Profile picture
, 3 tweets, 2 min read
1) Trump's lawyers say soliciting foreign help in rigging the 2020 election is fine.

2) Trump says the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate.

Thus:

3) Trump's *explicit* position is that he is constrained by *no* legitimate mechanism of accountability:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
It looks like Trump's next move is to try to block Ambassador William Taylor from testifying as part of the impeachment inquiry.

That would be really, really bad.

Here's why:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Trump is openly and explicitly declaring absolute authority to solicit foreign interference in an election on his behalf.

But that's not all.

He's also corrupting large swaths of the federal government in service of that goal:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with Greg Sargent

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ThePlumLineGS see all

Profile picture
Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
The NYT has now established a crucial link.

Mulvaney has privately admitted freezing of military aid was meant to press Ukraine to investigate corruption.

I looked at the timeline. Mulvaney surely knew this really meant, "target Biden.' Quid, meet quo:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Giuliani and Trump repeatedly said as early as May that their goal was to get Ukraine to smear Biden.

Giuliani talked extensively about thi to NYT, and tweeted about it. Trump aired it on Fox News.

Mick Mulvaney knew all this when he froze military aid:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
When Mick Mulvaney carried out Trump's directive to freeze the military aid to Ukraine, he had already been in meetings for *months* with all of the ringleaders of Trump's scheme, in which they had extensively discussed what Trump actually wanted:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
The news about John Bolton leaves no doubt: Trump's defense in the Ukraine scandal is collapsing.

Trump keeps saying his pressure on the Ukrainian president was totally fine.

But we now know that just about *everyone* around him was horrified by it:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
A crucial point is getting lost.

Trump isn't merely claiming that pressuring Zelensky to investigate unspecified "corruption" is totally fine.

Rather, Trump's explicitly stated position is that pressuring Zelensky to *investigate Biden* is totally fine:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Why are some GOP Senators refusing to say whether it's okay to press a foreign leader to investigate a political rival?

Because Trump continues to insist this was the *correct* thing to do.

That has left them with no way to distance themselves from it:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Read 4 tweets
Profile picture
Greg Sargent
@ThePlumLineGS
The new WaPo scoop that Sondland will testify to a quid pro quo contains a big revelation.

Sondland came to believe military aid *was* being used as leverage to extract statement calling for investigations of Burisma.

If he testifies to this, it's big 1/
washingtonpost.com/world/national…
The story Sondland will push is he didn't know investigations about Burisma were an effort to get Ukraine to help Trump smear Biden.

That's laughable. The scheme was public for months.

But the point is, we don't need Sondland to say that. Trump mentions Biden on the call. 2/
And so, if Sondland connects the military aid to the demand for an investigation of Burisma, he's connected the money directly to the demand that Ukraine help Trump rig our election -- *even if* Sondland doesn't explicitly testify to the latter half. 3/3
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Friend or Foe?
@starknightz
1. President Trump’s First 1,000 Days: In Spite of Constant Harassment from Deep State and Dems, President’s Accomplishments are Historic, If Not MIRACULOUS! thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/presid… #Trump #Qanon #Trump2020 #WWG1WGA #News
2. Swing Voters In Ohio Focus Group Slam Democrats
– Say Impeachment Is Distraction From Important Issues thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/swing-… #Trump #Qanon #Trump2020 #WWG1WGA #News #DemDebate4
3. Tyrant Kamala Harris Calls 4 Twitter to Silence Trump, Delete His Account – Dems Continue to Crap on Bill of Rights

VOTER MEDDLING against her 'opponent', yet they scream about #Trump is meddling against 'opponent' BIDEN!

thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/tyrant… #Qanon #Trump2020 #News
Read 52 tweets
Profile picture
Karol Cummins
@karolcummins
💣B O O M💣

The same prosecutor Trump & Giuliani pressured Zelensky to hire (Lutsenko) to go after Biden’s son engineered Konstin Klimnik’s escape to RU to avoid Mueller’s charges.

And Pompeo’s DOS knew all about it; did TeamTrump facilitate the escape?

nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/…
A classified State Department assessment concluded in 2018 that Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko—who is at the center of the impeachment inquiry of President Trump—

nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/…
🔑Yuri Lutsenko had allowed a vital potential witness for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Konstantin Kilimnik, to escape from Ukraine to Russia, beyond the reach of the United States,

nybooks.com/daily/2019/10/…
Read 60 tweets
Profile picture
Monika Beyer
@Dragonfly_Drama
Trump is ‘Swinging a Wrecking Ball’ at the Senate GOP Firewall he needs for Impeachment: Nicolle Wallace rawstory.com/2019/10/trump-…
Trump’s foreign policy is threatening to destroy his Senate Republican firewall as the impeachment inquiry into his solicitation of foreign election interference heats up.

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace reported, “the president today finds himself cornered by twin ..
political calamities of his own making with the impeachment inquiry yielding the kind of evidence that turns the president’s defenders into Baghdad Bobs, the president opened up a new front today, throwing a grenade into his Senate Republican firewall by abandoning U.S. allies ..
Read 9 tweets
Profile picture
Paula Chertok🗽
@PaulaChertok
😨Ex CIA Bob Baer suggests the “urgent credible threat” in the whistleblower complaint (that DNI won’t give Congress) ”usually” has something to do w/ someone in White House setting up an illegal backchannel to a foreign govt, or some sort of corruption, discovered by CIA or NSA.
🚨>> Whistleblower complaint involves TRUMP’S communications with a foreign leader that included a “promise” regarded so troubling it prompted an official in the US intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general. washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
In the weeks before the “urgent & credible” whistleblower complaint about Trump’s “promise” to a foreign leader, he had interactions with:
1) Russia’s Putin that WH initiated
2) 2 “beautiful” letters from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un
3) Pakistan’s PM
4) Netherlands’ PM
5) Qatar emir
Read 42 tweets
Profile picture
Oeishik M.G. C. JD
@TributeProjects
A note on #impeachment -

In a court of law, under non-presidential circumstances, impeachment is a tool litigation attorneys use to discredit the opposing side's witnesses at trial. When said witness takes the stand under oath attys. present evidence contrary to what the witness
claims. This weakens the other side's case by discrediting impeached witnesses's testimony. Once a witness has been impeached - by presentment of inconsistent testimony - the judge/jury can no longer use the impeached witnesses's testimony in reaching a verdict.
Simply put, they aren't trustworthy. In the case of Presidential impeachment that broad definition of impeachment applies, but the impeachment tool is used for a very different purpose. Under the Constitution, a sitting President cannot be tried in a court of law for anything.
Read 25 tweets
Profile picture
Joseph Britt
@Zathras3
Vigorous #impeachment discussion yesterday between polls and elections expert @NateSilver538 (con) and former Harry Reid person @AJentleson (pro). The subject is worth a thread.
2. As with most issues before Congress, substance and politics are closely related but distinguishable. As to substance, the argument -- persuasive to me -- is that obstruction of justice, contacts with Russians seeking to influence a US election, corruption and the rest...
3...will do mortal damage to American democracy if tolerated. Not proceeding toward impeachment proceedings means tolerating all of these things, though it is possible to deceive oneself on that point. The political argument @NateSilver538 makes is about American voters.
Read 27 tweets

Trending hashtags

#CrowdstrikeUkraine #TN05 #Ciaramella #Slovak #DonJr #ImpeachTrump #impeachment #TX15 #Iran #parents #SaturdayVibes #Kurdish #MuellerReport #AgeGapLove #Impeaching #IMPEACHMENT #JulianAssange #territory #HunterBiden #WI03 #Impeachment #Sirian #SundayMotivation #PEACE #Hoax
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!