After yesterday's attacks on decorated war veteran Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman by cowardly and un-American Republican legislators who impugned his loyalty and honesty, it's hard to know how much lower they'll descend in their gutless defense of demagogue and Russian stooge Donald "Bone Spurs" Trump. Vindman uttered perhaps the most moving and meaningful phrase of the hearings after being asked why he was risking the wrath of Bone Spurs: "Here, right matters."
It was a symbol of the Rethugs' emptiness when their lead mugger, the sniveling Rep. Devin "Numbnuts" Nunes complained about being handed 15 minutes to question the witnesses, since he hadn't prepared another childish, Trump-lite rant against the hearings. He ended up passing the questioning off to squinting, human / ferret hybrid minority counsel Steve Castor. They've got nothing but smears, lies and deflection.
Today, Gordon Sondland, a Trumpist who purchased an ambassadorship and proceeded to muck around in Ukraine, will testify about the bribery / extortion scheme that he was in the middle of, having talked with both Trump and his inept and corrupt "lawyer" Rudy "Rudy Colludey" Giuliani about the shakedown. Let's see how the Rethugs treat Sondland, who has never served a day in the armed forces.
Here's the remaining schedule for hearings this week:
Wednesday morning
-- Gordon Sondland, one of the leaders in pressing Trump's extortion demands.
Wednesday afternoon
-- Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian affairs.
-- David Hale, undersecretary of state for political affairs.
Thursday
-- Fiona Hill, former NSC senior director for Europe and Russia, who, like Vindman, raised concerns about Trump's Ukraine dealings with the NSC counsel, only to watch a cover-up put in place.
-- David Holmes, State Department aide who overheard Sondland's phone call with Trump where Trump asked about the status of the Biden investigations.
UPDATE: You can read Sondland's opening statement here (pdf). In it, he confirms everyone from Trump down knew there was a quid pro quo trading a Biden investigation for a meeting at the White House and release of military aid, and that everything was ordered by Trump. Sondland is implicating SOS Pompeo, acting COS Mulvaney, and former DOE Sec. Perry in the "drug deal."
(photo: The three Trump stooges, l. to r., Nunes, Castor and Jordan)
2 comments:
I hope Sondland finally comes clean. It remains to be seen if his legal team has persuaded him to clam up or will let him answer the myriad questions waiting for him. He doesn't strike me as being the sharpest crayon in the box, and his lying skills are shaky at best. It depends, I suppose, on how deep the Trump loyalty lives within him. It would just help immensely if he made a clean breast of it.
I have errands to run today, so I won't be watching a lot of the testimonies going on. I hope the Democrats continue to make inroads into the investigation and connect more dots. It's got to be as exhausting for them as any work they've ever done.
donnah -- It looks like he wants to avoid being the fall guy by pointing to Trump, Giuliani and Pompeo as co-conspirators in the shakedown.
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