Ok, there WAS a quid pro quo, but it was strictly to promote valid U.S. foreign policy goals, not for any personal benef... DAMMIT RUDY.
Seriously, is Rudy a deep state plant? “Solely”! Does he... really not get why this is damaging to the already-implausible defense Republicans are now trying to mount?
Just connecting the dots: The only conceivable “false charges” Rudy could be talking about here are “collusion with Russia’s election interference operation.” The only conceivable way his demands could “defend” against those charges is by underming the IC conclusion...
... that there WAS a Russian electoral interference campaign. So unless I’m missing something, Rudy is saying: My dealings with Ukraine were wholly for the purpose of creating doubt that Russia interfered on Trump’s behalf, because creating this doubt would benefit Trump.
Logic 101 entailment: When Trump, sitting in the Oval Office, urged a foreign power to work with Rudy as a “favor”, right after Zelensky expressed eagerness to start buying U.S. weapons, he was asking for their cooperation in efforts “solely” for his personal benefit.
This aspect of the whole extortion campaign gets undersold because it’s either unintelligible or obviously bonkers if you’re not steeping in conspiracy fever swamps—whereas the political benefit of getting an announcement of a corruption probe linked to the Bidens is obvious.
Most of the available evidence, however, suggests that the bonkers part was their main fixation, and the Biden oppo secondary. The script they wrote for Zelensky was mostly about “election interference” & only briefly mentioned Burisma.
Indeed, the supposed “interference” was the part that—before any actual investigation!—Zelensky was supposed to condemn as “unacceptable” and a “problem” he would prevent from ever “recurring.”
Though the script does also allude to “certain Ukranian politicians” so maybe that’s a reference to the exposure of Paul Manafort’s criminal conduct rather than the supposed server. I’m sure It’s All Connected somehow if you mainline enough 8chan.
I haven’t read all the transcripts yet: Do any of the witnesses get asked to explain exactly what they thought the script they prepared for Zelensky actually meant? Exactly what kind of Ukranian “interference” in 2016 he was supposed to be investigating?
Anyway, I think there’s a fair argument this is ultimately worse than the Biden oppo. Because the point is to legitimize the notion that Russia didn’t interfere. And if Russia didn’t interfere, well, we can stop wasting valuable IC resources preventing them from doing it again.
Is the point to intentionally encourage further interference? Or have they genuinely convinced themselves this nonsense is true, in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence, because it’s what Trump WANTS to believe? I don’t know. But does it ultimately matter?
