzzy feeling of counterfeit patriotism washes over them.
At a rally held by Steve Bannon this past March, an angry and hostile woman took the mic and said, “Never in my life did I think I would like to see a dictator, but if there’s gonna be one, I want it to be Trump!” which was met with loud cheers and applause from Bannon and the crowd of cultists. It goes without saying that any American who would cheer for that, doesn't believe in liberty, freedom, or the Constitution. Anyone American that cheers for that clearly supports fascism and dictatorships. Trump's cultists don't want an elected official to govern on behalf of the people, they want an authoritarian dictator who will force his will on the nation, and punish anyone who doesn't submit to dogmatic obedience.
Trump cultists like to talk about how much theylove and support our troops and veterans, then continue to worship a man who steps on the military every chance he gets. Trump promised he would donate to military charities, then didn’t, then lied about it. He attacked John McCain during the campaign for no reason, attacked him throughout his term, and continues to attack McCain after his passing. He even made the Navy cover-up the name of the USS John McCain during his trip to Pearl Harbor. That was pretty low even for Trump.
When Republican Congressman and war veteran Dan Crenshaw, who lost his eye in combat serving this country, tweeted to Trump, “Seriously stop talking about Senator John McCain,” Trump supporters turned on veteran Crenshaw and harassed, threatened and insulted him on twitter. They defended a known coward and draft dodger, and attacked Crenshaw, a wounded war veteran who served this country honorably. Let that sink in for a moment.
At a rally in August 2016, a war veteran presented his Purple Heart medal to Trump, and he took it and said, “I always wanted one of these, this way is much easier.” Utterly disgusting.
No other politician, Republican or Democrat, would have EVER accepted that from a veteran.
Semper Fi..
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At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. In the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention, a lady asked Dr. Franklin: “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
Benjamin Franklin replied: “A republic....if you can keep it.”
Today, Trump and Republicans are telling the American people that we can no longer keep it.
America's democracy and Constitutional republic, has never been in more peril than it is right now. Trump and republicans, are attempting to reverse our victory in our War of Independence, that began 1775 and ended in 1783. They are attempting to throw it all away, as if it never happened, and install a new King, a new monarch, a new tyrant, to rule over the American people. We are witnessing history folks. This is America's darkest hour.
“If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep.”
― G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man"
“There’s no English equivalent for silovik. It doesn’t translate succinctly because to create something as Machiavellian as a silovik requires both the KGB and the GRU, and then a shift from communism to capitalism, followed by a gear-grinding reverse into despotism.”
― Tanya Thompson, Red Russia
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.”
―Thomas Jefferson
“The actions of government, we are told, bear down only on imprudent souls who provoke them. The man who resigns himself and keeps silent is always safe. Reassured by this worthless and specious argument, we do not protest against the oppressors. Instead we find fault with the victims. Nobody knows how to be brave even prudentially. Everyone stays silent, keeping his head low in the self-deceiving hope of disarming the powers that be by his silence. People give despotism free access, flattering themselves they will be treated with consideration. Eyes to the ground, each person walks in silence the narrow path leading him safely to the tomb..”
― Benjamin Constant, Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments
Make no mistake, this is far from over. Between, Parnas and Bolton, the truth about Trump's crimes will inevitably be revealed. Every week will bring a new revelation of the criminal activities of this illegitimate president, along with the names of all the Republicans who were complicit in aiding and abetting his criminal activity.
Lev Parnas" lawyer sent a letter to Moscow Mitch stating that he is ready to give testimony, as well as provide documents, that will prove that GOP Super PAC America One, Rudy, Pompeo, Rick Perry, Mulvaney, Bill Barr, Nunes, Pence, and Desperate Housewife of Capitol Hill 👉Lindsey Graham, were all part of Trump's scheme to bribe Ukraine...
Is it any wonder why Republicans were so vehemently against introducing witnesses and evidence into the Senate trial. They were covering up their own crimes. But the truth will all be revealed eventually. It's only a matter of time.
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
--Abraham Lincoln
"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."
--Winston Churchill
"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."
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The Trump criminal organization is pushing back against a proposed provision that would require the Secret Service to disclose how much it's spending on Trump's golf trips to his resorts.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is battling with Dem senators in negotiations over legislation that would move the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department, where it was first housed before moving to the DHS.
The legislation is set to include a stipulation that the Secret Service disclose on a semiannual basis the amount being spent on presidential travel for the president and his adult children. “Mnuchin came to me last year with a proposal to move the Secret Service to the Treasury Department,” Sen Feinstein said in a statement. “As part of that effort, I proposed that the cost of presidential travel be included for greater transparency, accountability and oversight associated with protection during travel of presidents and their families.”
Mnuchin agreed to the financial disclosure provision, but like a true Trump sycophant, Mnuchin is against the 120-day requirement, and instead wants to hold off on revealing the cost of the president’s trips until after the election. 😲
That's like a used car salesman telling you that he will tell you the past mechanical problems of a car, but only after you've purchased it from him.
The Secret Service is required to report semiannually the cost of protecting Trump's Children of the Corn, or non-White House residence, the Trump criminal organization failed to do so in either 2016 or 2017. The White House also dodged questions from the Government Accountability Office about the issue for two years, after the GAO sought information on the cost of Trump's travel to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump spent one out of every five days on one his golf course last year. The GAO found that Trump's first four trips to Mar-a-Lago in 2017 cost the Secret Service $1.3 million per trip (and $3.4 million in total government spending), and the Secret Service requested $60 million in additional funding in 2017. Federal charge card expenditures revealed the Secret Service also spent at least $250,000 at Trump properties in just the first five months of Trump's term alone, and the agency has paid a king's ransom for golf carts on Trump's golf outings, spending $588,000 on golf carts since 2017. The GAO report found that Trump's sons Uday and Qusay's travel to Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, and the UAE in 2017 cost the Secret Service $396,000 in total—and they've done plenty of traveling since.
Trump has spent nearly a third of his "presidency" at his properties. The GAO report reports that the Secret Service may have spent as much as $28 million JUST on Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago by now. But that would be still just a fraction of his total travel costs. President Obama—whom Trump criticized for golfing too much—cost the government $96.9 million over 8 years with his travel, for comparison. So far Trump's golfing has cost American taxpayers more than 102 million dollars in just 3 years. Taxpayers have paid at least 81 million for Trump play on his golf course in FL, 17 million for Trump to play on his golf courses in NJ, 1 million for Trump to play on his golf courses in Los Angeles, and 3 million for Trump to play on his golf course in Scotland. And to add insult to injury, Trump is pocketing millions of taxpayer dollars from accommodations, lodging, and rental fees. The more trips to his properties, the more money he makes.
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Lt.Col Vindman twice told a superior of his concerns about Trump’s efforts to force Ukraine for the investigation in exchange for military aid, the White House lawyer John Eisenberg had the full transcript of Trump's phone call moved to the highly classified White House server, which is usually reserved for code-word level intelligence but not transcripts of diplomatic discussions. Why would the full transcript of Trump's so called "perfect" phone call be hidden? If he did nothing wrong, releasing the full transcript should exonerate him of any wrong doing.
Trump's own National Security Adviser, John Bolton quit over Trump's scheme to bribe Ukraine.
● JULY 10: At the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Mr. Zelensky, asks Mr. Volker to connect him to Giuliani. The two men later meet in Madrid.
At a White House meeting later that day in Bolton’s office, two Ukrainian officials press for an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Mr. Zelensky. Sondland blurts out that Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, promised that Mr. Zelensky would be invited if Ukraine announces “investigations.”
Bolton immediately halts the meeting. At a follow-up meeting, Sondland again presses the Ukrainians to announce investigations, this time specifying Burisma and the 2016 election as targets. Fiona Hill, one of Bolton’s top deputies, calls that session to a halt..
She and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, her subordinate, report the meetings to John Eisenberg, the chief legal adviser to the National Security Council. Bolton tells Ms. Hill to deliver a message from him: “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up.”
90 minutes after Trump’s phone call, the call he used to bribe the President of Ukraine into opening up a fabricated investigation on the Bidens, Michael Duffey, a Trump-appointed senior official with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), sent this July 25 email to Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker and other Trump administration officials.
"Based on guidance I have received and in light of the Administration's plan to review assistance to Ukraine, including the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, please hold off on any additional [Department of Defense] obligations of these funds, pending direction from that process."
"Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction."
As September came around, McCusker raised concerns about whether the Defense Department would be "adequately protected from what may happen as a result of the Ukraine obligation pause." She added, "I realize we need to continue to give the WH as much decision space as possible, but am concerned we have not officially documented the fact that we can not promise full execution at this point in the fiscal year."
● Sept 9: Duffey sent McCusker a misleading email suggesting that if the president greenlighted the aid but the Pentagon was not able to obligate the funding, it would be on the Pentagon and not the OMB..
● McCusker responded: "You can't be serious. I am speechless."
● Sept 9: The whistleblower's complaint is delivered to the House intel committee. Trump now realizes that he's been busted, and the JIG IS UP!!!😲
● Sept.11: Two days after the House intel committee is notified of the whistle-blower complaint and opens an investigation, Trump reverses course and releases the hold on the military aid after withholding it for 55 days.
Michael Duffey's email to OMB Pentagon Comptroller Elaine McCusker on Sept 11, informing her that Ukrainian funds will finally be released.
Duffey: "I will be issuing an apportionment this evening to immediately release all USAI funds for obligation. I will alert you as soon as I have signed the apportionment. Thank you."
McCusker: "Copy...what happened? Thanks
Duffey: "Still waiting on my staff to send me apportionment. Hoping to sign tonight yet. Glad to have this behind us."
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Trump's white house has been operating the same as Barter Town in Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome.. It's nonstop chaos, pandemonium, betrayal, back-stabbing, thievery, mayhem, treason, upheaval, nepotism, bedlam, and sanctioned lawlessness.
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It's almost as if the Founders were clairvoyant when they placed articles of impeachment into the Constitution. They clearly had envisioned someone like Trump in America's future. Someone who would say that as president, he can do whatever he wants..
“We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
― Abraham Lincoln
“Ethics and oversight are what you eliminate when you want absolute power.”
― DaShanne Stokes
“Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may”
― Daniel Webste
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
If what Trump has done isn't wrong, then that means that nothing is wrong. if Trump isn't impeachable, then that means that no president will ever be impeachable, no matter what they do. And that will spell the end of our democracy, our Constitution, and our republic. We will be back to where we were before the Declaration of Independence. It will be as if we never fought and won a war of independence against a King.
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For decades, Trump has laundered billions of dollars for Russian organized crime figures and other oligarchs. Ultimately Trump's involvement with Russia's criminal underworld created an opening for Putin and his agents to manipulate and control him.
Trump has had contacts with the Russian mafia for 35 years. His properties have laundered money for them. The Russian mafia is connected to Russian intelligence. They were and still are, living and working in Trump's buildings. Trump has even partnered with them. There are many ways in which Trump has been compromised.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, you suddenly had Russians who became wealthy Oligarchs overnight, with billions of dollars that have to be laundered out of Russia. It opened the floodgates for the Russian mafia and for the oligarchs. A good way to launder that money is through real estate. Trump made it clear he was ready, willing and able to do that without asking any questions. Trump was $4 billion in debt after his casinos failed in Atlantic City. He came back thanks to the Russians.
The Republicans are also implicated. The Russians didn't just go after Trump: They went after the entire Republican Party. There is Russian money going into the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the NRA, and then to Republican officials and candidates directly.
When Trump first visited Russia in 1987, he immediately came back and took outt full page ads in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and Washington Post. These ads were very anti-NATO, anti-Western alliance, and that was exactly what the Russians wanted, even today.
Back in 1984, Trump had started laundering money for the Russian mafia. In ‘92, the Russian mafia had people like Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov, who was one of the key figures under the mob boss Mogilevich. The FBI was looking all over for him, and then they discovered that he was actually living in Trump Tower. A lot of the Russian mobsters were going to Trump Tower to launder money as well. Trump was completely overextended in Atlantic City. He ended up $4 billion in debt. He had no future at all until the Russians came to his aid.
Russian Oligarchs made Trump an offer that he could not refuse. Suddenly Trump started dealing with cash, because he couldn’t get loans from American banks anymore. The only bank that would loan him money was Deutsche Bank, which is the preferred bank for Russian Oligarchs and the Russian mafia..
There were ways of laundering money that Trump had. The financing of building projects that involved $400 million or $500 million to build a skyscraper. Once the building was constructed, they could sell the condos through the shell companies, and limited liability corporations. This was done anonymously in all cash transactions with Russian oligarchs and other people affiliated with the Russian mafia. They owned Trump before he ever met Putin. Trump became close with the oligarchs who were in turn close to Putin..
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In July 2018, Trump told another blatant lie about his father being born in Germany.
Trump gave an interview in which he threatened to impose tariffs on European countries that did business with Iran.
“I was there many, many years ago,” he said. “Meaning, my parents were born in the European Union. I love these countries; Germany, Scotland, they are still in there right?”
As Trump was traveling across Europe, he repeated that same blatant lie In an interview recorded in Scotland, he said: “Don’t forget both of my parents were born in EU sectors – my mother was Scotland, my father was Germany.”
Trump’s mother, Mary MacLeod, was indeed born in Scotland, on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. But his father, Fred Trump, was born in NY. This is well known by everyone.
So if Trump would repeatedly lie about something so irrelevant and inconsequential, as to where his father was born, something that can easily be disproved, it means that he will lie about AN - Y- THING.
This is not normal. And it's something that should concern every American.
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The Saudis have invested a lot of money into Trump's criminal organization, and they expect a return on their investment..... protection being one of the things the Saudis expect in return..
Trump has sent thousands of our troops to Saudi Arabia to protect their oil and HIS own personal business interests.
"Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million,” Trump told a crowd at an Alabama rally on Aug. 21, 2015. “Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
Congress was furious over Trump’s secret efforts to secure a nuclear energy deal with Saudi Arabia. Congress was rightfully furious when they discovered that the Saudis refused to accept limits preventing them from developing a nuclear weapon.
It was revealed that Trump gave approval for companies to share certain nuclear energy technology with the kingdom without a broader nuclear deal in place.
House Dems began investigating Trump's nuclear talks with Saudi after the Oversight and Reform Committee announced in February it was launching a probe to “determine whether the actions being pursued by the Trump administration are in the national security interests of the US or, rather, serve those who stand to gain financially as a result of this potential change in U.S. foreign policy.”
Energy Secretary Rick Perry approved seven authorizations that let U.S. companies share certain nuclear energy technology with Saudi Arabia.
lawmakers were outraged when they found out they were not told about the approvals, saying the secrecy violates the Atomic Energy Act, which requires that Congress be kept “fully and currently informed” of 123 agreement negotiations.
"Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million,” Trump told a crowd at an Alabama rally on Aug. 21, 2015. “Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
In 1991, as Trump was teetering on bankruptcy yet AGAIN, and scrambling to raise cash, he sold his 282-foot Trump yacht “Princess” to Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin-Talal for $20 million.
Four years later, the prince came to his rescue again, joining other investors in a $325 million deal for Trump’s money-losing Plaza Hotel....Which eventually went under anyway.
In 2001, Trump sold the entire 45th floor of the Trump World Tower across from the UN for $12 million, the biggest purchase in that building to that point, according to the brokerage site Streeteasy. The buyer: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The most recent example of Trump's emoluments clause violations came last year in August when a visit from Saudi officials to Trump's Trump International Hotel in NYC helped boost the hotel's quarterly revenue by 13% in 2018's first quarter. The bump came after two straight years of booking declines for the property.
Since Trump took the oath of office, the Saudi government and lobbying groups for it have been lucrative customers for Trump’s hotels. A public relations firm working for the kingdom spent nearly $270,000 on lodging at his Washington hotel through March of last year, according to filings to the Justice Department. A spokesman for the firm told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump hotel payments came as part of a Saudi-backed lobbying campaign against a bill that allowed Americans to sue foreign governments for responsibility in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia cited the payments by the Saudi lobbying firm as an example of foreign gifts to Trump that could violate the Constitution’s ban on such “emoluments” from foreign interests.
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