From the Times scoop by Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt:
President Trump told his national security adviser in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until officials there helped with investigations into Democrats including the Bidens, according to an unpublished manuscript by the former adviser, John R. Bolton.
The president’s statement as described by Mr. Bolton could undercut a key element of his impeachment defense: that the holdup in aid was separate from Mr. Trump’s requests that Ukraine announce investigations into his perceived enemies, including [the two Bidens].
So why hasn’t Bolton testified? The trumpies told him not to of course but they can’t stop him. He doesn’t work for them any more.
Mr. Bolton’s explosive account of the matter at the center of Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial, the third in American history, was included in drafts of a manuscript he has circulated in recent weeks to close associates. He also sent a draft to the White House for a standard review process for some current and former administration officials who write books.
Oh, I see, well that’s quite different. He has a book to sell. Of course that’s far more important than the survival of Ukraine and the survival of the US with Donald Trump still squatting in the Oval Office. Never mind then Mister Bolton, you go right ahead and put yourself first.
Over dozens of pages, Mr. Bolton described how the Ukraine affair unfolded over several months until he departed the White House in September. He described not only the president’s private disparagement of Ukraine but also new details about senior cabinet officials who have publicly tried to sidestep involvement.
New details about how courageous and public-spirited they are?
For example, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged privately that there was no basis to claims by the president’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani that the ambassador to Ukraine was corrupt and believed Mr. Giuliani may have been acting on behalf of other clients, Mr. Bolton wrote.
Yet now he’s bullying Mary Louise Kelly for asking him about it. What a tower of integrity.
Mr. Bolton also said that after the president’s July phone call with the president of Ukraine, he raised with Attorney General William P. Barr his concerns about Mr. Giuliani, who was pursuing a shadow Ukraine policy encouraged by the president, and told Mr. Barr that the president had mentioned him on the call. A spokeswoman for Mr. Barr denied that he learned of the call from Mr. Bolton; the Justice Department has said he learned about it only in mid-August.
And we know Barr would never lie about anything.
Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said the Bolton manuscript underscores the need for him to testify, and the House impeachment managers demanded after this article was published that the Senate vote to call him. “There can be no doubt now that Mr. Bolton directly contradicts the heart of the president’s defense,” they said in a statement.
Republicans, though, were mostly silent; a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, declined to comment.
Nothing makes any difference; nothing ever will make any difference. They’re all criminals and they know it and they’re not going to stop.
Comments
13 responses to “It’s in the book”
Just goes to show he was working for the perfect boss. They both know where their priorities lay.
What amazes me most is the profundity of the cognitive dissonance involved in Trump land. All those God-fearing righteously religious folks out there who voted for Trump have had to square that off with his patently anti-Christian values, behaviour and code of living, summed up as ‘grab whatever takes your fancy’. It is all consistent no less with his being prophesied about in the Book of Revelation.
Yet, in their millions, they manage to do it. One hell of an achievement.
Literally. Even when one considers the main character of that book as alluding to Nero.
Trump after all has many similarities to Nero. Except that he does not, as far as I can gather, play any musical instrument.
Well, it is good to know that there are some genuine patriots about, blowing whistles as they should. Though perhaps Skeletor will think otherwise.
From Trump endorsed Fox news:
Does the censorship of the NSC qualify as “fake news” by omission? As thin-skinned as White House personnel is, wouldn’t anything that disagrees with their political agenda be considered “sensitive material?”
A couple of tidbits. First, Heather Cox Richardson has some interesting points about the timing (and if you haven’t been reading her daily, you should):
Second, Mitt Romney thinks that more Republicans will want to hear Bolton testify now.
Omar, #2:
Well, he’s always on the fiddle and constantly blows his own trumpet; don’t they qualify?
Also, there’s this from HCR’s post:
Concur re Heather Cox Richardson. I came across her on Twitter, and have been reading her daily emails for about a month now; I wish I’d encountered her sooner.
Jeez. Why haven’t I been reading her all along?
A mutual friend pointed me in her direction. She’s been the first thing I read every morning since the House hearings.
Nah. They’re too busy being offended that Adam Schiff pointed out that Trump threatened them all.
Acolyte @#6: I stand corrected. ;-)
My husband believes that there will be even more incentive not to hear him testify, because if he testifies, they have to be more blatant about their disregard for the law and the country when they acquit him.
Of course they will! Remember how angry they were when Bill Clinton lied to them…oh, wait. That was Bill Clinton, right? He wasn’t a Republican, right? (Though that was difficult to tell from many of the things he did while president). He wasn’t one of the club, right? And he had the utter gall to be married to that uppity Hillary, who doesn’t know her place and thinks it is okay for a woman to be competent, talented, intelligent, and ambitious.