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| George Kent (L) and William Taylor (R) being sworn in apnews.com |
Hello Everyone:
It is Wednesday and time for the Impeachment Live and Nationwide edition of Blogger Candidate Forum. Before we jump in, a little election news. Yes, it is true. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is planning to jump into the Democratic nomination race. Mayor Bloomberg, the successor to Mayor. now Mr. Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is also throwing his hat into the ring. Governor Patrick, a political heir to former President Barack Obama, will file the necessary paperwork by Friday in order to appear on the New Hampshire ballot next year. Onward.
Day one featured testimony from Ambassador William Taylor and deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs George Kent. Both are career diplomats, who previously testified before the House Intelligence Committee during closed door hearings a few weeks ago.
Before we get started, The Candidate Forum has its diamond studded ear to the Twitter-verse. The latest being three hot rumors involving VPOTUS Mike Pence, acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson. According to the tweeting classes, the president is considering replacing VPOTUS Pence with former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. The tweeters believe that her newly released memoirs about her time in the Trump White House was an audition for the number two spot on the ticket. Second, Mr. Mulvaney may be on his last days in the White House. The president is said to be not happy with Mr. Mulvaney's job performance. Another firing rumor going around is Mr. Atkinson is on his last days on the job. The president is said to be extremely upset over the fact that Mr. Atkinson took the whistleblower's complaint seriously and passed it along to the House, i.e. his job. If the president's does fire Mr. Atkinson, it would be seen as obstruction of justice on the scale of his termination of FBI director James Comey. Again, these are the rumors. Back to Impeachment Live and Nationwide
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| House Intelligence Committee deadline.com |
During the five-and-half hour session, Mr. Kent and Ambassador Taylor testified that "they became increasingly alarmed over an 'irregular' effort to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations that would be benefit President Trump politically" (cbsnews.com; date accessed Nov. 13, 2019). The gentlemen illustrated "a monthslong effort led by the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and other U.S. diplomats that placed those foreign policy objectives in jeopardy" (Ibid). Ambassador Taylor and Mr. Kent said they eventually came to believe that the release of a critical military aid package worth nearly $400 million was dependent on a public announcement an investigation into alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election and Burisma energy company, that once employed former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter. Quick reminder, former VPOTUS is currently the Democratic nomination front runner.
| This week's marquee witnesses nbcwashington.com |
The big news item of the day was Ambassador Taylor's newest revelation (Ibid) in the narrative of Mr. Trump's pressure campaign. He said, "a member of his staff recently told him about a phone call he overheard between Mr. Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland in July, shortly after Mr. Trump urged the Ukrainian president to 'look into' the Biden" (Ibid).
He said that his staff member, David Holmes a political officer at the embassy in Kiev, heard the president ask Ambassador Sondland about the investigation. Mr, Holmes will appear before the Intelligence Committee on Friday, along side featured witness former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. The revelation of a second call complicates matters for the president. How, you may ask? Shall we have a look.
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| The President of Ukraine (L) and United States (R) cnn.com |
Ambassador William Taylor's big reveal came 90 minutes into the public phase of the House impeachment inquiry. During the bombshell testimony, Ambassador Taylor told Committee members,
Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which [Rudy] Giuliani was pressing for,... (theatlantic.com; date accessed Nov. 13, 2019)
Republicans defending the president have endlessly complained that much of the Democrats' case for impeachment hinges on second- or third hand information, hearsay, if you will. However, this phone call involves the president directly and presents more evidence that Mr. Trump sought to use U.S.
policy toward Ukraine for his own political gain. Not exactly hearsay.
News of a second phone call between President Volodymr Zelinksiy and Mr. Trump emerged last week. Mr. Trump announced last Friday, November 8, that he and President Zelinksiy spoke in April, months before the infamous July phone call. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Mr. Trump said,
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| The president speaking to reporters (four days ago) nationalreview.com |
In typical Trump fashion, the president went on to say that despite White House counsel's advice, he has no reservations about turning over the transcripts of the second call. He said,
I had a call, I'm sure it was fine. I make a lot of calls. But I have no problem releasing it. I'm very transparent,.... although he was concerned that doing so sets a bad precedent with foreign leaders who might be concerned with the privacy of future conversations with the United States (Ibid), adding, again, that was perfect call. (Ibid) More to come on Friday. Oh yes, one more thing
At the same impromptu press conference, Mr. Trump also announced he was considering an official visit to Moscow for its annual May Day military parade. He said,
I am certainly thinking about it,... It's a very big deal celebrating the end of the war,... I would love to go if I could,... (Ibid)
Think about that one for a minute, the President of The United States attending a May Day parade, in Moscow, at the height of the primary campaign season. Have a lovely evening or day
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