Thread by @ThePlumLineGS

1) The new defense of Trump from his loyalists is laughably disingenuous.

Their claim now is that, yes, there may have been a quid pro quo, but you can't show *Trump himself* was behind it.

But the *already known* facts show this is steaming nonsense.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

2) Let's walk through this.

Trump himself personally ordered the military aid frozen.

And officials were ordered not to share details about it with lawmakers.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

3) Giuliani publicly confirmed the whole plot as early as May, and continued to do so for months.

Here's an important quote from Giuliani we should revisit now:

“I don’t do anything that involves my client without speaking with my client.”

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

4) Pence himself directly delivered the message to Zelensky about the withheld military aid.

He said Zelensky needed to do more about "corruption."

But those texts show that Ukraine had *already been told* the statement had to target Crowdstrike/Biden.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

5) Incredibly, after all this, Trump's spinners are actually trying to argue that Sondland freelanced the extortion piece of the plot on his own.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

6) Here's the full argument, in this new piece:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…