“Read the Transcript”

I don’t have a lot of time this morning, but I wanted to at least note how absolutely bewildering it is to me that Donald Trump continues to implore his followers to “read the transcript” when the document he’s referring to clearly demonstrates, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that military aid passed by Congress was being withheld from Ukraine until such time that an investigation into the Bidens was publicly announced. I get that he’s counting on the fact that most of his readers won’t actually read the document, which, by the way, says right on it that it’s “not a verbatim transcript,” but it just seems like an incredible gamble to keep drawing attention to it, especially when people like Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, have already testified under oath that the actual conversation between Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky was ever worse that what was recorded. I guess, at this stage in the game, it’s all that he’s got left. If everyone is pointing to the document in question, and talking about how it clearly demonstrates the existence of a quid pro quo, the only move he can make is to say that it was “perfect,” and invite people to read it themselves, while hoping against hope that, if they actually do, they’ll skip over the parts where Zelensky says his country desperately needs the funds in order to the purchase weapons necessary to keep the Russians at bay, only to have Trump respond, “I would like you to do us a favor, though.” It’s just amazing to me that we’ve allowed ti to come to this. I mean, just look at this video of people surrounding the President in Kentucky last night, wearing “Read the Transcript” t-shirts, and think about it for a moment, and what it says about just how far through the looking glass we’ve gone as a society. Approximately 45% of our fellow citizens are, quite literally, now residing in an upside-down, post-truth world constructed by Donald Trump, completely unmoored from reality. And that’s absolutely terrifying.

One last thing, as I have a few more minutes before my day has to begin… For those on the right who are arguing that, because Trump eventually freed up the military aid to Ukraine, there is no crime here, I would just like to remind you of the following sequence of events.

July 25, 2019: The phone call between Trump and Zelensky.

August 29, 2019: One day after Politico reported that the Trump administration was “slow-walking” the military aid to Ukraine, the Defense Department confirms that the Trump administration has in fact put a hold on the $250 million in aid appropriated by Congress.

September 3, 2019: A bipartisan group of senators sends a letter to White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, urging him to release the appropriated military aid to Ukraine. “This funding is crucial to the long term stability of Ukraine,” reads the letter from Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, Jeanne Shaheen and Richard Blumenthal, and Republican Senaors Rob Portman and Ron Johnson.

September 9, 2019: Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, notifies the House Intelligence Committee that, on August 12, he had received a whistleblower’s complaint relating to an “urgent concern.”.

September 10, 2019: White House national security adviser John Bolton submits his letter of resignation.

September 11, 2019: The Trump administration releases $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. This include both the $250 million that Congress had appropriated for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative for fiscal year 2019, and $141.5 million in security assistance through the State Department.

So, before you argue that Donald Trump didn’t break the law because the security aid to to Ukraine “in the end wasn’t with­held,” maybe you should take a second, look over the above timeline, and consider what it demonstrates… And remember, just because a cornered bank robber decides to return the money doesn’t mean that he didn’t commit a crime.

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18 Comments

  1. iRobert
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 8:16 am | Permalink

    I’m still wondering why anybody trusts the accuracy of any transcript. Why shouldn’t the public be allowed to hear the audio recording of the phone call?

  2. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 8:20 am | Permalink

    “if everyone is saying…”

    Do you seriously think that?

  3. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 8:23 am | Permalink

    By the way: Q is back. Definitely time to start stocking up on popcorn.

  4. anonymous
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    Confronted by a post full of facts HW responds with “Q is back” perfectly illustrating Mark’s point about the delusional right.

  5. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 8:55 am | Permalink

    That’s hilarious to selectively quote me like that to try to make such a lame point. I would post that one in Bark’s latest post about Q but the comment box is busted.

  6. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 8:58 am | Permalink

    You are the ones with the delusions. The Ukraine fairy tale is going the way of the Mueller trainwreck. The CIA and their nooz outlets are not “everyone”.

  7. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 9:18 am | Permalink

    ABC had it in the bag but squashed the Epstein story for three years and Amy Robach is pissed. “Who’s Jeffrey Epstein, Amy? Nobody knows who he is. It’s a stupid story.” Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Dershowitz…Yeah, it’s stupid. Nobody cares about all that.

    https://twitter.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1191716801178034180

  8. Kim
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 9:42 am | Permalink

    HW, are you of the opinion that it is OK for a President of the United States to use the power of his office in order to compel other countries to assist in his reelection efforts? A simple yes or no will suffice. Thank you.

  9. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 10:35 am | Permalink

    Do you think presidential candidacy confers immunity to criminal investigation? Do you think Joe and Hunter are on the up and up? How much did Hunter get from Ukraine and China? Do you think it is okay for a VP and son to fly to China and then two weeks later Chinese investors pour 1.5 billion into Hunter’s fledgling investment firm? Does Trump’s request for help in the Biden investigation actually equal what you said there?

    The Obama admin did to Trump exactly what you said. Ukraine was pressured to help Hillary Clinton by providing information on the Trump team. They paid a foreign agent to manufacture outrageous lies with nebulous Russian sources to smear him. They laid a honeypot trap for Papadopolous in coordination with Italian intelligence. It goes on and on and on.

  10. EOS
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 10:45 am | Permalink

    Kim,

    Do you think probable criminal activity needs to be overlooked once a person declares that they are running for office? A simple yes or no will suffice. Thank you.

  11. dogmatic dolt
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 10:56 am | Permalink

    Aloha Kim, all Trumpers can do is deflect. EOS know Trump is a corrupt evil person, but power and holding onto power is all that matters to him/her. You will never get an honest answer to any question from either of them. HW has to wait for Q to tell him how to think, and EOS, well EOS readily acknowledges Trump is evil–but it is all about controlling woman’s reproductive rights–nothing else matters.–pretty fucked up.

    If you know any Kentuckians, call them and encourage them to do the right thing and vote the Trumper governor out of office. That will be the best way to start convincing the 20 Republican Senators that they need to get on board and send Trump into the dustpan of history. The Trumpers count on low voter turnout. Anything to help get more voters to the polls is a blow against Trump.

  12. Jean Henry
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 11:00 am | Permalink

    I’ll answer for Kim: no.
    Same for a sitting prison.

    But Biden was investigated on this and found not at fault– twice, once while Trump was in office.

    So what I’m hearing from you EOS is that this impeachment process against the President is right and proper. yes?

  13. Jean Henry
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 11:01 am | Permalink

    *sitting president (gah)

  14. Jean Henry
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 11:02 am | Permalink

    you too HW. Glad to hear you guys are on board so long as Biden is investigated, and he has been. Phew that will make this forum a lot more interesting.

    Can we talk about real stuff now?

  15. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 11:03 am | Permalink

    “But Biden was investigated on this and found not at fault– twice, once while Trump was in office.”

    Links or did not happen.

  16. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 11:07 am | Permalink

    “So what I’m hearing from you EOS is that this impeachment process against the President is right and proper. yes?”

    You need yo ears check.

  17. Jean Henry
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 3:19 pm | Permalink

    “Do you think presidential candidacy confers immunity to criminal investigation?” — HW
    Do you think probable criminal activity needs to be overlooked once a person declares that they are running for office? — EOS

    If your answers are ‘no’ then you both must be ok with a sitting President being investigated. Had Hillary been elected, would you have wanted her to be free from possibility of investigation and impeachment?

    Didn’t think so.

    As for the Biden investigations, they were conducted within the investigations of Zlochevski and Burisma . These were done during Obama’s term by the US, England and the Ukraine are here. And there was a full review of the findings under Trump and a request to re-open the case. It was found there was not enough evidence of criminal wrong doing by either Biden.to proceed. So that was a review not an investigation. It may be that Trump wanted to get some information that had not been released by Ukraine on Burisma but he cannot ask for that and withhold aid in order to get it. Investigations are never really final if someone wants to keep re-opening them. Please ask yourself if this issue of corruption was worth Trump breaking the law. Then ask yourself why you are so concerned about Hunter Biden and not at all concerned that Trump’s kids and son in law have offices in the fucking Whitehouse.

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/08/will-hunter-biden-jeopardize-his-fathers-campaign

  18. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted November 5, 2019 at 5:57 pm | Permalink

    I was referring to Biden, dork. Kim’s premise and yours is Trump committed a crime by asking Ukraine to help with information on corruption in Ukraine by Biden. My point is it no crime by Trump. There is no law against properly investigating a former official whether they are running or not. In fact Ukraine is obligated by a treaty to help as I mentioned a while ago. It’s USA policy to demand intelligence from Ukraine and expect to get it.

    Trump is investigating corruption properly. The Obama admin committed treason by illegally spying on Trump. My ducks are in a row with these looming investigations. The impeachment sham will go nowhere.

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  1. […] were purposely omitted… So, while I’d like to do what the President wants, and “read the transcript,” I can’t. No one can. The actual transcript, which is must exist somewhere within the […]

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