Important point: it wasn’t really a “resignation” remember so much as a firing. Trump said they’d talk about it, then fired him in a humiliating fashion.
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Facebook is deleting the name of the potential whistleblower
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On the Whistleblower’s story being revealed (ie, What the claims were and where was the illegal/illicit situation) that caused the CIA officer to blow the whistle.
By way of what was known among the press prior to the actual statement that was revealed by Schiff/Pelosi on Sept 26th or thereabouts, I had recalled hearing about some funds being withheld in Ukraine, via The Rachel Maddow Show (Sept 6th). And sure enough, she talked about these funds being withheld, and that T was threatening to take from the Military accounts for the Wall.
There was an Opinion piece from the Washington Post on Sept 5th enumerating all such activity…withholding military/humanitarian aide from Ukraine.
Yet Mr. Zelensky has so far failed to win the backing of President Trump. Not only has Mr. Trump refused to grant the Ukrainian leader a White House visit, but also he has suspended the delivery of $250 million in U.S. military aid to a country still fighting Russian aggression in its eastern provinces.
Some suspect Mr. Trump is once again catering to Mr. Putin, who is dedicated to undermining Ukrainian democracy and independence. But we’re reliably told that the president has a second and more venal agenda: He is attempting to force Mr. Zelensky to intervene in the 2020 U.S. presidential election by launching an investigation of the leading Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. Mr. Trump is not just soliciting Ukraine’s help with his presidential campaign; he is using U.S. military aid the country desperately needs in an attempt to extort it.
The fact that the Washington Post had the story…way before the contents of the Whistleblower complaint had been spilled is curious to me.
Here are a few dates:
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August 9: Trump tells reporters that Zelensky had been invited to the White House.
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August 12 : A whistleblower files a complaint with the intelligence inspector general.
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August 15 : Gordon and Coats depart the Office of Director of National Intelligence.
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August 26 : Intelligence IG forwards complaint to the acting DNI.
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August 28 : Then-national security adviser John Bolton meets with Zelensky in Kiev.
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August 30: Trump considers blocking $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, effectively pausing disbursement of the funds during a formal review process.
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September 1 : Vice President Mike Pence meets with Zelensky in Warsaw.
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September 2 : Deadline for DNI to send whistleblower complaint to Congress – he does not send it.
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September 9 : Intel IG notifies House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of an “urgent concern” that DNI has overruled.
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September 9 : Three House committees launch investigation of efforts by Trump, Giuliani and others to pressure the Ukrainian government to assist the President’s reelection efforts. The committees request information about Trump’s July phone call with Zelensky.
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September 10 : Schiff demands acting DNI turn over the complaint.
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September 12 : The administration hold on Ukraine aid is lifted.
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September 13 : Schiff subpoenas the acting DNI.
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September 17 : The acting DNI refuses to testify.
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September 17 : Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talks to the Ukrainian foreign minister
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September 18 : Revelation is reported that the complaint involves a Trump communication with a foreign leader and a “promise” made.
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September 18 : The Intelligence inspector general and the acting DNI say they will brief the House Intelligence Committee.
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September 18 : Pence talks to Ukrainian President Zelensky by phone.
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September 19 : The Intelligence inspector general gives a classified briefing to the House Intelligence Committee.
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September 19 : It is revealed by The Washington Post and The New York Times that the whistleblower’s concern was partly in regard to Ukraine.
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September 20: It’s reported that Trump pressed Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son during a call on July 25.
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September 22: Trump acknowledges that he discussed Joe Biden in a July call with Zelensky.
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September 22: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi writes to the acting DNI stating that if the administration refusals continue, it would constitute a “serious possible breach of constitutional duties by” Trump and would take Congress "into a whole new stage of investigation. "
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September 23: Trump tells reporters at the UN that his conversations with Ukraine’s leaders were without fault and said he wanted the world to see what he said.
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September 23: The Washington Post reports that Trump asked his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to put a hold on millions in military aid to Ukraine roughly one week before a call with the Zelensky.
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September 24: Trump tweets the White House will release a transcript of his call with Zelensky.
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September 24: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces formal impeachment inquiry into Trump.
August 12th was when the Whistleblower filed their report, and that report got held up, and shuffled around, by the Acting DNI head, and those who did not want to do anything with it (really wanted to squash it)
Sept 5th - Wapo Editorial Board talks about how the military aid is being held up.
Sept 6th.. Maddow Show discusses it…at 2:50 is where she starts in on this Ukraine withheld funds…and how it links to Putin…
Mid Sept - Rep Schiff starts noting there is a Whistleblower report, and no one knows what it is, and what it could be…? And we already know that one of Schiff’s staffer’s had been in touch with Whistleblower group…and gave them some advice about how to submit their report…where to go etc.
Sept 23rd - Details of the July 25th call become known, and the contents of the Whistleblower report become more public.
The curious part to me is that the Press was onto this story in early Sept, and that somehow someone from the Military, State, or DNI may have tipped them off, because the Washington Post caught onto this story…and it was ultimately the story that brought impeachment charges.
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Three Democratic senators use another FOIA request to get Trump-Ukraine info
Dem senators slap Trump with a FOIA request for info on plan to use Bill Barr to exonerate him
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Only 3 Republican Senators will not sign the Not For Impeachment proposal being circulated by Sen Graham.
For those Senate Republicans who are refusing to condemn the House-led impeachment inquiry, three may be the loneliest number.
While a resolution denouncing the House Democrats’ fast-moving probe hasn’t received a vote, GOP Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska declined to sign on as co-sponsors — the only ones out of 53 Republicans — leaving the door ajar to the possibility that they could vote to convict President Donald Trump if impeachment moves to its trial phase in the Senate.
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This shows why the Trump regime wants to expose the whistleblower – to intimidate others who may wish to come forward.
Trump supporters wrongly identified ex-Obama staffer as Ukraine whistleblower — resulting in death threats: report
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AP sources: Former Trump adviser John Bolton has a book deal
Former national security adviser John Bolton has a book deal, The Associated Press has learned.
The hawkish Bolton departed in September because of numerous foreign policy disagreements with President Donald Trump. He reached a deal over the past few weeks with Simon & Schuster, according to three publishing officials with knowledge of negotiations. The officials were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Two of the officials said the deal was worth about $2 million. Bolton was represented by the Javelin literary agency, whose clients include former FBI Director James Comey and the anonymous Trump administration official whose book, “A Warning,” comes out Nov. 19.
The publishing officials did not know the title or release date. Simon & Schuster declined comment Saturday and Javelin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bolton’s 2007 book, “Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad,” was published by the conservative Simon & Schuster imprint Threshold Editions.
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Trump says White House will release transcript of another call with Ukraine ‘probably’ Tuesday
President Donald Trump said he will release the transcript of another phone call with the President of Ukraine “probably” on Tuesday – this communication having taken place in April before the July conversation at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
"They want to have a transcript of the other call, the second call, and I’m willing to provide that," the President told reporters Saturday on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, before boarding Air Force One.
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In Seeking to Join Suit Over Subpoena Power, Mulvaney Goes Up Against the President
Even in a White House of never-befores, this may be one of the morehead-spinning: The president’s chief of staff is trying to join a lawsuit against the president.
Mick Mulvaney works only about 50 steps from the Oval Office as he runs the White House staff but rather than simply obey President Trump’s order to not cooperate with House impeachment investigators, he sent his lawyers to court late Friday night asking a judge whether he should or not.
To obtain such a ruling, the lawyers asked to join a lawsuit already filed by a former White House official — a lawsuit that names “the Honorable Donald J. Trump” as a defendant along with congressional leaders. The lawyers tried to finesse that by saying in the body of their motion that the defendants they really wanted to sue were the congressional leaders, but their own motion still listed Mr. Trump at the top as a defendant because that is the suit they sought to join.
In effect, Mr. Mulvaney hopes the court will tell him whether to listen to his own boss, who wants him to remain silent, or to comply with a subpoena from the House, which wants his testimony. That put Mr. Mulvaney at odds with some other current White House and administration officials who had simply defied the House, citing the president’s order not to cooperate with what he called an illegitimate “witch hunt.”
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Trump says Ukraine call was ‘perfect,’ and GOP can’t decide how to defend him
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Lev Parnas says he delivered a message from Giuliani to the Ukrainians: Pence would visit and aid would be released only if they announced an investigation into the Bidens
Not long before the Ukrainian president was inaugurated in May, an associate of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s journeyed to Kiev to deliver a warning to the country’s new leadership, a lawyer for the associate said.
The associate, Lev Parnas, told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into Mr. Trump’s political rival, Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his son, or else Vice President Mike Pence would not attend the swearing-in of the new president, and the United States would freeze aid, the lawyer said.
The claim by Mr. Parnas, who is preparing to share his account with impeachment investigators, challenges the narrative of events from Mr. Trump and Ukrainian officials that is at the core of the congressional inquiry. It also directly links Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to threats of repercussions made to the Ukrainians, something he has strenuously denied.
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Here’s one R response…the look the other way response. 
Rep Thornberry (R-TX) "I believe it was inappropriate. I do not believe it was impeachable."
“I believe it’s inappropriate for a president to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival,” Thornberry, ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, told ABC’s “This Week.” "Now that leads to a question if there’s a political rival with a family member who is involved in questionable activity, what do you do? Just let them alone? But set that aside. I believe it was inappropriate. I do not believe it was impeachable."
Asked why Republicans appear to be focused on process over the substance of the allegations facing the president — that he leveraged the power of the presidency to have a foreign nation investigate political opponents — Thornberry said, "There’s a reason we let murderers and robbers and rapists go free when their due process rights have been violated."
“We believe the integrity of the system, the integrity of the constitution, the integrity of the processes under our legal system, is more important than the outcome of one particular case,” he continued. “So, I don’t think you can sweep process under the rug because it is part of an impeachment decision, which has a constitutional requirement: bribery, treason, high crimes and misdemeanors, but also a political element about whether it’s good for the country to pursue it under these circumstances.”
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Lies upon lies can destroy a democracy…i believe that.
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Nearly a month before President Donald Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, top officials in Kiev were so concerned about the fate of U.S. political and military support for the country, that at least two inquired about the matter with Washington, according to three sources with knowledge of those conversations.
Despite strong showing of American support at Zelensky’s inauguration in May, Ukrainian officials were growing increasingly concerned about Rudy Giuliani’s public comments about investigations into Hunter Biden and the gas company he worked for, Burisma.
Two of those Ukrainian officials inquired with current and former U.S. officials, including an official at the State Department, about whether Giuliani’s efforts aligned with Washington’s thinking, and if the pressure campaign from Trump’s personal lawyer would impact a presidential White House meeting or the delivery of U.S. military aid, the sources said. …
The article goes on to name the Ukrainian officials and describe in detail their efforts in May to obtain reassurances that the U.S. military aid would be delivered. In other words, it’s time for Republicans to drop their false claim that the Ukrainians thought there was no problem with the aid at the time of Trump’s phone call in July. This reporting now confirms that when Trump asked the Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens, they would be inclined to do so in order to ensure they received the aid. That’s bribery, plain and simple, as in “I’ll give you U.S. taxpayer money if you help me win the election.” Bribery is named as an impeachable offense in Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution.
And there’s one more thing at work here. These meetings included two Republican Congressmen (one current and one former). They need to be asked if, during their meetings with the Ukrainians, they in any way delivered a message that investigating the Bidens was the key to receiving the aid.
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Trump math:
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Devastating House testimony transcripts.
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Ukraine Transcripts actually doctored Ukraine Memos.
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Trump accuses others of the things he does himself.
= New Trump Defense: “The House testimony transcripts are all doctored lies, believe only me!”
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Broadcast, cable news networks to preempt regular programming for Trump impeachment coverage
ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS on Wednesday will preempt their regularly scheduled programming for live coverage of the House Intelligence Committee’s open impeachment hearings of President Trump.
As expected, all of the major cable news networks, including Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and CSPAN will also offer live coverage.
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Trump’s lawsuit against House Ways and Means and NY State to obtain his tax returns was denied by Judge Carol Nichols (A T appointee)
T’s next move would be to take it to the Supreme Court…but this ruling says T really has not 'met his burden," so what will the Supreme Court do??
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And then there’s the bizarre Washington Examiner take on this:
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