Nancy Pelosi Announces Trump Impeachment Inquiry Over Ukraine Scandal

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) has announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, after accusations swelled that Trump leveraged his political power to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden—the current Democratic frontrunner in the 2020 presidential election.

"The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution," she said.

As Reason's Peter Suderman has pointed out, while the allegations have yet to be fully substantiated, the mounting evidence appears to be unfavorable to the president. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, flip-flopped on national television, initially denying, but then admitting to urging Zelensky to carry out the opposition research on Biden and his family. What's more, Trump brought up the request eight times on a July call with the Ukranian president. And just days prior to that conversation, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney reportedly withheld $400 million in military aid from the Ukraine at Trump's behest.

The president has no lawful power to refuse funds that Congress has allocated. Yet it seems that Trump may have moved to cut off support for Ukraine—illegally—in hopes that he could prompt that country to conduct political opposition research.

https://reason.com/2019/09/24/nancy-pelosi-announces-trump-impeachment-inquiry-over-ukraine-scandal/

Things are getting interesting. Probably going to be tough to get the Senate to remove him though.

And will people sort of on the fence think it's a witch hunt making it blow up in the Dems face?

Also, will more of Biden's dealings with the Ukraine come out as this progresses? Maybe we end up with neither Biden nor Trump in the next election?

It doesn't matter what the Senate does.  History will record what the facts at hearing say.  If, after a clear case is shown, the Republicans simply shrug and fail to convict... then we will know that Republicans are against law and order, not to mention favoring intervention of other countries.  Reps are already on the brink of disappearing; this will push them over the edge.

As for the witch hunt thesis, I believe the people are waaaay ahead of even the Washington Dems.  The people are wondering: WTF do you think we sent you to Congress to do?  This is another in a series of a president trading American taxpayer's money for oppo research...fake research at that.

There is no problem with the Ukraine issue and Joe Biden.  In point of fact, VP Biden was representing a US position against Hunter Biden's Ukrainian corporation.  If Trump wanted to make anything of that, he would have to admit that Joe Biden was urging ouster of Hunter's boss.  That's the dumbest of all of Trump's ad hoc, ill-thought-out associations, because it will advertise the fact that there could not have been any conflict of interest.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/nancy-pelosi-just-made-one-of-the-most-colossal-blunders-in-modern-american-politics/ar-AAHMWSv?ocid=sf


And for an opinion from a left leaning source not named Quill.

The Week wrote:Trump has made an end run around the Democrats by announcing that he will release a transcript of his phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday morning. If there is nothing in the text that justifies the perfervid speculation of his liberal enemies — and it is impossible to imagine his agreeing to its release if there were — it will not be possible to retreat from the opening of impeachment proceedings without embarrassment.

Classic ruse, by weak minded Republicans.  Which transcript...there are many?  The transcript could be out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon, for all we know.  Who knows what phony substitution Trump will put up.  Trump can talk about a transcript until the cows come home, but the full allegation is in the complaint.  Obviously, that includes several conversations, and Trump isn't offering all of them.

The demand is for the complaint, not the transcripts.  The complaint will explain the transgression, and in which of several transcripts it can be found.  No one is fooled by a bait-and-switch.  Notice that Trump is not offering what should be Congress' right by law?  The complaint tells all...the transcript is a ruse.

And you fell for it, didn't you...you stupid hick?  The problem with Republicans is they think the public is stupid.  Only the southerners are that stupid.  Normal Americans fully know what he is up to.

No matter...the whistle-blower, or complainant, is scheduled to meet with the Intelligence Committee on Thursday.  Even without the complaint, he can explain the ruse.  Won't Trump be embarrassed by his fumble?

Maddog wrote:House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) has announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, after accusations swelled that Trump leveraged his political power to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden—the current Democratic frontrunner in the 2020 presidential election.

"The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution," she said.

As Reason's Peter Suderman has pointed out, while the allegations have yet to be fully substantiated, the mounting evidence appears to be unfavorable to the president. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, flip-flopped on national television, initially denying, but then admitting to urging Zelensky to carry out the opposition research on Biden and his family. What's more, Trump brought up the request eight times on a July call with the Ukranian president. And just days prior to that conversation, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney reportedly withheld $400 million in military aid from the Ukraine at Trump's behest.

The president has no lawful power to refuse funds that Congress has allocated. Yet it seems that Trump may have moved to cut off support for Ukraine—illegally—in hopes that he could prompt that country to conduct political opposition research.

https://reason.com/2019/09/24/nancy-pelosi-announces-trump-impeachment-inquiry-over-ukraine-scandal/

Things are getting interesting. Probably going to be tough to get the Senate to remove him though.

And will people sort of on the fence think it's a witch hunt making it blow up in the Dems face?

Also, will more of Biden's dealings with the Ukraine come out as this progresses? Maybe we end up with neither Biden nor Trump in the next election?

A wonderful (if overly optimistic) prediction

I'm not a Biden fan, but I am a fan of truth.  VP Biden's position in this matter was adverse to his son's.  His son, Hunter, was on the board of a Ukraine energy company, Burisma Holdings.  The oligarch owning/operating the company was  Mykola Zlochevsky, a minister who went into exile after a popular revolution removed President Viktor F. Yanukovych. With Yanukovych gone, Zlochevsky faced numerous corruption investigations involving Burisma Holdings.

In 2015, Ukraine appointed Viktor Shokin as their new prosecutor. His removal in 2016 is at the center of the bribery allegations.  Shokin refused to prosecute certain key players, among them, Mykola Zlochevsky, Hunter's associate and superior.  Shokin was a part of the corruption.  VP Biden insisted he be removed, and he was.

Trump tries to associate VP Biden with a deal to help his son, but in fact the Vice-President was on the opposite side of the issue, and his son.  Biden was trying to rid the nation of corruption...some of whom were Hunter's playmates. Biden was adverse to his son.

Fast forward to 2019, and Trump is trying to broaden the corruption.  He threatens to withhold $-half million in arms aid to Ukraine if the Ukraine president will not lie and say Biden was trying to [i]help/i] his son.  As you can see, Trump doesn't even have the players right, and he fumbles the comparison miserably.  But what is more important, Trump is asking for election favors from a foreign entity, which is illegal, in order to gain personal advantage over a political adversary.  In no wise is Trump acting on behalf of the United States.  Trump is doubling down on the corruption.

Eilzel wrote:

Maddog wrote:House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) has announced a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, after accusations swelled that Trump leveraged his political power to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden—the current Democratic frontrunner in the 2020 presidential election.

"The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution," she said.

As Reason's Peter Suderman has pointed out, while the allegations have yet to be fully substantiated, the mounting evidence appears to be unfavorable to the president. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, flip-flopped on national television, initially denying, but then admitting to urging Zelensky to carry out the opposition research on Biden and his family. What's more, Trump brought up the request eight times on a July call with the Ukranian president. And just days prior to that conversation, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney reportedly withheld $400 million in military aid from the Ukraine at Trump's behest.

The president has no lawful power to refuse funds that Congress has allocated. Yet it seems that Trump may have moved to cut off support for Ukraine—illegally—in hopes that he could prompt that country to conduct political opposition research.

https://reason.com/2019/09/24/nancy-pelosi-announces-trump-impeachment-inquiry-over-ukraine-scandal/

Things are getting interesting. Probably going to be tough to get the Senate to remove him though.

And will people sort of on the fence think it's a witch hunt making it blow up in the Dems face?

Also, will more of Biden's dealings with the Ukraine come out as this progresses? Maybe we end up with neither Biden nor Trump in the next election?

A wonderful (if overly optimistic) prediction

It would be more interesting. But the folks over here will defend their guy unless he is caught with a smoking gun.

This could strengthen the resolve of supporters if they perceive it as a witch hunt or just run of the mill political bull shit.

https://www.vox.com/2019/9/25/20883325/transcript-trump-ukraine-president-impeachment


If this is all they got, this will blow up in their face. Read the transcript before you pontificate. I'm talking to you in particular Quill.

Here is the transcripe of the phone call between Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, as provided by the White House.  I have bolded the passages in which the deal is struck between Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy, whereby Trump trades military aid in return for a personal political favor:

Below is a rough transcript, as released by the White House, of a July call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Reports that Trump withheld aid to Ukraine while urging Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to announce Tuesday that the House would move ahead with an impeachment inquiry.
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
SUBJECT:
PARTICIPANTS:
DATE, TIME
AND PLACE:
(C) Telephone Conversation with President
Zelenskyy of Ukraine
Pre·sident Zelenskyy of . Ukraine
Notetakers: The White House Situation·Room
July 25, 2019, 9:03 - 9:33 a.m. EDT

Residence

The President: Congratulations on a great victory. We all
watched from the United States and you did a terrific.job. The way.you came from behind, -somebody who wasn’t given much of a chan�e, and you ended up winning ea�ily. It’� a fantastic achievement. Congratulations.

President Zelenskyy: You· are absolutely right Mr.
Presideht.• We did win big and we worked hard for _this. We worked a lot but I would like to confe$s to you that I had �n
opportunity to learn from you. We used quite a few of your
skills· and knowledge and were able to use .it as an example to·r our ele.ctions -and.yes it is-true that these were unique
elections. We were in a·unique situation· that we· were able to CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation.· (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a
discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty

“Officers and-NSC policy staff assigned t_o listen.and memorialize the conversation in written form
as the conversation takes place. A numper of factors can affect ‘the accuracy of the reco�d,
including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent and/or interpretation.
The word “inaudible” is used to indifate portions of a conversation that the notetaker was unable
to hear.

Classified By: 2354726
Derived.From: NSC SCG
Declassify On: 20441231
- lJNCLASSIFIED
SECRf3Cf’;’,’ORCOt VJ ,Of ORi,
2 UNC AS IFIED

achieve a unique success. I’m able to tell you the following;
the first time,\ you· called me to · congratulate .
me .when I won my presid�ntial election, and the second time you are now calling me when my party won the parliamentary election. I think I should run more often so you can call me more often and we can talk over the phone more often.

The Pre�:ddent: [laughter] That’s a very good idea. I
think your country is very happy about that.

President Zelenskyy: Well yes, to tell you the truth, we
are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp here in our country. We brought in many many new people. Not the old politicians, not the typical politicians, because we want to have a new format and a new type of government .. You are a great teacher for us and in that.

The President: Well it it’s very nice of you to say that. I
will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot . of effort and a lot.of time. Much more than the European countries are ·’doing and they should be helping.you more than.they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should ·really ask them about. When I.was··speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she ·doesn’t do·anything. A lot of the European countries are the. same way· so I think it’s.something you want to look at but the United States has been very ·very good to Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy: Yes you are·absolutely right. �ot
.only 100%, but actually 1000% arid I can tell you the following; I did talk to Angela �erkel and I did meet.with her. I also met and talked with Macron . and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing·on the issues with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine� It turns out that even though logically, the European Union should be our biggest· partner but technically the United States is a much bigger partner than.the European Union and- I’m very grateful to you for that because the United States is doing quite a· lot for Ukraine. Much more than the E”�ropean Union especially when we are talking about sanctions against the Russian Federation.  I would  also·li�e to thank you·for.your great support in the area  of defense.  We. are ready to continue to cooperate for the next  steps. specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from  the United· States for defense purposes ..

The· President: I would like you to do us a favor though
because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole si�uation with Ukraine, they s_ay Crowdstrike ... I guess you have one of your weal thy people... The server, they say Ukraine has.it� There- are a lot. of things that went on, the· :whole situation .. I think you 1 re _surrounding yourse·lf with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you t� ·get to the bottom of it�. As you sa� yest�rday, that whole nonsetise ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mue�le_r, an incompetent performance-, _but they. say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, ·it’s very important that· you. do it if that’s possible.

President Zelenskyy: Yes it is. very important for me and everything that you just mentioned earlier. For me as a President,-· it is very important and we are open for any future cooperation. We are ready to· open a new page on �ooperation in . relations between the United· States and Ukraine.· For that·purpose, I just recalled our.ambassador from United States and he will be replaced by a very competent and very experienced ambassador who wtll work hard on making sure that our two nations are getting clciser. I would also like and hope to see him having your trust and y9ur .confidence and _ have persona·relations·with you so we c�n cooperate even �ore so. I·wili.  Personally tell you that one· of my assistants· spoke with Mr. Giuliani just.recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. G1uliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and. we will meet once · he co�es to Ukraine. I just wanted to assure you once again_that you _have nobody but friends around-us. I w.ill make sure -that-I surro�nd myself with the best and most experienced people._ I also· wanted to ·tell you that we are friends. We are great·friends and you Mr. President have friends -in our country so we can continue our strategic·�artn�rship. I also plan to surround myself with great people ·and in addition to that investigation, I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that all the investigations.will be done_openly and candidly .. That I can assure you ..

The Pre·sident: Good because I· heard you had a prosecutor who· was very·good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair.  A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your �ery good prosecutor down and you had some �ery bad people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the_mayor bf New York Ci:ty, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call yoti along with the Attorney·_ General.  Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could _speak to him that would be great. The former ambassador from the United $tates,· the woman., was bad news �nd th� people she was dealing with in .the Ukraine .were bad news so I jtist wan� to_let you know that� The ot�er thing,  There’s a lot 6f. talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.  Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.

President Zelenskyy: I wanted to tell ·you about the
prosecutor� First df �11 I understand arid I’m kn6wledgeable .abotit the situation. Sine� we ha�e �on· the ab�olute majority in our Parliament; the next prosecutor .general will be 100%_ my person, my c’andidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and will start. a_s a new prosecutor in September. He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in :this issue. The issue of the investigation of the case is �ctually the issui of �aking sure to res�o�e the honesty so we will take care of.that and wi11·wo:tk on the investigation of the case. On top of that, I would kindly ask you if you have any additional information that you can provide ·to µs, it would_ be very helpful · for the investigation t·o make· su.re that we administer justice i’:r1 our country with regc:ird: to the Ambassador to the United States from Ukraine as far as I recall her name was Ivanovicli. It was great that you were the first one. who told me that she was a bad ambassador because I agree·with you 100%.  Her attitude to.wards me was far from the best as she admired the previous President and she was on his· side. She would not accept �e as a new President· well enough.
. . . .

The President: Well, ·she’ s going tO go through some things. I will. have Mr. Giuliani.give you a call and I _ am. also going to have.Attorney General Barr call and we will get to· the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it o�t. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fa�r prosecuto_r so good luck with everything. Your. economy is going-·to get better and bett.er I pre.diet. You have a lot· of a,ssets.  It’s a great country. I have many Ukrainian friends, their incredible ·people.

President Z�lenskyy: I would like to tell you that I also have.quite a few·Ukrain1an friends that live iri the United·States. ·Actually last time I traveled to the Unit’ed States, I stayed in New York n�ar Central Park and I stayed at the Trump_ UN�� �-----,... --..J ��µ._;,�.....;._�.!...,_..:_ ��--��/ .m,
51:!C:Rt! I II ORCON/MOPOlffl
···’;,
s UNCLASSIFIED
Tower. I will t ·alk to thetn and I hope to see t_hem· again in the future. I also w·anted to _.thank you .for your invitation to visit the United States, specifically Washington DC. On ,the other hand, I also wartt td ensur� ·you that we will. be ��ry serious about.the case and will work on the investigation. As to.the economy, there is much potential for our two countries and one _of· the ·issues. that is ve:;ry important for Ukraine is· energy independence. I believe we can b� very succ�ssful. and cooperating on energy independence witp United States. We -are already working on cooperation. We are buying Americ�n oil but I am very hopeful for- ·a future meeting. We will have more time and more opportunitie� to discuss these opportunities· and get to know each other better. I would like to thank you very much for your sv.pport -

The President: Good. Well., thank you very much and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call. Thank you. Whenever you would like -to come to the White House,. feel ·fr�e to call. ·Give us a date and we’ll work that. out. I ·1ook forward to seeing you.

President ·zelens�yy: Thank ·you very much. I would be very happy to come and would be happy to meet with you per�onally and I . . get to know. you better. ::r: am l.ooking forward to our meeting arid I .also would like to invite you to visit Ukraine and come to the city bf Kyiv which is a beautiful city. We have a beautiful country Which would welcome you. On the other hand, I believe that on Septernber_l we will be in Poland and we can meet in Poland hopefully. After that,· it might be a very good idea for you to.travel to Ukraine. We can either take my plane and go to Ukraine or we can take your plane, which is probably mucl� better than mine.

The President: Okay,. ·we can work that ·out. I look forwar·a
to seeing you in Washington and maybe in· Poland bec·ause I think we are going to be there at that tlme .

President · Zelenskyy: Thank you very much Mr. President.

The President:· Congratulations on· a fantastic job you’ve
done-. The whole world was watching. I’m not sure it was so much of an upset but congratulations.

President Zelenskyy: Thank you Mr. President bye-bye ..

End of Conversation

Trump then goes on to implicate Attorney General Wm. Barr in the personal dealings in return for taxpayer assets, and--proving it is not for government purposes--he involves his personal attorney Mr. Rudy Guiliani, who is not a government employee.

Original Quill wrote:Here is the transcripe of the phone call between Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, as provided by the White House.  I have bolded the passages in which the deal is struck between Donald Trump and President Zelenskyy, whereby Trump trades military aid in return for a personal political favor:

Below is a rough transcript, as released by the White House, of a July call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Reports that Trump withheld aid to Ukraine while urging Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to announce Tuesday that the House would move ahead with an impeachment inquiry.
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
SUBJECT:
PARTICIPANTS:
DATE, TIME
AND PLACE:
(C) Telephone Conversation with President
Zelenskyy of Ukraine
Pre·sident Zelenskyy of . Ukraine
Notetakers: The White House Situation·Room
July 25, 2019, 9:03 - 9:33 a.m. EDT

Residence

The President: Congratulations on a great victory. We all
watched from the United States and you did a terrific.job. The way.you came from behind, -somebody who wasn’t given much of a chan�e, and you ended up winning ea�ily. It’� a fantastic achievement. Congratulations.

President Zelenskyy: You· are absolutely right Mr.
Presideht.• We did win big and we worked hard for _this. We worked a lot but I would like to confe$s to you that I had �n
opportunity to learn from you. We used quite a few of your
skills· and knowledge and were able to use .it as an example to·r our ele.ctions -and.yes it is-true that these were unique
elections. We were in a·unique situation· that we· were able to CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation.· (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a
discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty

“Officers and-NSC policy staff assigned t_o listen.and memorialize the conversation in written form
as the conversation takes place. A numper of factors can affect ‘the accuracy of the reco�d,
including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent and/or interpretation.
The word “inaudible” is used to indifate portions of a conversation that the notetaker was unable
to hear.

Classified By: 2354726
Derived.From: NSC SCG
Declassify On: 20441231
- lJNCLASSIFIED
SECRf3Cf’;’,’ORCOt VJ ,Of ORi,
2 UNC AS IFIED

achieve a unique success. I’m able to tell you the following;
the first time,\ you· called me to · congratulate .
me .when I won my presid�ntial election, and the second time you are now calling me when my party won the parliamentary election. I think I should run more often so you can call me more often and we can talk over the phone more often.

The Pre�:ddent: [laughter] That’s a very good idea. I
think your country is very happy about that.

President Zelenskyy: Well yes, to tell you the truth, we
are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp here in our country. We brought in many many new people. Not the old politicians, not the typical politicians, because we want to have a new format and a new type of government .. You are a great teacher for us and in that.

The President: Well it it’s very nice of you to say that. I
will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot . of effort and a lot.of time. Much more than the European countries are ·’doing and they should be helping.you more than.they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should ·really ask them about. When I.was··speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she ·doesn’t do·anything. A lot of the European countries are the. same way· so I think it’s.something you want to look at but the United States has been very ·very good to Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy: Yes you are·absolutely right. �ot
.only 100%, but actually 1000% arid I can tell you the following; I did talk to Angela �erkel and I did meet.with her. I also met and talked with Macron . and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing·on the issues with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine� It turns out that even though logically, the European Union should be our biggest· partner but technically the United States is a much bigger partner than.the European Union and- I’m very grateful to you for that because the United States is doing quite a· lot for Ukraine. Much more than the E”�ropean Union especially when we are talking about sanctions against the Russian Federation.  I would  also·li�e to thank you·for.your great support in the area  of defense.  We. are ready to continue to cooperate for the next  steps. specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from  the United· States for defense purposes ..

The· President: I would like you to do us a favor though
because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole si�uation with Ukraine, they s_ay Crowdstrike ... I guess you have one of your weal thy people... The server, they say Ukraine has.it� There- are a lot. of things that went on, the· :whole situation .. I think you 1 re _surrounding yourse·lf with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you t� ·get to the bottom of it�. As you sa� yest�rday, that whole nonsetise ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mue�le_r, an incompetent performance-, _but they. say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, ·it’s very important that· you. do it if that’s possible.

President Zelenskyy: Yes it is. very important for me and everything that you just mentioned earlier. For me as a President,-· it is very important and we are open for any future cooperation. We are ready to· open a new page on �ooperation in . relations between the United· States and Ukraine.· For that·purpose, I just recalled our.ambassador from United States and he will be replaced by a very competent and very experienced ambassador who wtll work hard on making sure that our two nations are getting clciser. I would also like and hope to see him having your trust and y9ur .confidence and _ have persona·relations·with you so we c�n cooperate even �ore so. I·wili.  Personally tell you that one· of my assistants· spoke with Mr. Giuliani just.recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. G1uliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and. we will meet once · he co�es to Ukraine. I just wanted to assure you once again_that you _have nobody but friends around-us. I w.ill make sure -that-I surro�nd myself with the best and most experienced people._ I also· wanted to ·tell you that we are friends. We are great·friends and you Mr. President have friends -in our country so we can continue our strategic·�artn�rship. I also plan to surround myself with great people ·and in addition to that investigation, I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that all the investigations.will be done_openly and candidly .. That I can assure you ..

The Pre·sident: Good because I· heard you had a prosecutor who· was very·good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair.  A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your �ery good prosecutor down and you had some �ery bad people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the_mayor bf New York Ci:ty, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call yoti along with the Attorney·_ General.  Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could _speak to him that would be great. The former ambassador from the United $tates,· the woman., was bad news �nd th� people she was dealing with in .the Ukraine .were bad news so I jtist wan� to_let you know that� The ot�er thing,  There’s a lot 6f. talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.  Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.

President Zelenskyy: I wanted to tell ·you about the
prosecutor� First df �11 I understand arid I’m kn6wledgeable .abotit the situation. Sine� we ha�e �on· the ab�olute majority in our Parliament; the next prosecutor .general will be 100%_ my person, my c’andidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and will start. a_s a new prosecutor in September. He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in :this issue. The issue of the investigation of the case is �ctually the issui of �aking sure to res�o�e the honesty so we will take care of.that and wi11·wo:tk on the investigation of the case. On top of that, I would kindly ask you if you have any additional information that you can provide ·to µs, it would_ be very helpful · for the investigation t·o make· su.re that we administer justice i’:r1 our country with regc:ird: to the Ambassador to the United States from Ukraine as far as I recall her name was Ivanovicli. It was great that you were the first one. who told me that she was a bad ambassador because I agree·with you 100%.  Her attitude to.wards me was far from the best as she admired the previous President and she was on his· side. She would not accept �e as a new President· well enough.
. . . .

The President: Well, ·she’ s going tO go through some things. I will. have Mr. Giuliani.give you a call and I _ am. also going to have.Attorney General Barr call and we will get to· the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it o�t. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very fa�r prosecuto_r so good luck with everything. Your. economy is going-·to get better and bett.er I pre.diet. You have a lot· of a,ssets.  It’s a great country. I have many Ukrainian friends, their incredible ·people.

President Z�lenskyy: I would like to tell you that I also have.quite a few·Ukrain1an friends that live iri the United·States. ·Actually last time I traveled to the Unit’ed States, I stayed in New York n�ar Central Park and I stayed at the Trump_ UN�� �-----,... --..J ��µ._;,�.....;._�.!...,_..:_ ��--��/ .m,
51:!C:Rt! I II ORCON/MOPOlffl
···’;,
s UNCLASSIFIED
Tower. I will t ·alk to thetn and I hope to see t_hem· again in the future. I also w·anted to _.thank you .for your invitation to visit the United States, specifically Washington DC. On ,the other hand, I also wartt td ensur� ·you that we will. be ��ry serious about.the case and will work on the investigation. As to.the economy, there is much potential for our two countries and one _of· the ·issues. that is ve:;ry important for Ukraine is· energy independence. I believe we can b� very succ�ssful. and cooperating on energy independence witp United States. We -are already working on cooperation. We are buying Americ�n oil but I am very hopeful for- ·a future meeting. We will have more time and more opportunitie� to discuss these opportunities· and get to know each other better. I would like to thank you very much for your sv.pport -

The President: Good. Well., thank you very much and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call. Thank you. Whenever you would like -to come to the White House,. feel ·fr�e to call. ·Give us a date and we’ll work that. out. I ·1ook forward to seeing you.

President ·zelens�yy: Thank ·you very much. I would be very happy to come and would be happy to meet with you per�onally and I . . get to know. you better. ::r: am l.ooking forward to our meeting arid I .also would like to invite you to visit Ukraine and come to the city bf Kyiv which is a beautiful city. We have a beautiful country Which would welcome you. On the other hand, I believe that on Septernber_l we will be in Poland and we can meet in Poland hopefully. After that,· it might be a very good idea for you to.travel to Ukraine. We can either take my plane and go to Ukraine or we can take your plane, which is probably mucl� better than mine.

The President: Okay,. ·we can work that ·out. I look forwar·a
to seeing you in Washington and maybe in· Poland bec·ause I think we are going to be there at that tlme .

President · Zelenskyy: Thank you very much Mr. President.

The President:· Congratulations on· a fantastic job you’ve
done-. The whole world was watching. I’m not sure it was so much of an upset but congratulations.

President Zelenskyy: Thank you Mr. President bye-bye ..

End of Conversation

I already read it and posted it.

If this is it, nothing is going to come if it.

Maddog wrote:I already read it and posted it.

If this is it, nothing is going to come if it.

No, you posted a link, not the full text. I understand why you would not want the full text exposed to members here. It shows Trump trading US, taxpayer funded, military assets to Ukraine in return for election favors, in the form of oppo research into his opponent, Joe Biden.

Not only is this (1) against the law forbidding foreign nations becoming involved in US elections, and (2) involving private citizens to speak for the US, but (3) it is selling taxpayer funded favors by a president for personal gain.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:I already read it and posted it.

If this is it, nothing is going to come if it.

No, you posted a link, not the full text.  I understand why you would not want the full text exposed to members here.  It shows Trump trading US, taxpayer funded, military assets to Ukraine in return for election favors, in the form of oppo research into his opponent, Joe Biden.

Not only is this (1) against the law forbidding foreign nations becoming involved in US elections, and (2) involving private citizens to speak for the US, but (3) it is selling taxpayer funded favors by a president for personal gain.

The link had the full text.

You chose not to read it, after I explicitly told you to.

This conversation is not going to prove anything. If this is all the Dems have, they may have just handed the election to Trump.

Remember how wrong your were about Mueller?

I do.

Maddog wrote:The link had the full text.

You know that a link won't get as many reviews and a clear and present text. Besides, I had to highlight and make clear certain passages comprising the quid-pro-quo of the transaction.

Maddog wrote:You chose not to read it, after I explicitly told you to.

Didn’t I read it? How, then, did I know what passages to underline? Red, you're not an intellectual giant, are you? You are not very clever at telling Republican lies to listeners.

Better luck next time.

Maddog wrote:This conversation is not going to prove anything. If this is all the Dems have, they may have just handed the election to Trump.

It's going to prove that Trump is selling off US assets in return for personal favors.

The Mueller report detailed how he sold out America for his Trump Tower Moscow high-rise. Now we have another instance of Trump's traitor tactics. Old habits are hard to break.

Plus, now we have AG Barr involved (by Trump's own words), and that is Espionage. Plus, we have Guiliani involved, which is a Logan Act violation.

My god, how the charges keep piling up.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:This conversation is not going to prove anything. If this is all the Dems have, they may have just handed the election to Trump.

It's going to prove that Trump is selling off US assets in return for personal favors.

The Mueller report detailed how he sold out America for his Trump Tower Moscow high-rise.  Now we have another instance of Trump's traitor tactics.  Old habits are hard to break.

Plus, now we have AG Barr involved (by Trump's own words), and that is Espionage.  Plus, we have Guiliani involved, which is a Logan Act violation.

My god, how the charges keep piling up.

Something might prove that. This document just proves that America expects things for foreign aid. Investigating crimes involving the Ukraine isn't going to benefit Trump unless a crime was committed.

This is a better explanation.

Might fly over the head of some around here.

Naw, we un'erstan southern talk, ah-plentee.

Mae hav thet wee shud talk a-gin.  Bye nah.  

Original Quill wrote:

Naw, we un'erstan southern talk, ah-plentee.

Mae hav thet wee shud talk a-gin.  Bye nah.  

Wow, you missed the point again.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Naw, we un'erstan southern talk, ah-plentee.

Mae hav thet wee shud talk a-gin.  Bye nah.  

Wow, you missed the point again.  

Most of the time, with you and certain others, I don't miss the point...I correct the point. This is necessary when someone mission-creeps into another subject, usually for evasion, but sometimes because they genuinely lose sight of the plot.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Wow, you missed the point again.  

Most of the time, with you and certain others, I don't miss the point...I correct the point.  This is necessary when someone mission-creeps into another subject, usually for evasion, but sometimes because they genuinely lose sight of the plot.

What are you blabbering about now?

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Most of the time, with you and certain others, I don't miss the point...I correct the point.  This is necessary when someone mission-creeps into another subject, usually for evasion, but sometimes because they genuinely lose sight of the plot.

What are you blabbering about now?

Basically...you. You haven't advanced any argument for the past week or two. You're just dealing in trash talk.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

What are you blabbering about now?

Basically...you.  You haven't advanced any argument for the past week or two.  You're just dealing in trash talk.

Trash talk?

Give me a break old man.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

Basically...you.  You haven't advanced any argument for the past week or two.  You're just dealing in trash talk.

Trash talk?

Give me a break old man.

What do you call that?

How is that even contributing to any discussion on the board? You're limited in debate, and too quick to turn to personal insults. You're really not good at discussing politics, as you lose the plot all too quickly.

Original Quill wrote:

Maddog wrote:

Trash talk?

Give me a break old man.

What do you call that?  

How is that even contributing to any discussion on the board?  You're limited in debate, and too quick to turn to personal insults.  You're really not good at discussing politics, as you lose the plot all too quickly.

It's me telling you how out of touch you are.

Carry on though. I'm sure it's good therapy for you.

Maddog wrote:

Original Quill wrote:

What do you call that?  

How is that even contributing to any discussion on the board?  You're limited in debate, and too quick to turn to personal insults.  You're really not good at discussing politics, as you lose the plot all too quickly.

It's me telling you how out of touch you are.

Carry on though. I'm sure it's good therapy for you.

You're embarrassing yourself.

Hilarious! Trump says, when asked what did he do? I GOT CAUGHT!

White House officials tried to cover-up the recording and transcript of the July 25 conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, by locking it away in a super secret server for intelligence matters.  Only problem, this wasn't an intelligence matter, but a mafia 'shake-down' matter.

It does show that White House lawyers knew it was BAD...which, in legal parlance is consciousness of guilt. Trump seems to minimize the shake-down, but his own folks around him know full well how bad it is.