The Plot Thickens

The New Normal:  Yesterday started off normal by current standards: some more subpoenas, a few more details regarding upcoming Congressional testimony, a few leaks about the panic that set in at the White House after Trump’s quid pro quo call with Ukraine President Zelensky and the release of a letter signed by sixteen prominent conservative lawyers most notably Kellyanne Conway’s husband George, calling for an “expeditious” impeachment probe into Trump, meant as a plea to Republicans who are standing by Trump despite his crimes to get off the Trump train and face reality.  Then things got really interesting after Geoffrey Berman, the Trump appointed Federal Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a one-time partner of Rudy Giuliani at the Greenberg Traurig law firm, took to the podium to announce the arrest and indictment of two of Giuliani’s associates/partners in Ukraine crime.  The two, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman both Soviet born naturalized US citizens are accused of violating campaign finance laws by funneling foreign money to a fairly long list of US Republican candidates as well as arranging for $325,000 in contributions to a Trump related political PAC.  They are also accused of lobbying Pete Sessions, a now former Republican congressman who lost his seat in the 2018 midterms, for help getting Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch fired from her Ukraine post as retribution for her refusal to push the “dig up dirt on the Bidens and find ‘proof’ that Ukraine was responsible for the meddling in the 2016 election” plan.  The arrest and indictment of Parnas and Fruman was rushed out after the Feds learned that the two men had bought one way tickets to Frankfurt.  They were nabbed at Dulles Airport on Wednesday night as they were leaving the first class lounge to board their flight.  Curiously, they had lunch with Giuliani at the Washington Trump hotel just hours before they were picked up at the airport.  Even more curiously, The Atlantic reports that Giuliani had planned to join the two men in Vienna later this week.  Two of Parnas and Fruman’s colleagues were also indicted, one was picked up on the west coast and another is expected to turn himself in today.  Though there are pictures of Fruman and Parnas in the White House standing alongside Trump and another one of the two dining with son Don Jr, Trump insists that he has no idea who they are, pointing out that he takes pictures with lots of people.  He also expressed hope that Giuliani wouldn’t be indicted,  a sentiment that Rudy probably shares. Suffice it to say Rudy has lots of ‘splaining to do and the odds of him being indicted are increasing daily. Attorney General Barr who is back from his European sojourn, the one where he was on the hunt for “proof” that the investigation into Russian interference in the election had been initiated based on trumped up information, knew about the ongoing investigation into Fruman and Parnas and the impending indictments so its fair to believe that Trump and Giuliani knew they were imminent.  Hmmm.  As to that whole shift the blame on election interference to Ukraine, earlier this week the Republican chaired Senate Intelligence released a report that placed the blame squarely on the Russians, noting that they weighed in on Trump’s side and that they particularly targeted African Americans, effectively discouraging a significant number of them to sit out the election.  

You Talking to Me:  Turning back for a moment to the deposition/testimony schedule, assuming she isn’t waylaid Sondland style, former Ambassador Yovanovitch is expected to testify today about how she was pressured to investigate the Bidens, how she was sidelined and her view on why she was recalled by Trump.  Next week Fiona Hill, who until recently served as Trump’s top aide on Russia and Europe, is scheduled to testify.  She is expected to say that Giuliani and EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland circumvented the National Security Council and normal White House process to run a shadow policy on all things Ukraine.  Hill who is fluent in Russian was gone before the Zelensky call but may also know lots of stuff about Trump’s calls with Putin.  Sondland, who was subpoenaed after his scheduled deposition was canceled by the White House at the last minute is back on the schedule for next week too.  As to all those leaks emanating from the White House, the State Department and/or the National Security Council, they provide further indication that the panic after Trump’s now infamous call with Ukraine’s Zelensky was palpable, that a number of people who listened to the call panicked after hearing what Trump had to say and that at least four of them reported their concerns to the NSC’s chief legal advisor and that the Whistleblower only forwarded the concern about the call to his inspector general over concerns that it wasn’t getting proper attention in part because there is no inspector general within the White House. Though there is no indication so far that former national security advisor John Bolton spoke with the Whistleblower, he apparently was one of the people very upset about the Zelensky call.  Yesterday he signed a tell all book contract so we might have to wait awhile and then pay for his version of events.   In what may, or may not be the beginning of a “last one out shut the lights” trend last night Michael McKinley, a career diplomat and senior adviser to Secretary of State Pompeo, resigned amid “rising dissatisfaction and plummeting morale inside the State Department over what is seen as Pompeo’s failure to support personnel ensnared in the Ukraine controversy.”  Oh and former House Oversight Committee Chair/Benghazi loon and one time Congressman Trey Gowdy who is supposed to join the Trump legal team to help fight impeachment won’t be able to join until January due to conflict of interest prohibitions, a bit of a problem since the Democrats are hoping to proceed before the end of the year.  Did I mention that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and his files have been subpoenaed too?   

The Rest:  Things have gone from bad to worse in Syria where the Turks are doing their best to obliterate the Kurds.  Trump held a campaign rally in Minnesota, in Representative Ilhan Omar’s Minneapolis district of all places.  Apparently, he’s convinced that he can win Minnesota in 2020 because he only lost it by a little in 2016.  He said his usual crap, went after Biden, Pelosi and Omar and used quite a few ugly expletives.  Trump is not happy with the recent Fox poll, the one that indicates that more than 50% of the country is pro-impeachment.  A few of his right wing supporters are now blaming poll results on former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is now a Fox board member, saying that he “forced” the company to hire a liberal leaning pollster.  Not so coincidentally, Attorney General Barr, who turns up in the oddest places, had a discrete meeting with News Corp Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch at his NY residence on Wednesday night.  An effort to get Fox to better adhere to the Trump party line perhaps?   The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for his “efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation and, in particular, for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.”  Donald won’t be happy.