Thursday evening impeachment roundup

Hello, miscreants! Step right up for your one-stop shop for the latest impeachment-related bombshells!

Bill Taylor links withholding of Ukraine aid to Trump

If you recall, when Ambassador William Taylor gave his deposition before the impeachment inquiry, one thing which leaked out was that the things he related made members audibly gasp. Tonight, NBC News reports on what he said that elicited such a reaction.

WASHINGTON — One stunning moment during a top diplomat's testimony this week may prove pivotal to the congressional impeachment inquiry and even led to gasps in the room, according to one source who was present.

It occurred when William Taylor, the lead U.S. envoy to Ukraine, described a video conference call in July with officials from the White House Office of Management and Budget. Even Republicans who were present expressed concern, the source said, because the call made a direct link between President Donald Trump and the withholding of military aid to Ukraine for political purposes.

One OMB official, who was not named by Taylor during his appearance on Tuesday before the House Intelligence Committee, informed those on the call that there was a hold on U.S. military aid. While that OMB official didn't know why the funds were being frozen, a second OMB aide, who was not on camera, said "the directive had come from the president to the chief of staff to OMB," according to Taylor. The call occurred one week before Trump's discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

That's right. Taylor directly connected Donald Trump to the Ukraine extortion plan.

No doubt, Republicans will still aver this is all hearsay. But there are now witnesses besides Taylor. And have no doubt: House investigators will find out, or already have found out, who was on that call, and will bring them in. As we've seen, career civil servants aren't too keen on taking a dagger in the crotch for Trump. Just like civil servants have been testifying for two weeks, the employees of OMB will likewise not refuse Congressional subpoenas.

It wasn't just military aid being held up

This evening, the Washington Post had its own boom.

The White House’s trade representative in late August withdrew a recommendation to restore some of Ukraine’s trade privileges after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that President Trump probably would oppose any action that benefited the government in Kyiv, according to people briefed on the matter.

The warning to Robert E. Lighthizer came as Trump was withholding $391 million in military aid and security assistance from Ukraine. House Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry into allegations that the president did so to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the business activities of former vice president Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. As part of the inquiry, lawmakers are closely scrutinizing the White House’s actions between July and September.

The August exchange between Bolton and Lighthizer over the trade matter represents the first indication that the administration’s suspension of assistance to Ukraine extended beyond the congressionally authorized military aid and security assistance to other government programs. It is not clear whether Trump directed Bolton to intervene over Ukraine’s trade privileges or was even aware of the discussion.

Trump was so desperate to gain any advantage he could get heading into an election which would decide whether or not he spent the rest of his life in prison that he was willing to hold Ukraine hostage not just militarily, but economically as well.

This adds to the case for abuse of power as the main article of impeachment against Trump. As I wrote last night, this is normal in Trumpworld. He's nothing but a mobster. He sees all relations as purely transactional, and brought that mindset to foreign affairs. He knew he had Ukraine over a barrel, with the Russian bear massing tanks occasionally across their border. He thought he would pull one of his tested mobster moves and get what he wanted. It must have come as a surprise that, although geopolitics are rough, there are accepted rules and norms.

Get the beverages and snacks of your choice ready

In another boom from the Post, House Democrats plan to start televised hearings as soon as the middle of November.

House Democrats are preparing to move their largely private impeachment inquiry onto a more public stage as soon as mid-November and are already grappling with how best to present the complex Ukraine saga to the American people.

Over the past three weeks, a parade of current and former Trump administration officials have testified behind closed doors, providing House investigators with a compelling narrative of President Trump’s campaign to extract political favors from Ukrainian officials. But on Wednesday, after conservative lawmakers stormed the hearing room and delayed the proceedings for five hours, some Democrats were feeling pressure to advance public hearings in hopes of avoiding further disruptions.

Among the witnesses Democrats hope to question in open session are the acting ambassador to Ukraine, William B. Taylor Jr., and his predecessor, former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Both are seasoned diplomats who, in earlier House testimony, effectively conveyed outrage over a White House plan to withhold much-needed military aid from Ukraine, a long-standing ally battling pro-Russian separatists.

So, yes, the geniuses behind yesterday's storming of the SCIF, instead of stalling affairs, may have accelerated them. With polling supporting impeachment and removal showing increasing support, televised hearings will seal the deal in the eyes of reasonable voters. This is no guarantee that twenty Republican senators will act to save their own skin. But the spectacle of weeks of witnesses detailing Trump's utter criminality will do nothing but increase the pressure on Mitch McConnell and his partners in malfeasance.

That's it, folks. Have a restful night.

Late breaking news

You know, I do have a life and have to attend to work matters. Which is damned annoying when Trump pulls yet another jackass move.

Tonight, the New York Times broke a story that the Department of Justice (read: Bill Barr) is opening a "criminal investigation" into its own Russia probe.

WASHINGTON — For more than two years, President Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal even months after the special counsel closed it. Now, Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how it all began.

Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges.

The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies. Mr. Trump fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director under whose watch agents opened the Russia inquiry, and has long assailed other top former law enforcement and intelligence officials as partisans who sought to block his election.

Some, understandably, are quite taken aback. This is nothing but another abuse of power by Trump and his regime, and will be another article of impeachment.

The fact is that a bipartisan Senate committee has found that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election. This isn't a conspiracy spun by anti-Trump partisans. This is a matter of record by Senate Intelligence. Barr and his lacky John Durham can try to be witch master generals all they want; this will be another farce on top of all the other Rube Goldberg get-out-of-jail cards they've concocted over the past year to get their jefe in the clear.

While we can rage against such a blatantly unjust action, this merely adds more grist to the impeachment mill. Instead of trying to minimize the damage they're taking, the regime is going even further down the rabbit hole.

So, again, have a restful night. We've seen this movie before. It never turns out well for our adversaries.