Thread by @kurteichenwald

1. The magnitude of what Mulvaney has just confessed is far beyond anything we have faced as a country since its founding. This is *not* simply a quid pro quo. This is extortion, and a violation of criminal law under Title 18 U.S. Code § 878.... @RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi 2...worse, Mulvaney has made it clear that this criminal act is standard operating procedure in the White House. "We do that all the time, get over it,” he said.

Before getting to details, through those words Mulvaney has blown the doors off the barn. Every conversation...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi 3...with every head of state is now suspect. We already know that there are several transcripts of phone calls that were intentionally misfiled into the most highly classified computer system to keep them hidden. All of them are now needed. There has to be a formal impeachment...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi 4...proceeding. Moreover, given Trump's secret meeting with Putin, where he forbade anyone from being in the room and destroyed the translators notes. Then he came out and sided with Putin over our intelligence agencies. Trump clearly wanted this hidden, and made every effort...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi 5...to do so. With a formal impeachment proceeding the translator must be brought in to find out if the horror in Helsinki was among the times that Mulvany describes as the Trump Administration manipulating its foreign policy for political purposes.....

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi 6...but back to the extortion. No, Mulvaney, this is not done all the time. It may be done in the Trump White House because of the magnitude of the corruption. It is a crime, and everyone in the @WhiteHouse who has touched on this at all can be charged with criminal conspiracy...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 7...So, start again: Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to coerce Zelensky (According to Mulvaney) to issue a statement announcing a corruption investigation involving Russian hacking and Biden (according to Sondland.) In his phone call, Trump made no mention of an...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 8...announcment, but instead linked the weapons to an investigation he wanted Ukraine to perform.

Here are the crimes: You start with 18 U.S. Code § 112, which states that whoever "intimidates, coerces, threatens, or harasses a foreign official or an official guest or...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 9... obstructs a foreign official in the performance of his duties." They have admitted to the use of withholding military weapons during a time that Ukraine is under attack to coerce them to open a criminal investigation of an American citizen. They are, in fact, doing far....

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 10...more than coerce. Given the circumstances, and Ukraines need for military weaponry to combat the Russians, they are threatening a foreign official in the performance of his duties.

Which takes us back to 18 U.S. Code § 878. I have attached the language below...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 11..it is hard too imagine a greater threat or coercion than using the withholding of military weaponry needed by a president to protect his country unless that president does something.

And again, given Mulaney's confession that this is something common in the....

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 12..Trump White House, it means our entire national security and foreign policy may have been placed at stake for Trump's personal benefit. Take the inexplicable Kurds decision - Trump has a financial interest to satisfy Turkey. Did that come up? Did he extort Erdogan? No one....

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse 13...knows, but under the Mulvaney doctrine, "get over it."

The magnitude of the corruption here is just beyond comprehension. And yet here we have the @GOP - with plans to send around a letter declaring that they will not convict on an impeachment - that is willing to...

@RepAdamSchiff @SpeakerPelosi @WhiteHouse @GOP 14...tolerate the abject destruction of our rule of law simply so they can keep their jobs and give out tax cuts.

The sole possibility of saving this country from corruption is the GOP. And unfortunately, their corruption runs too deep to count on them.