Comments by "maynunal" (@maynunal) on "Dershowitz says defending Trump on the Senate floor is 'awe-inspiring'" video.
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The Trump Lie On The whistleblowers disappearing
"There was supposed to be a second whistleblower. What happened to him?... There was supposed to be an informer. What happened to the informer? All of these people disappeared. And when they saw this transcript, they said, 'We got problems.' But they went ahead because they were already there. After all, they -- they had a phony, concocted story made up." -- January 22 press conference in Davos, Switzerland
"...the second Whistleblower (who vanished after I released the Transcripts)..." -- January 23 tweet
Facts First: There is no evidence that either the second whistleblower or a source for the first whistleblower, whom Trump calls "the informer," have "disappeared," much less that they said "we got problems" when Trump released the rough transcript of the July call with Zelensky. The second whistleblower's lawyers had always said that this person -- who was revealed after Trump released the rough transcript -- never planned to file a separate whistleblower complaint, merely to offer corroborating information in private.
"The whistleblowers have not vanished," Bradley Moss, a colleague of Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the two whistleblowers, said on Twitter in October when Trump made another version of this claim.
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@thememo6019 The Trump Lie On The timing of aid to Ukraine
"Remember this, they got their money and they got it early." -- January 22 interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo
"So they got the money. In fact, they got it very early." -- January 22 interview with CNBC's Joe Kernen
"Now, here's the other thing: they got their money long before schedule. They got all their money." -- January 22 press conference in Davos, Switzerland
Facts First: The aid to Ukraine did not arrive "early" or "before schedule."
While Trump did lift his freeze on the aid on September 11, more than two weeks before a September 30 legal deadline, the delay caused by Trump's freeze meant that $35 million of the $391 million in aid could not make it out the door in time to meet the deadline, according to impeachment testimony from Mark Sandy, deputy associate director for national security in the Office of Management and Budget. To deal with this problem, Congress had to pass an extension of the deadline. "Had that provision not been included, then any unobligated funds as of September 30 would have expired," Sandy testified.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan watchdog agency that works for Congress, concluded that the aid freeze broke a law, the Impoundment Control Act. (The office's report was released the week after Trump made this comment. You can read a full story here.)
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The Trump Lie on The length of drug trials
Praising China for cracking down on illegal fentanyl, Trump said China's "quick trials" last merely "one day." He continued: "Ours take 15 years; theirs take one day." -- January 24 speech to mayors
Facts First: Trump might have been intending this as non-literal hyperbole, but nonetheless, US drug trials do not last 15 years. Even the trial of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman took three months.
China's legal system, of course, affords few rights to accused people, almost all of whom are swiftly convicted. In the US, some cases last longer than others, and appeals can extend the process, but veteran lawyers said Trump was way off. Kenyen Brown, a former US attorney in Alabama who now has a private litigation practice, said Trump's comment was "hyperbole to the point of being ridiculous."
"The typical possession with intent to distribute or drug conspiracy federal drug trial concludes after two to three days tops. Of course there are outliers in a few more complicated cases but the President's comment is nonsensical," he said in an email.
Trump was exaggerating even if he was describing the timeline for an entire case, not just the trial alone. "President Trump's statement is a gross exaggeration and it is not true," said David Haas, a former federal prosecutor in Florida who is now a criminal defense lawyer and has represented people accused of drug trafficking. "Most federal cases are resolved, either by plea or trial, within months of being filed. That length can vary but it would be unusual for any federal case to be pending longer than 12-18 months."
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jabeck42 The Trump Lie On The whistleblowers disappearing
"There was supposed to be a second whistleblower. What happened to him?... There was supposed to be an informer. What happened to the informer? All of these people disappeared. And when they saw this transcript, they said, 'We got problems.' But they went ahead because they were already there. After all, they -- they had a phony, concocted story made up." -- January 22 press conference in Davos, Switzerland
"...the second Whistleblower (who vanished after I released the Transcripts)..." -- January 23 tweet
Facts First: There is no evidence that either the second whistleblower or a source for the first whistleblower, whom Trump calls "the informer," have "disappeared," much less that they said "we got problems" when Trump released the rough transcript of the July call with Zelensky. The second whistleblower's lawyers had always said that this person -- who was revealed after Trump released the rough transcript -- never planned to file a separate whistleblower complaint, merely to offer corroborating information in private.
"The whistleblowers have not vanished," Bradley Moss, a colleague of Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the two whistleblowers, said on Twitter in October when Trump made another version of this claim.
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