Thread by @SethAbramson

(THREAD) The Trump-Ukraine scandal is a NATIONAL SECURITY scandal—and media's failure to explain this to America is hindering the scandal being treated as the national security emergency it is. This isn't about Biden or one call; it's much bigger. I hope you'll read on and share.

1/ First, the background: every president has a foreign policy, a process for taking in intel, a temperament that makes handling/avoiding certain types of conflict more likely, and a disposition toward the U.S. intel community. Trump's is historically dangerous, even treacherous.

2/ The Trump campaign's Russia policy was underwritten by Putin "friend" Dmitri Simes—who now works for the Kremlin for $500K/yr (look it up). His Saudi/UAE policy was directed by three Saudi agents: Nader, Prince, al-Otaiba. Israel's ambassador—Dermer—directed his Israel policy.

3/ Trump refuses to secure his phones; hides foreign calls from his staff; has said he trusts foreign intel over U.S. intel; publicly derides the USIC; has publicly invited at least three nations to interfere with our elections; and has disclosed classified intel to our enemies.

4/ When autocrats around the world want to commit war crimes, Trump does nothing to stop it: he does not believe Putin should be punished for invading Europe in 2014; just let Erdogan invade Syria; and but for Tillerson—who he fired because of this—would've let MBS invade Qatar.

5/ Trump told China he'd stay quiet on Hong Kong while trade negotiations were ongoing, and that's a pattern up and down Trump's national security profile: economics—America's or, *far* more commonly, the Trump Organization's—drive his foreign policy and handling of intelligence.

6/ When Trump set up a *clandestine diplomatic apparatus* to undermine U.S. foreign policy for his own political benefit, it was a *massive* national security breach violating *many* federal statutes, among them one—the Logan Act—designed to protect U.S. sovereignty and security.

7/ A parade of nonpartisan civil servants—some, known Republicans—have come before Congress to describe a situation in which Giuliani and a goon squad (and at least one Putin-friendly oligarch) were actively seeking to undermine our foreign policy. But it's even bigger than that.

8/ What Trump wanted was fake (manufactured) intelligence from the Ukrainian government that would (a) exculpate Russia entirely from any responsibility for declaring cyberwar on America in 2016, (b) allow him to pardon Manafort and Flynn to further hide Russian collusion, and...

9/ (c) pave the way for a series of national security disasters: Russia's invasion of Europe getting rewarded rather than punished (an echo of what Trump did with Turkey); Russia being positioned to attack us again; and Ukraine having the license to interfere with the 2020 vote.

10/ Knocking off a potential 2020 rival was just the cherry atop a national security scandal. But what *wasn't* beside the point was what Trump was holding up: military aid Ukraine desperately needs to hold off Russia on its eastern border and repel a Kremlin invasion of Europe.

11/ Trump is quoted as having said he doesn't care about Ukraine, that what matters is our relationship with Russia. Part of Trump's apparent frustration with Ukraine stems from his own failed business investments there between 2006 and 2008—it has nothing to do with Ukraine now.

12/ In reality, Trump's attempts to do business in Ukraine in the late 2000s failed because of his own poverty—but it appears he blames his failure on the nation's business climate. That made Manafort's 2016 suggestion he blame Ukraine for Russian aggression the perfect revenge.

13/ Trump told his national security team in March 2016 he didn't want to confront Russia over Ukraine—and he'd already said, in July 2015, that sanctions on Russia over Ukraine were unnecessary—and then directed his team to cut from the GOP platform lethal assistance to Ukraine.

14/ The "grand bargain" I wrote of in PROOF OF CONSPIRACY had the co-conspirators bribing Ukraine with a nuclear-turbine contract for Turboatom so that Ukraine would agree to let international sanctions on Russia be dropped. (It was a foolish plan that would never have worked.)

15/ Upshot: since the late 2000s, particularly after Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Trump's attitude has been that Ukraine only matters for what can be extracted from it—and is a *thorn in his side* to the extent it stands in the way of him dropping sanctions on the Kremlin.

16/ Those are *Trump's* concerns: do business in Ukraine; extract manufactured intel from Ukraine; then let Putin do *whatever the hell he wants* with Ukraine.

So what are *America's* concerns? Well, our diplomats have been telling Congress the answer to that in their testimony.

17/ *America* sees Ukraine as a European country invaded by an autocrat who wants to reconstitute the Soviet Union under his rule. *America* sees Ukraine as an emerging democracy we must do all we can to foster. *America* believes Ukraine is a *bulwark* again Russian aggression.

18/ Trump has been a national security threat from the day he entered office—and that'd be the case even if his foreign policy wasn't written by our enemies; if he hadn't divulged classified intel to our enemies several times; if he wasn't permitting war crimes around the world.

19/ He's a national security threat because he rejects national security protocols, has declared war on US intelligence, lets his business interests guide his foreign policy, doesn't believe in American democracy or rule of law, and daily aids and abets America's enemies abroad.

20/ Ukraine is of *vital* importance to America—and Trump has put it under threat via bribery, extortion, secret diplomacy, denial of military aid, tampering with Ukrainian politics, the promotion of corruption, conflicts of interest, illegal solicitation of donations, and more.

21/ Any action that makes Ukraine less safe makes *America* less safe, and *everyone* in the US diplomatic corps and US intel had made that clear to Trump *before* he—in addition to all I said in my prior tweet—advocated ending Russian sanctions and denying lethal aid to Ukraine.

22/ So yes, Trump violating the law to block military aid, using a clandestine diplomatic corps, seeking bribes from Ukraine, attempting to hide evidence of what he'd done, and lying about it all has to do with *our national security in the face of Russian aggression in Europe*.

23/ Media believes Biden will be the Democratic nominee—and has a bias toward center-left political moderation underwriting its belief, along with a penchant for the horserace in politics—so it's inclined to frame this story as a Trump-Biden proxy war centering on one phone call.

24/ But given that Trump's relationship with Ukraine begins with Manafort and failed business exploits and even near-involvement in a deal with Firtash—and now is wrapped up in his relationship with Putin and his hope the 2020 election will be compromised—Biden's an afterthought.

25/ So I'm *begging* NatSec experts, legal experts, and those who've done as much research on Trump's business dealings/foreign policy development as I have to *do all you can* to let America know this is a NATIONAL SECURITY SCANDAL, not an oopsie involving "dirt" on Biden. /end

PS/ As for Manafort, the conspiracy theory fed to Manafort by Kremlin agent Kilimnik is cherished by Trump's former campaign chief because it positions the cases against him as part of a Ukrainian plot. If Trump "exposes" the—nonexistent—plot, he has an excuse to pardon Manafort.

PS2/ Trump needs to pardon Manafort to make sure there's no risk Manafort will change his mind and flip; NBC News already reported in January 2018 that Trump's *greatest fear* is Manafort "flipping" on him. Why? Manafort can confirm Trump knew of Manafort's collusion with Russia.

PS3/ So the Ukraine scandal is about—in order of importance—

1. Trump
2. Putin
3. Manafort
4. Clinton

5. Don Jr. [ensuring rigged elections should he run]
6. Ivanka [ensuring rigged elections should she run]

7a. The Ukrainian businessmen
7b. Trump is
7c. pissed at.

10. Biden.

PS4/ You know who else thinks this is a national security scandal, not an "oppo research" scandal? Bolton. Eisenberg. Vindman. Sondland. Hill. Taylor. Kent. Sullivan. Reeker. Ellis. Basically *everyone*—from both sides of the aisle—sees national security where media sees "Biden."