This is fascinating from former Russian Ambassador McFaul on the Nicole Wallace show. 1. Trump was calling Sondland in the restaurant the day after speaking to Zelensky. Why does he need an update so fast on investigations? This proves Trump was leading the conspiracy 2. Putin certainly intercepted that call 3. Did Trump want the call to be intercepted? McCaul & others have speculated maybe yes. As anoraks have laid out, Trump's carelessness around OPSEC certainly means foreign governments have all kinds of intercepts. Do we believe Trump didn't say compromising stuff? What about before he was POTUS? The Moscow Tower emails from Cohen are just one example of embarassing Kompromat that Putin certainly had before it leaked. What else is out there? e.g do German Security services have parts of the Deutsche stuff? "You make any call on an unclassified cell phone in Ukraine, that means Vladimir Putin has the transcript. I hope they didn't talk about anything compromising in that call... Even talking about it in front of other diplomats... incredibly sloppy" - @McFaul w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/xWaNFQX7Tb— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) November 14, 2019
You guys don't know how Wheel of Fortune works. There can't be an I in "air" because someone already bought the I. Any letter that you can already see can't be in the final solution. So here are some possible words for the four missing letters in three words. Choose one from each group. Buck Cuck Duck ******** Luck Muck Puck Ruck Suck Be Me We Abs Add Ads All Alm Amp App Arm Asp Ass Awl Aww So obviously it's a hockey reference - "Puck Me In The Abs Tonight". Or maybe a throwback to the heady days of the dot-com boom: "Buck Be In The App Tonight". Or it's possible I have spent too much time on this tonight.
Do you think that Sondland's inexperience contributed to this? He's not a professional diplomat - he bought his position, and it was in Brussels (presumably) where bad actors aren't intercepting cell signals (presumably). I mean, here in the US we presume that the NSA isn't listening in when we call up our spouses from the store to see if they want romaine or greenleaf lettuce, and if they are listening in, we presume they're not bad actors (which is probably a bad assumption). Is there a possible ignorance defense?
Yes definitely. This is the problem when complete noobs try to roll with proper international gangsters. The US is one of the big international gangsters and easily has the capability to back channel stuff effectively (the CIA duh!) . Or look at how Putin uses cutouts on everything (of course US CI has a good idea of who the GRU agents are). Trump keeps using official front of house stuff or his personal cronies to do crime shit. These people then create crime docs on email (LOL!) text message, Twitter DM etc etc LMAO! I happen to know the NZ Embassy is big on bugging etc, down to having to be careful about the glass windows. Everyone is trying to steal the trade stuff, and absolutely in Brussels. It's been pretty clear since Shane Harris' The Watchers in 2010, that the NSA will likely "intercept" every call made from the US to Kiev. The issue is not so much what they track, but how they filter it. But again let's not be naive here. NZ Intelligence services warn even low level staffers about all the dangers. Everyone is told that mobiles are insecure. The idea Sondland did not know this is fanciful. I mean this would be as stupid as him taking an embassy laptop and writing an email to the President on the local starbucks WIFI
Inexperienced/unqualified people at the helm of [insert agency name], is the reason why the US is getting trampled on the [insert policy area].
I'm guessing his assholery contributed to this. I'm sure some lower-level employee warned him of the dangers of unsecured communications but he ignored them.
And so Day 2 begins: Yeah, it's a Cult thing... Man suing fictional cow talking about strange cults.— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) November 15, 2019
Who knew, a Perfect Call ™!!! NEW 🚨... as the second impeachment hearing is about to gavel in, the White House released the first convo between trump and Zelensky. Here it is pic.twitter.com/El8dg4EIvU— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 15, 2019 It looks totally legit!!!
Yovanovicht is not holding punches: 1195351462970302465 is not a valid tweet id 1195352418533466112 is not a valid tweet id 1195351627932327937 is not a valid tweet id 1195352776999669761 is not a valid tweet id
Listening to some Trump quotes it's obvious he has some cognitive deterioration going on. His word choices sounds like those of a six year old. His problems are way worse than any Reagan showed.
Man, this is a complete shit show for Trump: 1195358184963235842 is not a valid tweet id Really silent in the room as Yovanovitch describes feeling concerned and threatened after Trump told Zelensky, "Well, she’s going to go through some things."— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) November 15, 2019
Hate Watching: “Ms Yovanovitch as you sit here testifying, the president is attacking you on Twitter,” Schiff says, and is now reading the tweets, says wants to give her a chance to respond.— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) November 15, 2019 Rep. Schiff makes clear how he regards President Trump's tweets attacking Amb. Marie Yovanovitch: "Some of us here take witness intimidation very seriously."— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 15, 2019 Add witness intimidation to the list of impeachable offenses,,,,
I am sure Sondland knew but he seems to me that he carries his load of arrogance and stupidity, perhaps thinking that being in direct contact with POTUS makes him out of reach and invincible. The dude is a major doofus.
Schiff did a masterful job here..... Fox's @BretBaier: Trump's Twitter outburst "enabled Schiff to then characterize that tweet as intimidating the witness or tampering with the witness, which is a crime -- essentially adding an article of impeachment, real time."— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 15, 2019 Chris Wallace agrees: "This wasn't just testimony about the past. This played out in real time, with the president attacking her... It does raise the possibility of witness intimidation and witness tampering as a new charge here."— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 15, 2019
Man.....I listened to that show a couple of times and I could feel my IQ dropping. I pity the guys running that show and having to go through this every day.
That, gentlemen is the voice of the American people. Yes, it can be very scary to hear our self's giving opinions on TV. But that is what 'we the people' sound like.
So the best thing he could say about Ukraine was that they sent nice girls to Miss Universe? Also, the witness intimidation is really bad.
From the Fox crowd... That was a turning point in this hearing so far. She was already a sympathetic witness & the President’s tweet ripping her allowed Schiff to point it out real time characterizing it as witness tampering or intimidation -adding an article of impeachment real-time. https://t.co/HSCkGMIqmH— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) November 15, 2019 1195369929811406855 is not a valid tweet id Chris Wallace just said this to Fox News viewers: "If you are not moved by the testimony of Ambassador Yovanovitch, you don't have a pulse."— Willie Geist (@WillieGeist) November 15, 2019