We had no doubt that Resident Donald Trump, aka Putin’s Puppet, is a quid pro quo kind of felon. After everything else Trump has done for Putin, we watched him and Erdogan carve up the spoils of Syrian Kurdistan yesterday. How much quo does Putin get, anyway? But Trump wanted to be on the receiving end of the equation too, so he threatened Ukraine, making that nation’s survival contingent on manufacturing dirt on a Trump political rival. Yesterday, Bill Taylor offered so much proof that quid pro quo is a smoking gun.
The top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testified Tuesday that he had been told President Donald Trump would withhold military aid to the country until it publicly declared investigations would be launched that could help his reelection chances — including into former Vice President Joe Biden, according to a copy of Taylor’s opening statement obtained by CNN.
Taylor said he was told that “everything” Ukraine wanted — from a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hundreds of millions in security aid — was dependent on publicly announcing an investigation that included Burisma, the company that hired Biden’s son Hunter, and Ukraine’s alleged involvement in the 2016 election.
Taylor’s explosive testimony is likely to add fuel to Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into Trump and Ukraine, with Democratic lawmakers leaving the closed door session before three House committees declaring Taylor’s testimony was damning for the President. The testimony also undercuts White House assertions that there was no “quid pro quo” tying security assistance with the opening of an investigation, as Taylor says he was told repeatedly that the two were linked.
The opening statement from Taylor — 15 pages long — adds a detailed and meticulous accounting of the meetings Taylor had with senior US officials in which he says he learned how Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were pushing Ukraine to open an investigation into the Bidens and the 2016 election…
Inserted from <CNN>
Please click through for much mort info.
Of course, nobody can flesh out a story as well as Rachel Maddow does.
Diplomat Worried Trump Would Stiff Ukraine After Leveraging Favor
To read the full text of Bill Taylor’s opening statement, click here.
Trump, Pence, Pompeo, Barrf, Perry, and Giuliani are ALL clearly guilty!
As you can see, that gun isn’t just smoking. There’s a forest fire in that gun.
RESIST!!
12 Responses to “Quid Pro Quo is a Smoking Gun”
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Good post, Tom, explains alot of what’s going on.
Boy, talk about something hitting the fan, over & over!!
Damning testimony, very serious and grave issues here on the table now.
Wow!
I’ve been saying “extortion.” But it’s time – maybe past time – for me and all of us to start describing this transaction in the appropriate crime family language. This Ukraine affair was nothing more or less than a shakedown.
And I won’d say “attempted” shakedown, becaus President Zelenskyy has given Orange Judas the public statement he demanded.
Our best hope is that Zelenskyy decides to behave exactly the way Trump would, and reneges.
“…stiff Ukraine?” What else? It’s just how Dumpy has conducted business all his poor, essentially useless, frigging life. Do we have a shut and closed case against this master of the no-longer-swamp, but cesspool? Seems like it to me, unless , of course Bought Bitch Mitch gets into his act.
I wonder whether it would be better t have an open vote (with him probably acquitted, but we would know how each Senator voted) or a secret ballot (which would be far nire likely to convict, but we would never know which Republican Senators bucked the party.) I think I’d settle for not knowing myself.
I think I would prefer an Open Vote. Putting Republicans on Front Street would end a lot of their careers. If they can vote in secret they’ll plan out a way to come just short of removal. Then they could go home and say the voted whichever way voters in their individual states prefer to keep their jobs.
Good point.
We’re going to need lots of nails for tRump’s political coffin – but the more I hear about the Ukraine scandal, the more I’m sure it will provide plenty of nails!
The more career diplomats / civil servants are called before the commissions, the harder the gun smokes and the more nails for Trump’s coffin are found. Civil servants are usually frowned upon; they’re dull pencil-pushers, stuck to their protocols and single-minded interpretations of the rules. Now, these dullards are the ones who’ll save America’s democracy and constitution with their integrity and with their loyalty to their country, not their Mafioso boss.
Glad to see that we still have honest people like Bill Taylor who aren’t going to lie or hide facts like the dishonest leader wants them to. With all of this evidence that they have now on tRumpy, it should be all that they need to impeach, then lock him up for a long long time.
Thanks and Hurry Hugs to all!
Trump, Pence, Pompeo, Barrf, Perry, and Giuliani — May they all rot with Scalia! Ukraine does not deserved to be extorted like this! Putin, that’s another matter but then Putin would not put up with this type of BS.
