Looks like the whistleblower report really is devastating for Donald Trump
Earlier today, the White House released what it tried to pass off as a “transcript” of the call from July with President Trump and the president of the Ukraine. It was definitely not a transcript, but it was damning. A few hours later, the intelligence committees received the whistleblower complaint and related documents. From the early comments from Senate Intelligence Committee members, the complaint is even more damning than the transcript, and things continue at a fast and furious pace.
Senator Chuck Schumer reported after reviewing the materials: “Having read the documents in there I’m even more worried about what happened than I was when I read the memorandum of the conversation. There are so many facts have to be examined.”
Senator Ben Sasse also cautioned Republicans, stating: “Republicans ought not to be rushing to circle the wagons to say there’s no there there when there’s obviously lots that’s very troubling there…”
And Ukrainian officials just disclosed that investigating Biden was part and parcel of having a call with Trump, and we likely will discover the aid was tied to all of that.
As Palmer Report has reported, Trump has pulled Vice President Mike Pence into the mix with his statements today at the press conference. For those keeping score at home, add Pence to Pompeo, Barr, Giuliani and Mulvaney as all having potentially touched this steaming pile. And the Acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, reportedly threatened to resign if he was not allowed to speak without limits before Congress. Maguire has denied those reports, but we have seen that kind of denial before and we will learn what Maguire did or did not do.
In the meantime, as has been the case for the entirety of the Trump presidency, the GOP Congressional folks seem to have lost their spines and their voices, with no one other than Ben Sasse publicly showing any sliver of concern thus far. We will see if that changes over the coming days, or if the elephant goes down with the shit.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.