Kiev Calling

Hearing Highlights:  I have no idea if yesterday’s testimony moved the needle, whether anyone who wasn’t already convinced that Trump should be impeached will jump on the impeachment bandwagon but both Ambassador Bill Taylor and State Department official George Kent, who wore his favorite bow tie, were impressive; their opening remarks and responses to questions revealed their patriotism, honesty and political impartiality.  Though they spent a lot of time pushing back at Republican conspiracy theories they also gained credibility by holding back from confirming some of the things that Democrats wanted them to say, at times responding to questions saying that they could infer a lot but had to stick with the facts.  The bombshell of the day was delivered early by Ambassador Taylor who revealed that following his SCIF testimony a member of his staff told him that on July 26, just one day after the infamous Trump-Zelensky call, he had been sitting at a public café in Kiev with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland when Sondland used his cell phone to call Trump.  Trump took the call and spoke so loudly that the staffer heard their discussion about “investigations.” After the call the staffer asked Sondland what Trump thought of Ukraine, Sondland responded that “Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.”  Through his lawyers Taylor immediately brought this newest incriminating info to the appropriate authorities on both sides of the aisle and as a result the staffer is now scheduled to testify in the SCIF on Friday. Putting aside what Trump said on the call, that the call took place in a public setting over a personal cell phone is crazy, an irresponsible breach of security and stupid as Sondland’s call records are quite accessible by authorities.  Moreover the staff member’s report proves that Trump’s earlier assertion that he didn’t really know that Sondland guy was as much of a lie as everyone knew it was when he said it. Yesterday, when asked about the call Trump feigned ignorance, claiming he had no recollection of it taking place.  Another lie, dementia or both?  Sondland is due to testify in public next Wednesday, once again he has some ‘splaining to do since he somehow or other failed to mention the call during his SCIF deposition or subsequent amendment. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney who will probably never testify also has some more to be worried about as his name and role blocking Ukraine aid came up several times.  As to the rest of the hearing, Chairman Adam Schiff and his Democratic colleagues, including staff lawyer and former MSNBC pundit Dan Goldman, were very disciplined, they stuck to an obviously prepared script and didn’t go for any histrionics although Democratic Representative Peter Welch did manage to inspire some diversionary laughter when he responded to Republican Jim “Gym” Jordan’s rant that due to Adam Schiff and the rest of the Democrats, Congress will never get a chance to question the Whistleblower, the one “who started it all” by saying he’d “be glad to have the person who started it all to come in and testify,” that “Trump is welcome to take a seat right there.” Tape of that went viral on twitter almost immediately.  As to the rest of the Republicans, ranking member Devin Nunes started things off by referencing all of the Trump’s favorite conspiracy theories, blaming 2016 election interference on a cabal between certain Democratic players and rogue Ukrainians and trotting out as many references to the “Hillary funded” Steele Dossier that he could fit into his allotted timeslot.  Trump’s other fanboy, Gym Jordan, screamed every time he got the mic.  Their staff lawyer wasn’t all that impressive but that may have had more to do with the material he had to work with than his lack of legal skills.  A few of their Republican colleagues were a bit more effective, going after Hunter Biden and his cushy $50,000/month Burisma board membership, Ukraine’s history of corruption and sticking with the assertion that since Ukraine ultimately got their aid and the investigations into the Bidens were never announced, that there was no crime because attempted crimes don’t count as far as Republicans are concerned.  Trump denied watching the hearing, claiming he was too busy to pay any attention to those “never Trumpers,” the “joke” of a “witch hunt” that “shouldn’t have been allowed to happen” though he did manage to tweet about it.  No public testimony today but former Ukraine Ambassador Yovanovitch will be testifying in public on Friday.

Turkey Trots:  Trump spent part of his day hosting Turkey’s President Erdogan in the Oval Office, a meeting that Ukraine President Zelensky still hasn’t been granted.  Despite recent events and the pushback he’s received from Congress including from some of his most dedicated Senators, Trump announced that he’s one of Erdogan’s big fans.  In response Erdogan called Trump a “dear friend” probably because his Dear Don has facilitated his invasion and cleansing of those Kurdish territories in northern Syria.  They both agreed that Europe hadn’t done enough to repatriate their ISIS fighters, Trump’s way of saying he is on board with Turkey sending them back to commit their terrorist activities in Europe.  Most jarringly, Trump complimented Erdogan for Turkey’s “great relationship with the Kurds” apart from those terrorist ones that cause Erdogan so many problems.  Unfortunately for the Kurds, Erdogan pretty much views all of them as terrorists.  After participating in the meeting with Erdogan, Trump toady Lindsey Graham went back to the Senate and rewarded Erdogan for being such a nice guy by blocking a resolution calling out Turkey for the Armenian Genocide, that’s the resolution that was passed by a vote of 405 to 11 in the House. 

Other Items: Trump lost another round in his fight to keep his tax returns away from prying public eyes.  The full US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit declined to revisit an earlier ruling that allowed Congress to subpoena eight years of his tax records.  Trump’s lawyers plan to appeal this case as well as a recent NY case ruling directing his Mazars accounting firm to release his personal and business returns to a NY Grand Jury to the Supreme Court.  It’s not clear that the Supreme Court will even accept the case.  As to the Supremes, it’s time to say another prayer for the Notorious RBG, she called in sick yesterday due to a flu of some kind.  On the political front, yesterday we learned that while he’s still running, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro failed to qualify for the November debate stage though everyone else who appeared last time will be there and this morning former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick entered the Democratic race for president because it’s not messy enough. And yesterday, George Conway, Kellyanne’s rogue hubby actually appeared on MSNBC to provide some pro-impeachment commentary.  What goes on at their breakfast table?