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Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
This is huge. The whistleblower complaint explicitly says that White House officials concluded that they had witnessed Trump "abuse his office for personal gain."

And then, *after that,* White House officials covered it up:
It gets even worse. The whistleblower also explicitly says White House officials recounted that they were "directed" by *White House lawyers* to remove the transcript of the call from its typical means of storage!
All of this points to the big question here:

What happens when law enforcement officials charged with defending our country conclude that a leading threat to our free and fair elections is the president himself?

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Quite a headline:
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More from @ThePlumLineGS see all

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Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
Strong case from @brianbeutler that Democrats must not narrow, limit, or rush their impeachment inquiry:

crooked.com/articles/democ…
@brianbeutler Also see this argument from @ryanlcooper. There's a strong *legal* and *political* case for a broad inquiry:

theweek.com/articles/86824…
And see this follow up from @brianbeutler in which he urges Democrats to recognize their own role in pushing Trump to the precipice, which should embolden them further:

crooked.com/articles/ukrai…
Read 3 tweets
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Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
The key to the big WaPo scoop breaking now isn't just that Trump told Russians that he was unconcerned about them interfering in the election.

It's also that White House officials manipulated the classification system to bury it:

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
Another key point about the WaPo scoop: WH officials were "distressed" about the corruption on display in Trump's lack of concern about Russian interference.

But officials buried it, anyway.

That is exactly what whistleblower reported re Ukraine call.

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
In this context, a reminder: When White House officials stashed Trump's call with the Ukrainian president on the super secret server, it was a much more serious abuse of power than it first appears, once you peel back the layers of what that really means:

Read 3 tweets
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Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
The big story looming in the background of the whistleblower revelations is that Trump isn't operating in our country's interests.

I talked to former Obama national security adviser @nedprice, who explained the latest developments.

It's alarming stuff:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
@nedprice The core legal question is whether the whistleblower's complaint concerns an act that "relates" to intelligence activity.

It's easy to envision Trump phone calls with Putin or Kim Jong Un that would relate to intelligence activity.

For example:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
@nedprice One other point:

In light of the latest revelations, it's worth recalling that Trump went to great lengths to keep details of his conversations with Putin from top advisers.

And his aides have moved to limit readouts on his calls with foreign leaders:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Read 4 tweets

Related threads

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Dr. Dena Grayson
@DrDenaGrayson
🚨BREAKING: #Whistleblower complaint is released, showing that @realDonaldTrump and his cronies–Rudy Giuliani and AG Bill Barr–abused the power of his office to EXTORT #Ukraine.

And then they tried to COVER IT UP.🤬

{THREAD}

#Ukrainegate
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
@realDonaldTrump Here's a link to the FULL #whistleblower complaint.

washingtonpost.com/context/read-t…
@realDonaldTrump The #whistleblower reports an "urgent concern" that @POTUS is "using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election...Rudolph Giuliani is a central figure in this effort. AG Barr appears to be involved as well."🔥

#Ukrainegate
Read 17 tweets
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Cindy Otis (Pre-order TRUE OR FALSE now!)
@CindyOtis_
Whistleblower complaint: intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…
(Remember, it includes only unclassified information.) WB says the information comes from MULTIPLE intelligence officials who brought them their concerns separately. Says they're concerned Trump's "actions pose risks to U.S. national security and undermine" election security.
The WB walks through Trump's asks on the Zelensky call re: Biden and explains exactly why Trump brought up Crowdstrike.
Read 11 tweets
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RynheartTheReluctant
@TheRynheart
‘House Intelligence Committee Releases Whistleblower Complaint’

(Declassified copy)

lawfareblog.com/house-intellig…
‘There was already a “discussion ongoing” with White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials’ retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain’
‘White House officials told me that they were “directed” by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system’
Read 5 tweets
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Tim Mak
@timkmak
Whistleblower complaint:

"I have received information... that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election."

intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…
"This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals," the whistleblower writes, naming Giuliani and AG Barr

intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…
The whistleblower cites "more than a half dozen officials" who have provided him/her with the info.

"I was not a direct witness to most of the events described."

intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…
Read 9 tweets
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Shane Harris
@shaneharris
The whistleblower complaint has been released. Unclassified version. intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/…
The WB says he/she based the complaint on information and conversations provided by "more than half a dozen U.S. officials."
Alleged: "the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election"
Read 9 tweets
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Julie Laumann🆘
@Otpor17
As @RitaKonaev notes, "Mattis had no problem disagreeing w/Obama about transgender people in the military or women in combat but won’t criticize Trump for asking foreign powers for dirt about political opponents.

This isn’t about him being above politics. This is his politics."
Excellent point here, and makes you wonder why Mattis' deference to the commander-in-chief is selectively applied in this manner 🤔
7 freshman House Ds, all with natsec experience: "If true, we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense ...

We call on our colleagues in Congress to consider the use of all congressional authorities available, including inherent contempt."
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Read 71 tweets

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