Reply With QuoteIolo/Penderyn (10-15-2019)
Diversity Makes Greatness
Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch's Testimony On Trump Cracks The Wall Of Silence
"Ambassador’s decision to ignore state department gag and appear before the House committees will probably inspire others"
Marie Yovanovitch's testimony on Trump cracks the wall of silence
"No wonder the state department tried to stop Marie Yovanovitch from talking. The former ambassador’s written testimony to Congress expresses clearly and in the most solemn of settings, what growing numbers American diplomats have been feeling: that their institution is being left to rot.
It is too soon to say whether her evisceration of the state department delivered behind closed doors, will mark a turning point in Donald Trump’s struggle to hold on to his office. There will without doubt be a counter-attack.
But Yovanovitch’s decision to ignore the state department gag and appear before the House committees – without having to be subpoenaed – has already cracked the wall of silence."
"Trump led 'concerted campaign' to oust me, former Ukraine envoy tells Congress"
She had to go. She was unwilling to descend into Trump fantasy land, held onto truth and conviction of national service.
"After more than three decades as a diplomat, under six presidents, she expressed her “deep disappointment and dismay” about what had happened to her faith that “we enjoyed a sacred trust with our government”.
“That basic understanding no longer holds true,” she said. “Today, we see the state department attacked and hollowed out from within.”
The harm would not just come from the exodus of talent, Yovanovitch said.
“The harm will come when private interests circumvent professional diplomats for their own gain, not the public good,” she went on. “The harm will come when bad actors in countries beyond Ukraine see how easy it is to use fiction and innuendo to manipulate our system. In such circumstances, the only interests that will be served are those of our strategic adversaries, like Russia, that spread chaos and attack the institutions and norms that the US helped create and which we have benefited from for the last 75 years.”"
"On Thursday, it will be the turn of the US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who announced through his lawyer on Friday that he would be giving a deposition – again in defiance of state department instructions.
Sondland got his job after donating $1m to the Trump inauguration fund, but he is not a loyalist. He backed other Republican contenders for the 2016 nomination and only leapt onboard the Trump wagon when it was past the finish line.
In WhatsApp messages released by Congress, Sondland is revealed have led the effort to persuade Ukraine to launch the politically motivated investigations, bragging that he was acting on presidential authority, only to deny there was any quid pro quo when it became clear an investigation was in the pipeline.
It will be hard to stick to that story when confronted by his own words next Thursday.
Which way Sondland chooses to jump could have an important bearing on perceptions of the impeachment process among Republicans. Polls now show that half the electorate already support it."
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Iolo/Penderyn (10-15-2019)
Get Off My Lawn
Silly liberals...
Common sense is not a gift, it's a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.
Diversity Makes Greatness
"The week’s dramatic news provided a vivid split-screen illustration of what private interests entailed. On one side a veteran diplomat walking purposefully through the halls of Congress on her way to testify; on the other, mugshots of Giuliani’s two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who had worked with Trump’s lawyer to look for dirt on the Bidens, and who had boasted they had helped get rid of Yovanovitch.
The pair are charged with funneling foreign cash into the Trump campaign and into the coffers other Republican candidates, as well as seeking to buy politicians to grant a licence for a recreational marijuana farm.
In their wake they have left a trail of fraud accusations, and failed ventures including a movie that was to be called Anatomy of an Assassin, which collapsed when investors’ money evaporated.
This was the gang that was running a parallel foreign policy in Ukraine, sidelining Yovanovitch and other career diplomats. The longer they stay in the news, the greater insight the public will have into the corruption of US diplomacy that has been under way beneath the surface for nearly three years.
Kurt Volker, the former special envoy on the Ukraine tried to work with Trump’s shadow diplomacy, reasoning that it was the most effective way to reach US policy objectives. If Giuliani and Trump were placated, US-Ukraine ties would be strengthened in the face of the threat from Russia. But when his gung-ho texts became public he simply appeared complicit.
No one who knew him doubted that he was a dedicated public servant, but very few if any who think they can handle this president come away untarnished. He resigned from his envoy position, and lost his prestigious academic post as well.
Others still in the administration are likely to learn the lessons from Yanovanitch and Volker’s stories, and decide that now is the time to make a clean break."
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ThatOwlWoman (10-15-2019)
Diversity Makes Greatness
White House orders not to testify?
Fat chance you can keep a lid on this scandal, Trump, but nice try.
Pssst. The wheels are falling off your wagon.
Personal Ignore Policy PIP: I like civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Mouth off to me, or express overt racism, you will be PERMANENTLY Ignore Listed. Zero tolerance. No exceptions. I'll never read a word you write, even if quoted by another, nor respond to you, nor participate in your threads. ... Ignore the shallow. Cherish the thoughtful. Long Live Civil Discourse, Mutual Respect, and Good Debate! ps: Feel free to adopt my PIP. It works well.
eternal
and...Originally Posted by PoliTalker
How Fiona Hill's attorneys fought the White House's attempts to limit her testimony
From The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
When the White House counsel contacted Fiona Hill's lawyers on Sunday and raised Executive Privilege to limit her from discussing many communications she had not only with the president and White House officials but other foreign diplomats her lawyers responded this way:
(paraphrasing):
We do not believe the White House's legal reasoning. Information that has already come into the public sphere can no longer be considered privileged. Also, Executive Privilege disappears when there is reason to believe there was government misconduct.
Fiona Hill's lawyers then asked the White House to respond with legal arguments...
But there was dead silence from the White House counsel.
Fiona Hill testified without any interference.
This is the playbook for how our witnesses should circumvent false claims of Executive Privilege.
PoliTalker (10-15-2019)
Verified User
The Trump veil is being lifted. Trump tries to hide everything from the American people and politicians. Some people just care about the country more than they want to be in Trump's temporary good graces. He turns on everyone in the end.
PoliTalker (10-15-2019)
Diversity Makes Greatness
I was amazed when Trump followers refused to hold him to task for lying about releasing his taxes.
That was a huge wake up call for the USA.
I am so grateful to Marie Yovanovitch for doing her patriotic duty, and for her service the USA.
FAR more impressive than Trump.
Personal Ignore Policy PIP: I like civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Mouth off to me, or express overt racism, you will be PERMANENTLY Ignore Listed. Zero tolerance. No exceptions. I'll never read a word you write, even if quoted by another, nor respond to you, nor participate in your threads. ... Ignore the shallow. Cherish the thoughtful. Long Live Civil Discourse, Mutual Respect, and Good Debate! ps: Feel free to adopt my PIP. It works well.
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