Trump ordered the hold on aid to Ukraine less than two hours after the fateful July 25th call with Zelensky.  The email was revealed over the weekend, part of a Freedom of Information Act  lawsuit judgement issued late last week.  The lawsuit had been filed by the Center for Public Integrity.

The email came from OMB official Michael Duffy and was to the DoD, ordering the halt on the funds.  Chuck Schumer has Duffy on the the witness list that the WH and Mitch McConnell is blocking.  Shumer’s list is short but telling.  He wants to hear from Duffy, Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, and Mulvaney aide Robert Blair.

Witnesses for innocent people are always allowed to testify.  These aren’t.  Draw your own conclusions.

We know the conspiracy theory pushed by Trump and his henchman, Rudy Giuliani is nonsensical.  Every intelligence agency says it’s nonsensical.  During House impeachment hearings, former US intelligence officer and Russian specialist implored Republican congressmen to stop repeating Russian propaganda that it was Ukraine, not Russia, who interfered in the 2016 election.  The entire story is bullshit, and we KNOW it’s bullshit.

Ever wonder where the story came from and why Trump repeats it ad nauseam?  Well, the Washington Post dropped the bombshell this week that Putin himself planted the story in a private meeting during the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg, when he began publicly repeating the story.  The meeting, and the subsequent meeting in Helsinki had NO US OFFICIALS PRESENT and there are no notes of the meetings.  We all knew it was stupid for Trump to meet with Putin alone, now we’re beginning to understand the depth of that stupidity.  The Post used interviews with former WH officials to confirm the story.

Let’s recap.  Trump withheld Congressionally appropriated funds to Ukraine to extort the announcement of an “investigation” into Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election using the fabricated story that Joe Biden and his son hunter were somehow involved in Ukrainian corruption.  When caught, he immediately released the funds and claimed what dozens of people saw didn’t really happen.  Then he defied all subpoenas for documents, ordered current and former officials to not testify, and repeatedly lied to the public about what is really going on.  The narrative he uses on a daily basis likely came directly from Putin, a former KGB officer.

Christ on a Crutch.  This is about as bad as it gets while Trumpists scream there is no evidence, no wrongdoing, and all of this is just made up by Democrats.  Sheesh.

Astros win!

Ok, seriously…two Giuliani associates, Ukraine born Lev Parma, and Belarusian born Igor Fruman were arrested last night trying to board a flight out of the country at Dulles airport after having lunch earlier in the day with…wait for it…Rudy Giuliani.  And guess where they had lunch…that’s right, the Trump International Hotel.  They’re now charged with funneling foreign money (including from a Russian oligarch) into pro-Trump PACs to influence US politicians including our own Pete Sessions, former congressvarmit.  Sessions has been exposed for pushing the State Department to fire former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yavanovich; Parma and Fruman have been implicated in that ousting.  Why was she ousted, you ask?  For being “anti-Trump”.

Also, Trump unilaterally announced the withdrawl of support of longstanding allies, the Kurds of Northern Syria.  Recall that the Kurds led the way in ousting ISIS from Syria, and for holding 50,000 former ISIS fighters in prison.  All those bets are off, and some Republicans, including Lindsey Graham have actually learned to stand without spines against Trump’s rashness.

Meanwhile, Jared and Ivanka have reported $82 million in income during 2018 while serving in the White House, 4 more White House staff are reported to have blown the whistle on Trump’s shakedown of Zelensky, and Trump continues spouting bullshit in Hitleresque political rallies.

Oh, and Rick Perry’s been subpoenaed to testify before the impeachment inquiry about his involvement in shaking down Ukraine to get them to manufacture dirt on a political rival.

But, please…let’s talk about Biden.