Emails Show Trump Asked About Ukraine Aid Before Zelensky Call
Category: News & Politics
Via: sister-mary-agnes-ample-bottom • 5 years ago • 133 commentsBy: Daniel Flatley
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
New documents show President Donald Trump asked about U.S. military aid to Ukraine a month before the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that went on to trigger the impeachment investigation into Trump.
The heavily-redacted documents, obtained under a Freedom of Information request by the Center for Public Integrity, also show that administration officials ordered a hold on the aid about an hour after the leaders’ call on July 25.
Trump asked about a June 19 article in the Washington Examiner newspaper referencing the aid. Michael Duffey, an official at the Office of Management and Budget, wrote to the Pentagon requesting more detail about the funding, according to an email from Duffey to the Pentagon comptroller.
“The President has asked about this funding release, and I have been tasked to follow-up with someone over there to get more detail.”
An email from Duffey to Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist on July 25, shortly after the Trump-Zelensky phone call, expressed uneasiness about the hold.
“Given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know,” Duffey wrote.
Duffey, an OMB official working on national security issues, is one of four witnesses Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has requested for the pending Senate trial of Trump on two articles of impeachment passed by the House of Representative this week.
Schumer met with Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday to discuss the terms of a trial. The meeting ended in an impasse before Congress broke for the holidays.
Schumer “made clear to Senator McConnell that the witnesses and documents are necessary to ensure a fair trial in the Senate,” spokesman Justin Goodman said. McConnell has been pushing for a process that likely won’t include any witnesses.
The other officials Schumer has requested are Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, John Bolton, the former national security adviser who left the administration in September, and Robert Blair, an adviser to Mulvaney.
The House adopted two articles of impeachment against Trump Wednesday following an investigation into allegations that the president withheld military aid from Ukraine in an effort to extract politically damaging information about a domestic political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The historic votes Wednesday won the support of almost all Democrats in the House chamber but not a single Republican, leaving Trump as only the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Saturday on Twitter that the new documents, which CPI -- a non-profit investigative journalism organization -- reported late Friday, show that the internal notes show Trump’s “direct involvement” in the matter.
Murphy later seemed to concede that the documents, while important, were just the latest piece of evidence in a months-long inquiry spearheaded by House Democrats that still seems certain to end in Trump’s acquittal by the Republican-controlled Senate, some time in early 2020.
“Frankly it’s just the 77th piece of evidence confirming the same thing,” Murphy said in a reply to Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat.
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Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said Saturday on Twitter that the new documents, which CPI -- a non-profit investigative journalism organization -- reported late Friday, show that the internal notes show Trump’s “direct involvement” in the matter.
The Chosen One and his pallies might have a problem finding a spin for this one.
They won't have to spin it. Their supporters don't care. They have ignored everything this President has done that if it were any other person (democrat) they would have raised their pitchforks and grabbed their ropes and demanded accountability.
I spoke with my mother this evening and she said she is so worried. She doesn't feel like this is america anymore. She's right, it's not America. It's the land of corruption and white nationalists, aka Trump's America.
It's a good thing liberals tend to not be assassins.
It's too bad the House was in such a rush to write up the articles of impeachment and vote on it. That was the time to go through everything and make a case. They promised impeachment 3 years ago. They delivered. That was really all they wanted.
Promises made. Promises kept.
Hey sister: Let's raise a glass; Here's to the hate filled left!
What would Trump say if he knew you drank? Besides, I have 2 weeks left in my chemo cycle and can't tolerate even a sip of alcohol. However, I do have the bong loaded and ready to go. So...let's blast one in honor of our President to prove that it really is easy to find a happy medium.
not sure weve met but my thinkin is to always have two bongs loaded an redy to go. one fer me and the other fer me later. sorry to hear yer havin a tough time round the holy days but im sure yule be fine. positiv thinkin, always da way to go.
And moreover, simpletons can only digest information and facts in small doses. Otherwise there would have been pages full of Trump AND his Administration's wrong doing.
Dear Friend SMAAB: I am here for you.
24/7.
Please use my personal email for privacy.
P&AB.
Enoch.
No worries, it's just the tail-end of a little maintenance.
Happy holidays to you and your family as well.
Something tells me we have...
one fer me and the other fer me later.
Ha!
Fastest karma delivery ever. I'm already feeling like a million bucks. Of course I'd rather have a million bucks.
Check your email later.
Much love to you my sweet Sister, and best wishes for a good recovery.
Maintenance or not, I'm in your corner sister.
hope the maintenance is all that's needed and you feel better
treatment won't be complete without a laying of hands upon you by rev. devangelical
not sure the Good Sister swings that way,
but believe your intentions to be genuine, and positive.
Now me, i'm positive like HIV, but spelled differently, asz eye due, on any not Oh Kassion,
use you lee, have something wrong to say, so i said it.
I'm with U, wishin the good sister gets well soon, and all have a good "Doc" ter less Holiday,
Also a prayer possibly or r.t..b...for his wife, and the good Enoch.
.
To the silly string haired mental midget, and his incessant defenders of any and all, how can your P brain minds remain so damn small.
How do you guys EXCUSE EVERYTHING, this POS potUS does ?????
It's a sickness of sum sort
N plenty thinking individuals are Damn Sick of it, them, and Trumpp. He neeeds to be PUTIN AWay
not Put In our way
email from Nigeria on it's way...
other than that, best wishes for you on this maintenance. Really hope that it all goes well. My daughter recently found out that after 7 years her breast cancer has returned and goes in for surgery on the 3rd. All I can say is CANCER SUCKS!!!
Dear Friend SMAAB: Just did.
Check yours.
Warmest of cyber hugs.
P&AB (and check please).
Enoch.
luv ya Sis!
Trump obstructed Congress and prevented a lot of people from testifying, since he knew they would incriminate him. Including Duffey. Imagine that.
Best of luck to your wife... thinking only the best thoughts to keep the waves positive... no negative waves allowed.
Not really but it makes a good sound bite. Trump told them not to testify but did not prevent them as there were several that did go testify. Trump is allowed to use Executive Privilege, his is a co-equal branch of the federal government. The rules are laid out, congress should have used the 3rd branch of the government to resolve the issue but they didn't.
As far as calling for witnesses in the Senate trial, McConnell has already said he would like to use the same process that was used for Bill Clinton where the House presents its case and then with a bi-partisan vote the Senate then decides on other witnesses and document subpoenas. I don't see why that is such an issue.
Snuffy and r.t..b wishing positive outcomes to your daughter and wife.
So the Legislative branch is superior to the Executive branch? I thought they were equal branches.
prevented a lot of people from testifying
Yup, just as Obama did during the "fast & furious" inquiry. It's called "Executive Privilege" and when the President and congress are at odds over it, we should allow the Court to weigh in.
since he knew they would incriminate him
It must be, huh?
Perhaps that's because you and McConnell are making a false equivalency between Clinton's trial and Trump's.
Every subpoena for witnesses and documents was complied with by time the House took up impeachment for Clinton. Not so with Trump.
Every one of the witnesses were deposed during the Clinton investigation, INCLUDING Clinton. That is not true with Trump.
So the Senate already had transcripts from ALL of the witness depositions AND Grand Jury testimony. In short, they had a couple of additional questions for witnesses but they already knew the bulk of their testimony.
Ironically, a Senate panel deposed a couple of witnesses who had already given testimony for the investigation BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and they played the tape of those depositions rather than calling LIVE witnesses to testify to the whole Senate during the trial.
Since the Executive takes an oath to 'take care that the laws are faithfully executed' law subpoena's should be complied to.
Nope, over 7000 documents were released for the "fast & furious" inquiry and Holder held back DOCUMENTS, not testimony.
Fail.
Executive Privilege actually has to be formally invoked and for specific persons and documents. There is no such thing as 'blanket Executive privilege'.
Oh and then there is the little fact that Executive Privilege cannot be used to hide wrongdoing.
Unfortunately you never pass the shoe's on the other foot test. Had it happened with Obama you'd be telling us why it was technically so different - not that it would have EVER have happened to Obama. Obama knew how to deal with whistleblowers he prosecuted no less than eight leakers under the Espionage Act.
Nope
Oh, but YES
"The House Oversight Committee let loose with a scathing assessment of Eric Holder in a recent report, accusing the Barack Obama-era attorney general of outright misleading Congress on its investigation of the “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal.
And get this. Among the report’s 300 pages is the committee’s finding that Holder regarded the family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry as a “nuisance.”
Executive Privilege actually has to be formally invoked and for specific persons and documents.
I know that is the official progressive line, but the Courts have already begun taking it up:
"The decision by the Supreme Court to review the lower court rulings involving congressional and prosecution subpoenas directed toward President Trump undercuts the second article of impeachment that passed the House Judiciary Committee along party lines last week.
That second article of impeachment charges President Trump with obstruction of Congress for refusing to comply with the congressional subpoenas in the absence of a final court order. In so charging him, the House Judiciary Committee has arrogated to itself the power to decide the validity of subpoenas, and the power to determine whether claims of executive privilege must be recognized, both authorities that properly belong with the judicial branch of our government, not the legislative branch. The House of Representatives will do likewise, when it votes to approve the articles, as the chamber is expected to do so Wednesday."
Your whataboutism is a test you fail, not I.
Trump is the first and only one to claim a blanket Executive privilege.
NO whistleblower, as defined by the Whistleblower Protection Act, has EVER been prosecuted under the Espionage Act. So as with so many of your posts, your little fantasy scenario is bullshit.
Oh butt NO. You claimed that the withheld TESTIMONY yet try to support your claim with links and statements about DOCUMENTS. As usual, you're incapable of supporting what you ACTUALLY said so you deflect...
That's pretty fucking hypocritical after you cited the Holder case. Was THAT the 'official progressive line' then too?
Oh and BTW, fuck Allen Dershowitz and his 'opinion'.
Oh, as defined by the WB Protection Act! Is that going to be the game today?
Here for anyone interested:
(Washington, DC) – On April 3, 2012, the Obama administration indicted intelligence whistleblower John Kiriakou. Kiriakou is the sixth whistleblower that the Obama administration has charged under the Espionage Act for the alleged mishandling of classified information – more than all past administrations combined. In a rare move, the indictment was sealed until today.
I love your handle.
Dosen't he just gall ya?
So sorry for you.
You're the game player Vic. You prove it by trying to make the false equivalency of the WB who Trump is after and John Kiriakou, who pled GUILTY of disclosing the identity of a fellow CIA agent.
John Kiriakou NEVER applied for WB protection.
In short, your post is just MORE bullshit.
That was your fuckin Obama FBI at work. He was prosecuted for releasing classified information. He was exposing the thing Obama would later call torture - "waterboarding."
"He warned Snowden to anticipate FBI officials wearing clandestine listening devices who may attempt to betray and entrap him into making comments that, heard out of context, would seem incriminating."
Oh, my, Dosen't that have a familiar ring to it?
Do you ever post anything that is fact based Vic?
Kiriakou was in the CIA, NOT the FBI and he outed a CIA agent and CIA torture.
Secondly, Obama wasn't the only one who acknowledged that waterboarding IS torture. John McCann comes to mind.
BTFW, is there any American left that trusts any LEO in this country? From the street cop to the FBI and CIA, they LIE to you, we all know that. They're allowed to lie, the SCOTUS ruled on that long ago. So I hardly think that Kiriakou's warning to Snowden was a fucking revelation.
If you hear a familiar ring, then it's between the Obama and the Trump FBI.
We know he was in the CIA. It was the FBI who traced the leaks back to him.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, who was appointed Special Attorney in 2010 to supervise the investigation, said, “I want to thank the Washington Field Office of the FBI and the team of attorneys assigned to this matter for their hard work and dedication to tracing the sources of the leaks of classified information.”
Secondly, Obama wasn't the only one who acknowledged that waterboarding IS torture. John McCann comes to mind.
So what? It was president Obama who banned it!
is there any American left that trusts any LEO in this country?
For the past 3 years the American left has saluted Obama's weaponized FBI. On these very pages Iv'e heard them praise Comey and McCabe simply because they did their duty and/or eluded indictment.
There you go with your 'we' crap again.
Point?
The FACT is, he wasn't a whistleblower as defined under the Whistleblower Protection Act and Obama did NOT prosecute anyone that was. You can keep trying and failing to deflect from that fact ad nauseam but it will still be a fact.
Yes he did and he brought the US back into compliance with the Geneva Conventions by doing so.
Oh and BTFW, despite all of Trump's blather and bluster, he hasn't revoked Obama's EO.
Anyone that knows the slightest thing about the history of the FBI knows that it has been 'weaponized' since it's inception.
You sound triggered..
The FACT is, he wasn't a whistleblower as defined under the Whistleblower Protection Act and Obama did NOT prosecute anyone that was.
To the contrary, the FACT is that Obama prosecuted 8 of them AND he had reporters SPIED on!
Yes he did and he brought the US back into compliance with the Geneva Conventions by doing so.
Only if you believe "waterboarding" is defined as torture.
Oh and BTFW, despite all of Trump's blather and bluster, he hasn't revoked Obama's EO.
Oh, BTFW, Trump wouldn't, since he has no vested interest in "waterboarding". That belongs to the Bush administration. Bush's EO was countered by Obama's EO.
Oh and BTFW, Gina Haspel, the new CIA Director had a direct involvement in the "Waterboarding" program.
Anyone that knows the slightest thing about the history of the FBI knows that it has been 'weaponized' since it's inception.
Nope. It was the radical Obama who politicized just every agency of government. (Hoover & co were not politicized. They acted on their own).
You're hearing things.
Do you think that repeating the same lies ad nauseam makes them any less lies Vic?
Since Japanese soldiers were tried, convicted and HUNG for torture, including waterboarding, it's pretty fucking clear that waterboarding IS defined as torture AND war crimes.
But Trump said:
Sounds like Trump was pretty interested in waterboarding before you guys elected him. Just another unkept 'promise'?
Trump's CIA Director...
You said weaponized, NOT politicized Vic. Defecting again.
They kept one. I wouldn't exactly call that success.
That's why I posted the link, which you have avoided like the plague.
it's pretty fucking clear that waterboarding IS defined as torture AND war crimes.
Actually it's not, particularly the version which the CIA used to garner valuable information. It was a judgement call by the US government.
Sounds like Trump was pretty interested in waterboarding before you guys elected him. Just another unkept 'promise'?
Sorry, he never ordered the CIA to reinstate "waterboarding.' You know what he was thinking though. It's not surprising that you would attempt to smear Trump with "waterboarding." For other progressives it would be a new low.
Trump's CIA Director...
His choice. He never really had a chance to have good solid lists of prospective candidates when he came to Washington DC. The never Trump establishment Republicans didn't want to serve him in the beginning. Let's hope Haspel can be trusted, though I doubt it.
You said weaponized, NOT politicized Vic.
I know. I'm saying both.
Defecting again.
That's part of your routine.
Yet you've yet to post ANYTHING that prove what you claimed. Obama NEVER prosecuted a whistleblower as defined by the Whistleblower Protection Act. PERIOD, full stop.
Bullshit.
It was poor judgement by an out of control government.
Of course you are.
I'm just posting Trump's own words. If that 'smears' him, it's on him.
Wow, you're dissing Pompeo [among many others] pretty bad there Vic.
Sure you are Vic.
Of late, yours seems to be 'I'm rubber, you're glue'.
I certainly did. And BTW those whistleblowers had first hand knowledge, which was the rule before the lefties changed it so the current WB could qualify!
Bullshit.
That's not really a defense. I thought that by now you'd have a section of the Geneva Convention covering the specific definition of "waterboarding."
It was poor judgement by an out of control government.
Which? The decision by the CIA to use the new version of Waterboarding or the decision by lefties in government to declare torture?
Of course you are.
Fortunately for the progressives, I'm not the President.
I'm just posting Trump's own words.
No, you are doing more than that. This President dosen't belong in a conversation about Waterboarding. Only the President who approved it - George W Bush and the one who declared it "torture", our own radical-in-chief Barak Obama.
Wow, you're dissing Pompeo [among many others] pretty bad there Vic.
I'm not dissing Pompeo. You have forgotten the days of the transition, when Donald Trump had trouble getting any veteran establishment State Department professionals willing to serve him. Pompeo wasn't Trump's first Secretary of State - It was a business acquaintance, remember? Someone who had no experience at the State Department. And when the President elect was asked about his foreign policy advisers, you may recall, Trump in a rare moment of nervousness replied with two names nobody was very familiar with - George Papadopoulos and Carter Page. From that moment on the media began their treachery against both.....and the rest is history.
Of late, yours seems to be 'I'm rubber, you're glue'.
The only "glue" seems to be mine and I will refrain from adding the rest of that.
The link you posted refutes your own claim Vic.
No rule has been changed Vic. That bullshit has been debunked here multiple times, why repeat it?
Actually, it's all the 'defense' that I need to combat 'Nuh uh'.
First of all, the CIA didn't use a 'new version of Waterboarding'. There is no 'new version' of dumping water into the mouth and nose of a bound captive to simulate drowning Vic.
Secondly, it wasn't the CIA's call. Bush ordered the OLC to give him cover and they complied with the order.
Why? Under a Vic Presidency, would merely being a progressive qualify one for waterboarding?
Nope, I quoted Trump verbatim. Sure, you can say Trump's own words implied that he would do more but his sycophants have accepted his inaction on this matter.
Why not? Trump made promises he hasn't kept.
Oh wait, I almost forgot. Trump's promises don't matter because IOKIYAR.
Blah, blah, blah.
I suppose that would be relevant if we were taking about the State Dept. but since we were taking about the CIA, it's just more deflection.
Sister, there has been a NEW release of the same documents which are NOT redacted nearly as much as the first traunch. Here is an article about the newly unredacted information.
The facts exposed are FAR worse than previously known and the DOJ has NO excuse for redacting what they did.
Ok folks, since SMAAB is not available
and y'all can't seem to talk about the topic,
just each other,
this is locked.