Category Archive

Greg Sargent talks to Rep. Adam Schiff about what’s coming from the impeachment inquiry: Public opinion is shifting precipitously against President Trump, with a new Post-Schar School poll showing that 58 percent of Americans support the House’s impeachment inquiry, and 49 percent support outright removal. But even more ominously for Trump, 62 percent say Trump’s pressure on the Ukrainian president, the topic … Read More

The news of a second whistleblower has the media abuzz. This whistleblower, unlike the first one, reportedly hand “firsthand” knowledge of the July 25 Trump-Zelensky phone call. I personally don’t think that is a big issue, unless Whistleblower #2 can talk about things that came up that (for some nefarious reason) did not come to light in the non-transcript “transcript” … Read More

From yesterday.  It is very unconvincing in several places, particularly read in conjunction that makes it clear there was a quid pro quo tied to security assistance and aid. Most charitably, it reads like the narrative of someone whose intentions were good, but in denial about his actions in service of an ultimate outcome — the continued provision of aid … Read More

I don’t understand this story, so bear with me. The cryptically worded request marked urgent from the State Department’s independent watchdog set Congress on edge. The message, according to Steven A. Linick, the department’s inspector general, was that he needed to meet — and right away — with senior congressional staff members to give them copies of documents related to … Read More

It’s not complicated. He is just plain dumb. He really is. Shortly after taking office, Donald Trump asked his aides whether Ukraine, and not Russia, might have hacked Democratic National Committee emails as part of a false-flag operation. Then–Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert tried to stop the idea in its tracks. “It’s not only a conspiracy theory, it is completely debunked,” … Read More

Many developments in the past 12 hours. Let’s start with Trump: 11 tweets in the last hour. 12 if you count the one he delooted. — The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) October 2, 2019 Yeah, he’s been busy. I will get to the “delooted” tweet in a moment ….People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and … Read More

Mere minutes ago, Trump tweeted this: He’s still with this perplexing defense. It doesn’t matter that the whistleblower had second hand information about the call. We’ve now seen the transcript of the call, and IT IS TROUBLING. How we got here is irrelevant. But even then, the House committees will talk to first hand sources about the call, and there … Read More

Today’s Atlantic: Even among the president’s closest allies, Giuliani is now the subject of scorn. When I reached him by phone this morning, following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s release of the full whistle-blower complaint at the center of the Ukraine scandal, he was, put simply, very angry. “It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m … Read More

The whistleblower complaint has been released, and it alleged what we already know about (Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine to investigate Biden), plus more. It talks about how the White House handled records of the conversation and perhaps other conversations. Essentially, the complaint alleges that the White House would “lock down” words of the transcript. The whistle-blower, moreover, identified multiple … Read More

Around the same time, the Justice Department released three important bits of news. First, the DOJ revealed that the inspector general for the intelligence community referred the matter to the Justice Department for a possible criminal campaign violation, but the DOJ judged it was not a campaign finance violation and took no action. According the NY Times, both the Inspector General and … Read More