General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsepilogue to Mueller's report: the coming of age of an aspiring colluder
Donald Trumps Ukraine Scandal Has Its Roots in Russia
Both situations stem from the Presidents apparent willingness to accept political favors from foreign leaders, and his eagerness to do Putins bidding.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/14/donald-trumps-ukraine-scandal-has-its-roots-in-russia
President Trump and his allies nearly succeeded in consigning the Mueller report to oblivion. William Barr, Trumps compliant Attorney General, got a jump on the process when he preëmpted the public release of the report by providing a misleading summary, which minimized the special counsels findings on Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Trump compounded Barrs distortions by falsely and endlessly repeating that the report found no collusion, no obstruction. Congressional Democrats did little for the cause of clarity by using the report as an occasion to debate the semantics of what constitutes an impeachment investigation. And Robert Mueller himself invited a certain measure of confusion by telling his story in dense, legalistic prose. Barely six months after he delivered the report, it had already faded into the mists of Trumpiana: post-Sean Spicer, pre-whistle-blower.
The whistle-blower revealed Trumps July 25th phone call to Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, in which, according to the official memorandum, Trump said that he wanted a favor, then asked Zelensky to look into negative information concerning Joe Biden, at the time the Democratic front-runner for 2020. The request was so plainly an abuse of Presidential powerZelensky was awaiting delivery of military aid already approved by Congressthat Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, launched an investigation focussed on impeachment, to be led by Adam Schiff, the chair of the Intelligence Committee. Mueller and Russia are out; Schiff and Ukraine are in.
But the Russia and Ukraine scandals are, in fact, one story. Indeed, the Presidents false denials in both of them capture the common themes: soliciting help from foreign interests for partisan gain, followed by obstruction of efforts to uncover what happened. Both, too, share roots in Vladimir Putins Russia. Muellers two indictments of Russian intereststhe first involving the use of social media and the second the hacking of Democratic Party e-mailsare perhaps the most detailed chronicle ever published of foreign interference in a U.S. political campaign. Trumps team was appreciative. When a public-relations adviser to a Russian oligarchs family e-mailed Donald Trump, Jr., offering dirt on Hillary Clinton that was part of Russia and its governments support for Mr. Trump, the candidates son gave a straightforward reply: If its what you say I love it.
Just two years earlier, Putin had invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. The government in Kiev went back and forth between leaders who wanted to accommodate Putins regime and others who wanted to enlist the help of the West to push back against it. The political consultant of choice for the pro-Russian faction was Paul Manafort, who served as Trumps campaign chair in the summer of 2016. As Mueller documented, Manafort passed proprietary campaign polling data to pro-Russian Ukrainians. The campaign-era Trump portrayed in the report suffered from one major limitation: he wasnt President. He clearly welcomed Putins assistance, and promised a better relationship with Russia, but he was still just a businessman from New York. The whistle-blowers complaint is the epilogue to Muellers report: the coming of age of an aspiring colluder.
Its important to note, as well, that, in the Ukrainian chapter, Trump has done Putins bidding, to the extent that he can, going so far as to embrace a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 campaign. The rest of the U.S. government has never been as enamored of Putin as Trump is. That includes Republicans in Congress, who joined the Democrats in voting for military aid to Ukraine. Trump wants no part of conflict with Putin, but the aid package tied his hands. There was a revealing moment in his joint news conference with Zelensky at the United Nations last month. Almost as an aside, Trump said, I really believe that President Putin would like to do something. I really hope that you and President Putin get together and can solve your problem. Ukraine doesnt have a problem with Putinit has an invasion by Putin.
<<snip>>