Rudy to
the rescue: A day late and dollar short
(Whistleblower not a hero - I am)
Two-part story for
today follows after this my personal political philosophy: First and foremost, anyone in public office or public service owes loyalty to the country and the people and not to any one person or any group of persons, period.
And, if Trump or anyone in his administration does not and did not follow
the Constitution, our established laws, rules, and norms then what does
that leave us with especially since Speaker Nancy Pelosi said:
“Trump's actions clearly show
he betrayed his oath of office, national security, and the integrity of
elections.”
So, what would be left for us assuming all that is
true?
Simple: “Lawlessness” – no other word explains
that, in my view.
Now, the first story involves VP Mike Pence here
from
USA TODAY (via MSN):
WASHINGTON — The Ukraine scandal enveloping
President Trump's administration could provide the biggest test yet for
one of his most loyal soldiers. Vice President Mike Pence's name has surfaced
in the appendix of the explosive whistleblower report released this
week. And Trump pointed out on Wednesday (September 25, 2019) that Pence had his own
interactions with Ukraine's leaders.
That
from CNN here in part: New York (September 24, 2019) – VP Mike Pence was not supposed to be in Poland. Nevertheless,
on September 1, there Pence was, leaning over a vase of white flowers to listen
as the Ukrainian President vowed to “beat corruption and enact new reforms.”
Pence was filling in President Trump, who days earlier scrapped his trip to Warsaw to
meet with the Polish President and with that visit his first planned meeting
with the newly-elected Ukrainian leader
Volodymyr Zelensky. Instead, Trump stayed at home to monitor a hurricane
bearing down on the southeastern coast.
Also Note: Bolton was in that Pence-Ukraine meeting. He resigned, was actually forced out of office on September 10, 2019.
Regarding
all that, White House officials deny that Trump pressured Ukraine to do
anything and note that the whistleblower said he did not witness most
of the events described in the nine-page report.
The second and main story
is the whole Ukraine-Trump
Blackmail, Bribery Scandal and Cover-up from this very detailed, excellent, and
very comprehensive background
from Just Security.
Introduction to that very long
article: VP Mike Pence was about to finish a routine joint press conference with
Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, when he got two astutely specific questions about his meeting the previous
day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
The two questions were from
AP reporter Jill Colvin, who asked.
“Number one, did you discuss Joe Biden at all during
that meeting yesterday with the Ukrainian President?”
Pence answered that question
directly: “Well, on the first question, the answer is
no.”
His response to the second question
was more interesting.
He essentially demurred. But to decode the significance of Pence’s reply, it’s
important to understand the recent history of Ukraine and U.S. policy toward
the country.
From there, we can unpack what’s at the bottom of the
Trump-Giuliani efforts.
Now here is how Pence answered AP
reporter Jill Colvin’s second question:
“Number two, can you assure Ukraine that the hold-up of
U.S. security assistance to Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with efforts,
including by Rudy Giuliani, to try to dig up dirt on the Biden family?”
After
answering a simple “no” to the first question of whether he and Zelenskyy
discussed Biden, Pence continued, almost
as a caveat to the denial and with repeated references back to Trump saying:
“But we … discussed America’s support for
Ukraine and the upcoming decision the president will make on the latest tranche
of financial support in great detail. The president asked me to meet with
President Zelenskyy and to talk about the progress that he’s making on a broad
range of areas. And we did that. The United States has stood strong with
Ukraine and we will continue to stand strong with Ukraine for its sovereignty
and territorial integrity. But as President Trump had me make clear, we have
great concerns about issues of corruption.”
Major Update after all
this was ready to post from the BBC:
Ukraine's former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has
categorically rejected claims by Trump concerning Joe Biden.
Remember that Trump alleges without evidence that Biden
pressed for the sacking of the former Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, to
protect a business that employed his son Hunter Biden.
Klimkin also said prosecutor Shokin was indeed
sacked based on his corruption record, and even a number of Western bodies, including
the EU, had pushed for him to be sacked.
My 2 cents: Related
story … W/H attorneys ordered “lock-down and sealing of” of Trump phone calls.
A simple question: Why?
Not much to
add to all that except to say impeachment hearings could begin soon and be a
real “October surprise” …!!! Stay
tuned.
Thanks for
stopping by.
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