Public Trump Impeachment Hearing Mega Thread

[Anonymous]

2nd US official heard Trump call with Sondland

A second U.S. embassy staffer in Kyiv overheard a key cellphone call between President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian officials to pursue “investigations,” The Associated Press has learned.

The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry.

The second diplomatic staffer also at the table was Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer based in Kyiv. A person briefed on what Jayanti overheard spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter currently under investigation.

[Anonymous]

2nd US official heard Trump call with Sondland

A second U.S. embassy staffer in Kyiv overheard a key cellphone call between President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian officials to pursue “investigations,” The Associated Press has learned.

The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry.

The second diplomatic staffer also at the table was Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer based in Kyiv. A person briefed on what Jayanti overheard spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter currently under investigation.

Trump on Wednesday said he did not recall the July 26 call.

“No, not at all, not even a little bit,” Trump said.

The staffer Taylor testified about is David Holmes, the political counselor at the embassy in Kyiv, according to an official familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

[Anonymous]

Trump doesn't remember the call. Case closed.

Zelenskyy the politician told the media a number of times 'no pressure'. End of story.

(Sarcastic)

[Anonymous]

Luckily it is very easy to find out if a phone call was made between two phone numbers on a certain day at a certain time. Case closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: 2nd US official heard Trump call with Sondland

A second U.S. embassy staffer in Kyiv overheard a key cellphone call between President Donald Trump and his ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian officials to pursue “investigations,” The Associated Press has learned.

The July 26 call between Trump and Gordon Sondland was first described during testimony Wednesday by William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Taylor said one of his staffers overhead the call while Sondland was in a restaurant the day after Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that triggered the House impeachment inquiry.

The second diplomatic staffer also at the table was Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer based in Kyiv. A person briefed on what Jayanti overheard spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter currently under investigation.

Trump on Wednesday said he did not recall the July 26 call.

“No, not at all, not even a little bit,” Trump said.

The staffer Taylor testified about is David Holmes, the political counselor at the embassy in Kyiv, according to an official familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

I'm sure he doesn't recall.

The man is unfit. He's lawless and afflicted with amnesia. Or dementia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shocker: White House official tells CNN that aides were caught off guard by Bill Taylor's testimony that an aide heard Trump talk about "investigations" with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland.
“The overheard phone call was new to every one," the official said.

Russia knows more about who Trump talks to on unsecure cell phones than the White House does.

Another example of administrations carelessness with the White House staff and security. The lack of seriousness about protecting government data, information, and protocol. Discussions in public spaces about this stuff? Right along the lines of tweeting from an insecure location, keeping a private line instead of govt issued phone, welcoming foreign interference, inviting the enemy into the Oval Office, pissing off political allies in the first 30 days of taking office - literally destroying relationships all while breaching security for the country
, escalating tensions overseas with everyone, escalating tensions at home with the country he swore and vowed to protect, and holding national Jerry springer type pep rallies revving up racists and alt right wing nut jobs.

So cavalier. He’s handing out security clearances to family and friends the way Oprah hands out free giveaways. You get a clearance! You get a clearance! And you too, come on down!

But I can’t fly to LAX with a full bottle of shampoo because of the constant terror threat level our country has been in since 9/11/2001?

Something is wrong about the tolerance for such poor character and sloppy security enforcement measures.

We need to look at how we are evaluating the risk that President Trump creates through his demonstrated performance, too. This can be measured. If some wonderful person would develop an algorithm, and illustrate the impact of specific policy decisions on different areas of us governance, foreign relations, and the projected economic and security burden, maybe someone with deaf ears would see?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL

NBC News
@NBCNews
Analysis: The first two witnesses called Wednesday testified to President Trump's scheme, but lacked the pizzazz necessary to capture public attention.

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1194830580896145408


Shorter: Impeachment hearing was a snoozefest.

Yeah. If you’ve got an eighth grade education. It isn’t supposed to be entertaining. Sorry if reasoning is hard for you.

Not PP, but that is probably true for most of the US. We got a whole lot of stupid here.

Wasn’t that the premise for Obamacare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not understand the hand-wringing over the identity of the whistle blower, except it is a convenient red herring for the GOP. Even if the whistle blower was an anti-Trumper Deep State mole, and he and Schiff violated a bunch of laws . . . . that is an entirely separate issue.

As the GOP keeps saying we have the call/transcript (except it's still technically a memo, but whatever). We. Do. Not. Need. The. Whistle blower. especially as other evidence rolls in.

Mick Mulvaney and the call memo admitted to the gist of the whistleblower's complaint. If a criminal confesses to a crime, you don't hunt down the anonymous caller to the crime tip line. So over all these ridiculous distractions.

[Anonymous]

So if we can talk about Kent being hot, can we talk about Suriya Jayanti being hot? No? Ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not understand the hand-wringing over the identity of the whistle blower, except it is a convenient red herring for the GOP. Even if the whistle blower was an anti-Trumper Deep State mole, and he and Schiff violated a bunch of laws . . . . that is an entirely separate issue.

As the GOP keeps saying we have the call/transcript (except it's still technically a memo, but whatever). We. Do. Not. Need. The. Whistle blower. especially as other evidence rolls in.

They should be thanking the whistleblower! The latest GOP defense is that since the aid went through it is not deserving of the highest penalty (impeachment). The aid was unfrozen immediately after the whistleblower report surfaced

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if we can talk about Kent being hot, can we talk about Suriya Jayanti being hot? No? Ok.

Quoting myself. She's also super smart. I should have put that in the original message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Luckily it is very easy to find out if a phone call was made between two phone numbers on a certain day at a certain time. Case closed.

Since the call was made on unsecured devices, I am sure the Russians intercepted it. It is really scary to think the American President might now be beholden to Vladimir Putin

Is there any oversight of security protocols at the WH?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t get it twisted. Cheating is akin to cheating. A democratic blow job from Lewinsky is akin to a republican blow job from Stormy Daniels. Only one president tried confessed, repented, and showed humility; the other denied involvement and had a dirty fix it man pay her off with money. One president cheated with a White House intern; the other cheated with a pornographic star. These are facts. Considering that a blow job eas impeachable to republicans, and considering that everything Trump has done trumps the worst any president has done — you are all hypocrites.

Plus, this isn’t even largely about the cheating. It’s about TREASON. Betraying your post as HEAD OF STATE and welcoming FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS TO TAMPER WITH AN ELECTION PRICESS.

As usual. It’s republicans that disrespect the constitution, republicans that first demonstrated disrespectful behavior to sitting president on the congressional floor and call him a liar, or intentionally block and stonewall all bi-partisan efforts because they don’t want to see success in a blue administration headed by a black man. Obama literally took the heritage foundations/gops plan for healthcare and said, okay let’s do it. Rep were salty they wouldn’t get dem accolades. So petty.

Hypocrites. The whole lot of you.

Something else that came up yesterday but I’m sure lots of folks missed - there was a 2nd quid pro quo. By Trump releasing the memorandum of the call (it wasn’t a transcript) he’s undermined Zelensky. He was elected to be a reformer but any whiff of him making a deal w/ Trump is a sign Z’s corrupt. No matter that Trump had him over a barrel, the guy needs the money. Putin desperately wants a corrupt Ukraine.

Oh, and the GOP “Obama only gave blankets” defense? Maybe because we didn’t want to give Javelins to the Russian puppet gov.
But I guess Russia is now our ally.

Oh, so Dems are going to scream that the Trump admin is allowing Ukrainians to die because of the withholding of funds? How many Ukrainians died because the previous admin only gave blankets, etc?

FALSE. The Obama administration gave lethal weapons AND THEY IMPOSED SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA. The same f#€king sanction Trumps boy Flynn was working to end.

That is patently false. Obama administration gave NO lethal weapon aid. If they did, please provide link proving such.

This is like the fourth time this has been posted on this site.

Between 2014 and 2016, the United States committed more than $600 million in security assistance to Ukraine.

Under Obama, the federal government started the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which sent other kinds of U.S. military equipment to the country. From 2016 to 2019, Congress appropriated $850 million.

In the last year of the Obama administration, Congress authorized lethal aid, but it didn’t include the Javelins.

The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, which became law in November 2015, called for "lethal assistance such as anti-armor weapon systems, mortars, crew-served weapons and ammunition, grenade launchers and ammunition, and small arms and ammunition."

The legislation also called for counter-artillery radars, unmanned aerial tactical surveillance systems and other equipment.
https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20170103_RL33460_a05fced6b9314f66defe2982aa4fe73c02e88636.pdf
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45008
https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ92/PLAW-114publ92.pdf

[Anonymous]

Ha! So, suck it Mr. “Prove it”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first day of the impeachment hearing was a fiasco for the Democrats.

Their star witnesses offered second and third hand testimony about alleged conversations and acknowledged that Trump had done more for Ukraine than Obama ever did.

And we had some clown actually saying that hearsay evidence was more reliable than direct evidence? How does someone like this jerk even get elected to Congress?

Kellyanne, get back to work.