Yesterday's release of documents provided to the House Intelligence Committee by Lev Parnas provided the strongest confirmation yet that the safari(s) to Ukraine by Trump consigliere Rudy "You Have a Fool For a Lawyer" Giuliani were specifically to 1) get Ukraine to announce an "investigation" of the Bidens for Trump's political advantage, in exchange for releasing military aid, 2) that Trump specifically authorized this "drug deal", and 3) that an associate/ stooge of Giuliani's named Robert Hyde told Parnas he had corruption- fighting U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovich under surveillance:
Here's the letter from Giuliani to President- elect Zelinsky presenting himself as operating with Trump's "knowledge and consent" in the next to last paragraph (click to enlarge):
Here are notes on Ritz-Carlton Vienna stationary written by Parnas and other documents detailing some of the quid pro quos that were underway.
Here's a little background on the aforementioned "menacing" Mr. Hyde (no relation to Dr. Jekyll, although he does seem to have some emotional issues).
Neal Katyal and Joshua Geltzer write on the importance of the documents to the upcoming impeachment trial:
... These new documents demolish at least three key defenses to which Trump and his allies have been clinging: that he was really fighting corruption when he pressured Ukraine on matters related to the Biden family; that Hunter Biden should be called as a witness at the Senate impeachment trial; and that there’s no need for a real, honest-to-goodness trial in the Senate.Let's once again thank Speaker Pelosi for delaying sending the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate, allowing for this additional damning evidence to become public at a crucial time.
2 comments:
I've said it before, but Pelosi is a boss, and she's been right all along. She has chosen a smart team of litigators to fight for impeachment and they will be a tough panel to face the Republicans.
My most fervent hope is that the evidence the Democrats have is solid enough to connect Trump directly to the criminal activity by Giuliani and his Ukrainian hitmen. I worry that Rudy Colludy and Parnas and the rest will all be prosecuted and Trump will be exonerated. Please let the facts bear out the Trump connections!
These are uneasy times. I remember how much we were relying on the Mueller Report to make a big change in the presidency and expecting something earthshattering, only to see it all peter out at the hands of Barr and others. And we've all seen how Moscow Mitch can force the Republicans to kowtow to Trump and kneel before him in fear.
We can only wait and see how it plays out.
donnah -- it's a good team (though I think Rep. Amash would have added something to the equation, but perhaps he was asked and declined).
A strong voter turnout in November has always been our best hope of ridding our country of the Orange Menace. What happens after he's gone... we can only hope Trump will face legal penalties for at least some of his many crimes. But it will take prosecutors and pols some spine to avoid the "let's get this behind us" sentiment that you can be sure some will raise, as they did at the end of the Bush presidency.
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