I’d like to shed a little light on something the GOP has been doing that is directly detrimental to both Ukraine’s standing and the national security of the United States.
Let’s start with the conspiracy theory the GOP has been pushing; (from WikiPedia) A core part of the narrative is the long-debunked conspiracy theory that CrowdStrike, a publicly traded company headquartered in California, is actually owned by a wealthy Ukrainian oligarch, and that the company — which had investigated a hack of a Democratic National Committee (DNC) server — had planted evidence on the server to implicate Russia, while asserting the FBI had failed to take possession of the server to verify that claim. "The server" is in fact 140 servers, decommissioned and located in the United States (not Ukraine, as Trump has claimed). The theory additionally says FBI agents were not allowed to examine the server because such action would expose the DNC plot,although in fact—and as documented in the Mueller Report—images and traffic logs of the DNC servers were provided to the FBI. This conspiracy theory originated from a "GRU persona, 'Guccifer 2.0', created to cast doubt on Russia's culpability in the DNC [intrusion].
Now, let’s get to Fiona Hill’s testimony about the conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 US election. For background, Fiona Hill was the White House’s top expert on Russia. Her official title was senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council. She was the foremost expert on Russia in the Trump administration. She’s widely respected and knows better than anyone what Russia has been doing.
“Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country – and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves."
"The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career Foreign Service is being undermined. I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine - not Russia - attacked us in 2016, these fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes."
Now that we know the details of the conspiracy theory, and that it has been completely, thoroughly, and repeatedly debunked, let’s get to where it came from and why it matters.
The first documented evidence of the conspiracy theory being pushed was from Paul Manafort, who was at the time the Trump campaign chairman (and is now imprisoned for Conspiracy against the United States, among other things), who received that info from Konstantin Kilimnik, who is widely believed by both federal prosecutors and US intelligence agencies to be tied to Russian intelligence. Trump has also received the info directly from Putin on several occasions.
An argument could be made that they received false information and were only acting with the information that they had. Well, the President and Senators have been thoroughly briefed by the US intelligence community on the fact that it’s a completely baseless conspiracy theory being pushed by Russian intelligence, and they are still pushing that theory. Devin Nunes, who is the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence committee, and led the GOP during the impeachment hearings, received constant classified briefings during the Mueller investigation and from other sources because of his position, and has been knowingly pushing a false conspiracy theory. In recent days, it has also come to light that he allegedly worked with Lev Parnas, Giuliani’s now-indicted associate, to try to personally dig up dirt on the Bidens after he met with corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin in Vienna, Austria, between November and December 2018, on a secret trip that cost taxpayers $57,000. Nunes was working with Parnas to set up a trip to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian prosecutors who might have information beneficial to Trump’s 2020 campaign. Nunes’ staff realized that going to Ukraine themselves would mean alerting Schiff to their plans, so they instead asked Parnas to set up the meetings for them over phone and Skype, which he did.
So, why is all of this important? Glad you asked. Republican Senators, Trump, and the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee (along with others) are all pushing a conspiracy theory that they not only *know* to be false, but that they know advances the Russian agenda and undermines the national security of the United States and one of our most important allies in the fight against Russia, and they’re all doing it expressly to protect Trump. They are knowingly hurting the United States and helping Russia for partisan, domestic political reasons. Not only that, they have a compromised and directly implicated Republican leading the GOP response to impeachment in the House. This is blatant corruption at the top levels of the Government that directly damages our country in innumerable ways. It's important that we look beyond partisan politics and see the bigger picture.
Monday, November 25, 2019
Friday, November 22, 2019
Clearing the Air About Impeachment
When I enlisted in the Marines, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I take that oath seriously, and with that in mind, now that the House Intelligence Committee has completed the scheduled public impeachment inquiry, let's clear up a few things because it is critically important for all Americans to understand what is at stake here:
* This is not a coup, it is not unconstitutional, and it is not a witch hunt. Impeachment is a process put in the Constitution by the founding fathers as a remedy for an unethical president. It does not overturn an election, it allows us to hold the most powerful person in the country accountable if they don't adhere to the Constitution.
* There were no "secret" hearings. More than 100 members of Congress, including Republicans, had access. They were conducted in the same fashion as the public hearings with Democrats and Republicans having equal time to question the witnesses. The initial hearings were not public because it was an investigation, and private hearings are required to prevent witnesses from aligning testimony or influencing testimony.
* The inquiry had to mostly rely on witness testimony (which is not hearsay) because the Trump administration refused to release any documents and prevented key witnesses from testifying. Even with the stonewalling, the witness testimony and documents that were able to be obtained painted a very clear picture. Here's a link to everything they've stonewalled.
* Republicans initiated the Steele dossier prior to the 2016 election cycle. The DNC picked up the funding at a later point. Whether you agree with the use of it or not, it was initiated by Republicans.
* All of the witness testimony, documents, and public statements by Trump, Mulvaney (Trump's Chief of Staff), and Giuliani all confirmed the intent and target of the investigations.
* It was well understood in the involved diplomatic circles that the meeting and aid were contingent on the investigations. While withholding aid happens as part of foreign policy, subverting foreign policy for personal gain is a huge abuse of power, and puts our national security and credibility at risk. Marie Yovanovitch is a well-respected anti-corruption expert, and was removed when she got in the way of corruption.
* This was not normal foreign policy; both the illegitimate manner in which it was conducted and the goal of it put the national security of both Ukraine and the United States at risk.
* Trump obstructed both the Mueller investigation and impeachment inquiry. Whether you agree with the Mueller investigation and the impeachment inquiry is irrelevant, obstruction is illegal. For a comparison, during the 33 hearings about Benghazi, the Obama administration provided complete transparency. Hillary Clinton sat for 11 hours of deposition, for example.
* Whether the aid was released or not is irrelevant. Whether the investigations happened or not is irrelevant. The demand of a quid pro quo is enough on its own. An attempted but unsuccessful crime is still a crime.
* Ukraine did not meddle in our election. Russia conducted as massive interference operation, and that was confirmed by the Mueller investigation, all 17 intelligence agencies, and a bipartisan Senate investigation.
* The testimony from Hill and Holmes, the respected, nonpartisan, career professionals who were brought in as fact witnesses, was crystal clear and unequivocal.
* People in Trump's circle who have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of crimes since investigations started:
Those convicted
* Devin Nunes keeps referring to the investigations he's conducted as evidence. It's worth noting that he was working with Lev Parnas, the Giuliani associate and member of Trump's legal team who is now indicted and has ties to Russian organized crime.
* This was a clear abuse of power for personal gain, and Trump is a danger to the rule of law because he thinks he's above it. His lawyers actually claimed (unsupported by anything) in court that he could murder someone in the street and he's immune to any scrutiny while he's in office. Here's an article discussing their immunity claim.
* Republicans stopped trying to contest any of the basic facts (other than the legality) that I listed above. Their entire defense is that everything was acceptable because Trump, who is on record lying more than 12,000 times since he took office, said so. Because the GOP could not defend Trump on the facts, they tried to smear decorated members of the military and dedicated career officials.
* This is way beyond party politics, and I would hope everyone would be on the same page about it. This is about the rule of law and how the rest of the world regards us. We're either a democracy whether everyone is accountable under the Constitution, or the Constitution is meaningless. Trump actually referred to part of the Constitution as "phony."
Do you believe in upholding the Constitution, or do you believe the president is above the rule of law? This sets a precedent for all future presidents. This is bigger than politics, and is the most significant threat to the Constitution that this country has ever seen. Treat it as such.
This is Adam Schiff’s closing remark from the Hill/Holmes testimony. Every single person should watch it in its entirety. It’s 20 minutes, and I cannot overstate its importance.
* This is not a coup, it is not unconstitutional, and it is not a witch hunt. Impeachment is a process put in the Constitution by the founding fathers as a remedy for an unethical president. It does not overturn an election, it allows us to hold the most powerful person in the country accountable if they don't adhere to the Constitution.
* There were no "secret" hearings. More than 100 members of Congress, including Republicans, had access. They were conducted in the same fashion as the public hearings with Democrats and Republicans having equal time to question the witnesses. The initial hearings were not public because it was an investigation, and private hearings are required to prevent witnesses from aligning testimony or influencing testimony.
* The inquiry had to mostly rely on witness testimony (which is not hearsay) because the Trump administration refused to release any documents and prevented key witnesses from testifying. Even with the stonewalling, the witness testimony and documents that were able to be obtained painted a very clear picture. Here's a link to everything they've stonewalled.
* Republicans initiated the Steele dossier prior to the 2016 election cycle. The DNC picked up the funding at a later point. Whether you agree with the use of it or not, it was initiated by Republicans.
* All of the witness testimony, documents, and public statements by Trump, Mulvaney (Trump's Chief of Staff), and Giuliani all confirmed the intent and target of the investigations.
* It was well understood in the involved diplomatic circles that the meeting and aid were contingent on the investigations. While withholding aid happens as part of foreign policy, subverting foreign policy for personal gain is a huge abuse of power, and puts our national security and credibility at risk. Marie Yovanovitch is a well-respected anti-corruption expert, and was removed when she got in the way of corruption.
* This was not normal foreign policy; both the illegitimate manner in which it was conducted and the goal of it put the national security of both Ukraine and the United States at risk.
* Trump obstructed both the Mueller investigation and impeachment inquiry. Whether you agree with the Mueller investigation and the impeachment inquiry is irrelevant, obstruction is illegal. For a comparison, during the 33 hearings about Benghazi, the Obama administration provided complete transparency. Hillary Clinton sat for 11 hours of deposition, for example.
* Whether the aid was released or not is irrelevant. Whether the investigations happened or not is irrelevant. The demand of a quid pro quo is enough on its own. An attempted but unsuccessful crime is still a crime.
* Ukraine did not meddle in our election. Russia conducted as massive interference operation, and that was confirmed by the Mueller investigation, all 17 intelligence agencies, and a bipartisan Senate investigation.
* The testimony from Hill and Holmes, the respected, nonpartisan, career professionals who were brought in as fact witnesses, was crystal clear and unequivocal.
* People in Trump's circle who have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of crimes since investigations started:
Those convicted
- Roger Stone: Convicted of obstruction, giving false statements to a House committee and witness tampering. He also lied to Congress about his efforts to learn more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
- Former Trump 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort: Sentenced to 7.5 years in prison this March for bank and tax fraud and crimes related to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine.
- Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen: Received a three-year prison sentence in Dec. 2018 for tax evasion, bank fraud, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations.
- Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos: Convicted of lying to investigators about about Russian contacts. He served 12 days in prison and in October, filed to run for former Rep. Katie Hill's California seat.
- Ex-Trump campaign deputy chairman Rick Gates: Pleaded guilty in Feb. 2018 to conspiracy and lying to the FBI. His sentencing was delayed several times as he cooperated with ongoing investigations such as Stone's. His sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 17, NBC News reports.
- Former national security adviser Michael Flynn: The retired three-star general pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in Dec. 2017, and he is still awaiting sentencing.
* Devin Nunes keeps referring to the investigations he's conducted as evidence. It's worth noting that he was working with Lev Parnas, the Giuliani associate and member of Trump's legal team who is now indicted and has ties to Russian organized crime.
* This was a clear abuse of power for personal gain, and Trump is a danger to the rule of law because he thinks he's above it. His lawyers actually claimed (unsupported by anything) in court that he could murder someone in the street and he's immune to any scrutiny while he's in office. Here's an article discussing their immunity claim.
* Republicans stopped trying to contest any of the basic facts (other than the legality) that I listed above. Their entire defense is that everything was acceptable because Trump, who is on record lying more than 12,000 times since he took office, said so. Because the GOP could not defend Trump on the facts, they tried to smear decorated members of the military and dedicated career officials.
* This is way beyond party politics, and I would hope everyone would be on the same page about it. This is about the rule of law and how the rest of the world regards us. We're either a democracy whether everyone is accountable under the Constitution, or the Constitution is meaningless. Trump actually referred to part of the Constitution as "phony."
Do you believe in upholding the Constitution, or do you believe the president is above the rule of law? This sets a precedent for all future presidents. This is bigger than politics, and is the most significant threat to the Constitution that this country has ever seen. Treat it as such.
This is Adam Schiff’s closing remark from the Hill/Holmes testimony. Every single person should watch it in its entirety. It’s 20 minutes, and I cannot overstate its importance.
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