Trump whistleblower complaint

[_Some Schmo]

Now Trump is accusing Schiff of helping the whistle-blower to write the complaint.

Um... and so what if he did? The fact that the complaint matches what was written in the White House memo makes who wrote the complaint irrelevant.

Seriously... when Trump and GOP pols make arguments like this, it demonstrates just how stupid they think their base is. And again, given their track record, they're right.

[_Some Schmo]

Now Trump is accusing Schiff of helping the whistle-blower to write the complaint.

Um... and so what if he did? The fact that the complaint matches what was written in the White House memo makes who wrote the complaint irrelevant.

Seriously... when Trump and GOP pols make arguments like this, it demonstrates just how stupid they think their base is. And again, given their track record, they're right.

In essence, everything anyone has to say about the whistle-blower report at this point is irrelevant, because the report itself is irrelevant. The White House memo is a signed confession; we don't need the complaint to impeach.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-dip ... d=66039011

In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine writes to a group of other American diplomats that "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."

The exchange, provided by former U.S Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker as part of his closed-door deposition before multiple House committees Thursday, shows what appears to be encrypted text messages he exchanged with two other American diplomats in September regarding aid money President Donald Trump ordered to be held back from Ukraine.

Is this enough proof for our Conservative posters?

- Doc

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

For anyone following the story here is a decent article that the 'rough transcript' is essentially a manipulated document to downplay Trump's conversation with the Ukrainian President.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... ar-AAIcuCU

I guess I'm only posting this stuff so when the inevitable claims of an illegal impeachment, or a coup, or whatever other nonsense Republican partisans post here we can at least understand they were afforded every opportunity to make an informed decision to remain uninformed.

- Doc

[_Icarus]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-diplomat-ukraine-crazy-withhold-security-sasistance-political/story?id=66039011

In newly disclosed text messages shared with Congress, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine writes to a group of other American diplomats that "I think it's crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign."

The exchange, provided by former U.S Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker as part of his closed-door deposition before multiple House committees Thursday, shows what appears to be encrypted text messages he exchanged with two other American diplomats in September regarding aid money President Donald Trump ordered to be held back from Ukraine.

Is this enough proof for our Conservative posters?

- Doc

Jesus. I go see the Joker, come back and there is even more incriminating news for President.

[_EAllusion]

Those texts are so dead to rights.

Knowing that Republicans are going to acquit Trump is making me increasingly uneasy. It's almost bad that he's being caught this red-handed, because when no consequences happen for it, the signal that he is free to be a tyrant is going to be even more crystal clear.

[_Icarus]

Those texts are so dead to rights.

Knowing that Republicans are going to acquit Trump is making me increasingly uneasy. It's almost bad that he's being caught this red-handed, because when no consequences happen for it, the signal that he is free to be a tyrant is going to be even more crystal clear.

The Volker texts are especially incriminating. The House Democrats are carefully and meticulously building a strong case against Trump and there is nothing he can do about it because insiders are cooperating with the investigation and with each passing day there is more incriminating evidence and more witnesses who can be interviewed. Trump will be impeached, no doubt about that anymore. And it drives him nuts.

It is going to be interesting to see how the Trump sycophants like McConnell and Graham respond to all of this after assuring us with absolute certainty that there was no "there there" with respect to this whistleblower. I'd be stunned if more Republicans don't defect from Team Trump after this week.

Scope Of Trump’s Ukraine Scheme Comes Into Focus As New Reports Emerge

Trump Envoys Pushed Ukraine to Commit to a Biden Inquiry and Go Public With It

What happened today

The Times has learned that two of President Trump’s top envoys to Ukraine drafted a statement for the country’s new president in August that would have committed Ukraine to pursuing investigations into Mr. Trump’s political rivals. The effort is more evidence that Mr. Trump’s fixation with Ukraine drove senior diplomats to bend U.S. foreign policy to the president’s political agenda.

People familiar with the statement told our reporters that the envoys — Kurt Volker, of the State Department, and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union — believed that Rudolph Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, was “poisoning” his mind about Ukraine, and that a public commitment to investigate would encourage Mr. Trump to more fully support the new government there.

Mr. Volker was interviewed today as the first witness in the House impeachment inquiry. He disclosed a set of texts in which Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, told him and Mr. Sondland, “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” After speaking with Mr. Trump, Mr. Sondland messaged that there was no quid pro quo, adding, “I suggest we stop the back and forth by text.”

On the South Lawn of the White House this morning, Mr. Trump publicly called on China to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden — flouting Democrats who are already investigating him for seeking electoral assistance from a foreign power in private.

The House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to suspend impeachment proceedings until she had answered questions about how she would include Republicans. The move is part of the G.O.P.’s nascent but aggressive impeachment defense of Mr. Trump. In a message sent to Republican lawmakers this morning, Mr. McCarthy accused Democrats of “trying to discredit democracy” and “undo the 2016 election.”

[_EAllusion]

I have very little confidence that sufficient numbers of Republicans will break to result in Donald Trump's removal. I think a solid majority support the President's right to be an autocrat so long as they are Republican and dissidents (correctly) perceive themselves to be in a hang together or hang separately situation as far as the politics goes.

Given just how bad it is and how blatant the evidence is, I don't foreclose this possibility, but I don't think it is at all likely. That after each revelation you get a wave of Republicans coming out repeating absurd talking points, even if they contradict recently offered ones, while right-wing media amplifies the same disinformation is a strong indicator of where this is headed.

As such, I think it makes sense to prepare for a world in which Trump is acquitted. And thinking about that, the fact that the behavior is very bad and the evidence is very clear is a signal to Trump and his allies about what they are able to get away with. We're on the precipice of authoritarian collapse. Not in some hypothetical, "if things continue" sense, but in a more immediate "this could be the end" sense.

This doesn't mean I think Trump will be installed dictator for life, no matter how much he winks and nods that he'd like that, but North Carolina style sham democracy with a strong, corrupt executive at the federal level is looking more and more likely by the day.

[_Icarus]

Oh I don't think there will be enough to convict him, but it certainly benefits the country heading into the 2020 election knowing that we're dealing with an incumbent who was impeached, not strictly along party lines. The more Republicans who side with the Democrats on this the better.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump- ... WPg-fmTVcc

[_subgenius]

I have very little confidence that sufficient numbers of Republicans will break to result in Donald Trump's removal.

Not even close to the +20 necessary will break because this Democrat investigation will even more impotent than Mueller's and thus the gigantic earth-shattering revelation necessary ain't coming. It would be surprising to see all the Democrats in Senate vote against Trump considering their districts' voters.

I think a solid majority support the President's right to be an autocrat so long as they are Republican and dissidents (correctly) perceive themselves to be in a hang together or hang separately situation as far as the politics goes.

Claiming "autocrat" is ignorant and childish...but good for the Democrat voter base.

Given just how bad it is and how blatant the evidence is, I don't foreclose this possibility, but I don't think it is at all likely. That after each revelation you get a wave of Republicans coming out repeating absurd talking points, even if they contradict recently offered ones, while right-wing media amplifies the same disinformation is a strong indicator of where this is headed.

Well, you have regurgitated this empty claim so many times over the past almost 3 years that it has lost all its teeth. How are you not embarrassed at how many times you have been wrong about American politics?...and your track record with "we got Trump this time" is becoming hilarious.

As such, I think it makes sense to prepare for a world in which Trump is acquitted. And thinking about that, the fact that the behavior is very bad and the evidence is very clear is a signal to Trump and his allies about what they are able to get away with. We're on the precipice of authoritarian collapse. Not in some hypothetical, "if things continue" sense, but in a more immediate "this could be the end" sense.

again, ignorant and childish to the adults in the room.

This doesn't mean I think Trump will be installed dictator for life, no matter how much he winks and nods that he'd like that, but North Carolina style sham democracy with a strong, corrupt executive at the federal level is looking more and more likely by the day.

geez... see ya in 2020.