Thread by @SethAbramson

The bestseller that disproves everything Trump is saying today. Please RETWEET.

✅ "A searing indictment"—NPR
✅ "A strong case"—Kirkus
📶 USA Today bestseller
📶 Amazon / Audible / Apple Books bestseller
💟 "⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"—1350 Amazon ratings (Proof series) amazon.com/dp/1250272998?…

PS/ We now have major-media journalists tweeting out—and tweeting about—the New York Post story fed to it by Rudy Giuliani and Kremlin agents as though the story doesn't include a *massive* factual error in its *very first paragraph*. This is lunacy. We already know the truth.

PS2/ At the time Shokin was fired by Ukraine's congress—an action supported by the *entire West*—he had helped a Burisma executive *escape* prosecution and a probe relating to the company (involving a period of time before Hunter was there) had a negotiated settlement in process.

PS3/ So *none* of the investigations at Burisma had *anything* to do with Hunter Biden, Hunter's father was trying to *ensure* a former Burisma executive was prosecuted, and the company was *not* currently under active investigation. That's how wrong the New York Post story is.

PS4/ On those facts—and they're the facts—who would care if Biden spoke to someone at Burisma? He'd already taken action to help *ensure* the company would be investigated over a period of time that *preceded* his son being involved in the company. A meeting would change nothing.

PS5/ Moreover, Joe Biden was only a *tiny* part of an *international* effort—EU, IMF, and the Ukrainian congress—to oust Shokin. No meeting on Earth was going to stop Shokin's firing or stop the negotiated settlement that was already worked out over *earlier* Burisma malfeasance.

PS6/ Every part of the New York Post story is nonsense. Indeed, you'd *expect* the Obama administration's Ukraine liaison to have contact with Ukrainian energy execs—in fact, that's exactly what Trump did the *moment* Zelensky came into office. *Had Perry meet with energy execs*.

PS7/ The difference, *per the Ukrainians*, is Trump sent Perry specifically to *interfere* in the corporate governance of Ukrainian energy companies, specifically Naftogaz.

The Ukrainians have called that shocking corruption—by Trump and Perry—of a sort they'd never seen before.

PS8/ In contrast, at every turn Barack Obama and Joe Biden *supported* the *independent* governance of Ukrainian energy companies, while *also*—along with the *entirety of the West*—pushing for independent prosecutors to fully investigate any corruption within those companies.

PS9/ There was nothing any Ukrainian energy executive could've said to Joe Biden that would've mattered to anyone, because (a) the West (including Biden) wanted these companies to govern themselves, and (b) it wanted independent prosecutors to decide when/whether to investigate.

PS10/ See, the Obama administration had a *coherent policy* on Ukrainian corruption—*against it*—that was like a giant ship that couldn't be turned around. Meanwhile, the Trump administration had a *transactional* stance on Ukrainian corruption—for it—it could change at any time.

PS11/ So the sickest thing about this Giuliani disinformation—which he got from the Kremlin and passed on (as he always does) to a corrupt right-wing rag—is that it presumes the Obama administration functioned *anything* like the Trump administration. It didn't—and couldn't have.

PS12/ Once Obama and Biden set their Ukraine policy—independent energy market governance in Ukraine, independent investigation of any energy-market malfeasance—it was part of a giant Western coalition that took hundreds of actions in support of that coherent (very public) policy.

PS13/ By comparison, from *Day 1* Trump's policy on the Ukrainian energy market was to (a) *assist the Kremlin* in "recapturing" it, and (b) shut down any investigation of pro-Kremlin elements within it.

And *all* of that was accomplished through secret phone calls and meetings.

PS14/ So when a story comes out saying "Biden might've been about to almost maybe have a call with a Ukrainian exec," who the *hell* even cares—assuming it's even true, which nothing else the Kremlin has fed Giuliani has been? It's literally irrelevant to pre-2016 Ukraine policy.

PS15/ What America needed was a crash course in U.S. policy on Ukraine pre-/post-2016. We didn't get it during the impeachment, because Democrats thought it would be too confusing (it actually isn't). So I wrote a book to explain it.

Proof of Corruption was published last month.

PS16/ Now, with 2+ weeks until the election, right-wing media and Trump agents acting as Kremlin messengers are trying to use Americans' *lack* of knowledge about U.S. policy in Ukraine pre-/post-2016 to make something out of literally less than nothing. It's totally infuriating.

PS17/ So here's a simple equation to follow:

1⃣ Take the Kremlin disinformation published by the NY Post.
2⃣ Assume all of it is true—it isn't, but do it anyway.
3⃣ Then multiply its offensiveness by 10.
4⃣ What you have now is a *fraction* of what Trump secretly did in Ukraine.

PS18/ That's right—the game afoot here is this (and it's a classic Kremlin intelligence operation): take what *you* actually did and blame it on someone else. That (a) makes it that much less likely anyone will talk about what you did, and (b) puts your opponent on the defensive.

PS19/ Trump used Rudy Giuliani (a Trump lawyer), Joe diGenova (Trump lawyer), Victoria Toensing (Trump lawyer), Lev Parnas (agent of Trump lawyer), Igor Fruman (agent of Trump lawyer), and Rick Perry (Trump agent)—along with many Kremlin agents—to secretly negotiate with Ukraine.

PS20/ The purposes of Trump's secret negotiations with Ukraine were to (a) ensure Burisma *wasn't* properly investigated, (b) give control of an even more powerful Ukrainian energy entity—Naftogaz—to a Kremlin agent, (c) ensure the collapse of Ukraine via pro-Kremlin corruption.

PS21/ Mind you, I'm *underselling* the story by summarizing it. The full story is in Proof of Corruption and is worse than anything you're getting from me here. But the upshot is that if you want to talk about secret meetings, Trump used them to *destroy a U.S. ally*.

Literally.

PS22/ We know which agents Trump used and what the plan was. Trump wanted a U.S. ally to collapse and fall under the control of our geopolitical enemy—Russia. In the bargain he demanded a *stunning* amount in return. The big ticket item? He wanted the 2020 election tampered with.

PS23/ I did a whole podcast episode on this! You can listen to it right here:

PS24/ The wildly over-simplified version of Trump's dirty deal in Ukraine is this: Trump told the Kremlin and its agents in Ukraine that if they'd tamper in the 2020 election on his behalf *and* give him money, he'd execute a series of *major* tasks for them. And they said "yes."

PS25/ That tampering is what Rudy is getting from Kremlin agents *right now*. That tampering—that Trump bargained for—is what Haberman retweeted without comment, and what the New York Post published without doing any investigation beforehand.

The deal is being consummated *now*.

PS26/ In exchange, Trump was supposed to interfere in several federal cases with Barr's aid; get the Naftogaz board fired and replaced by Kremlin—and Trump—minions; get corrupt pro-Kremlin prosecutors like Shokin rehired; and more. Much more than America heard at the impeachment.

PS27/ The story of what Trump did in Ukraine—which has as only a minor part of it what he and Putin wanted us to falsely think Biden had done there—is so wild I thought we'd need two months to come to terms with it. It's one reason Proof of Corruption came out in early September.

PS28/ Media thought people would be bored by hearing "Ukraine" again—even if the impeachment had done surprisingly little to inform America of the full scope of the Trump-Ukraine scandal—so they didn't return to the subject. I and many others knew that would aid Trump and Putin.

PS29/ Some readers are telling me the supposed emails involving Hunter are fake. I'm telling you the following—it doesn't matter. We are *so far* from the actual story of Trump's crimes in Ukraine that I refuse to play on the Kremlin's playing-field on this. Don't get distracted.

PS30/ Chapter 4 of Proof of Corruption—entitled "Shokin"—is online for free. As are the four chapters (including an Introduction) that precede it in the book. Please ignore Kremlin disinformation and urge people to listen to the truth. For instance, this:

CONCLUSION/ America's only response to Kremlin disinformation on Ukraine should be this: what did Trump, Putin, and their combined cadre of agents/associates do in Ukraine that they so *desperately* need to cover it up? Because we know the answer. In fact, I wrote the book on it.