It’s clear Trump withheld aid to Ukraine. It was aid in the amount of $400 million that had been appropriated by Congress that had already determined that Ukraine had been meeting its obligations to receive the aid. Part of its obligation was to act against the Soviet legacy corruption that had grabbed Ukraine by the neck and was strangling it.
It’s clear that the Ukraine had a Maidan Revolution. The second revolution in ten years. The first was the Orange Revolution. These were an attempt by the people of Ukraine to root out the corrupt leaders that were working more in line with Russia than the Ukrainian people.
The Maidan Revolution was in 2014 against Victor Yanukovich who had rejected the people’s desire that Ukraine unite more closely with the West and away from Russia. Because Yanukovich was a Putin ally he tried to pull Ukraine into the Russian orbit. During the mostly peaceful revolution Yanukovich stationed snipers on buildings who fired at the unarmed protesters. He was forced to flee the county. He headed for Russia where he was welcome with billions of Ukrainian money.
It is clear that one of Yanukovich’s top advisor was Paul Manafort. He was forced out of Ukraine along with Yankovich. He ended up – strangely – as Trump’s campaign chairman. One of his first acts was to change the Republican platform condemnation of Russia’s seizure of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine.
It is clear Russia invaded Crimea in response to the Ukrainian people ejecting Yanukovich immediately after the Sochi Olympics. Unfortunately for Putin, this was his really big show and the Maidan revolution occurred before and during it which prevented him from taking sterner measure to suppress it. He did not want other nations boycotting his Olympics so he stewed and planned his revenge.
The Russian invasion was done by troops who had removed all indicia that they were Russian troops. Their uniforms, vehicles, tanks and other equipment eliminated all signs of their origin. This gives an idea of the mentality of Putin who somehow believed the world would be fooled into thinking they were not Russian.
Despite conclusive proof that the Russian government set up sites within Russia that actively worked on behalf of Trump during the 2016 election, as shown by a bipartisan Senate Committee and all U.S. intelligence agencies, Trump at Helsinki believed Putin’s denial of doing it. I suppose that if Putin denied the troops invading Crimea were Russian, as Putin did, Trump would have believed that also.
It is clear Russia has invaded Crimea. It is clear it is still invading Ukraine and is engaged in a hot war in the eastern part of that country with Russian troops like those that invaded Crimea not wearing Russian uniforms. It is clear these Russian troops used a Russian supplied missile to down a civilian aircraft.
It is clear Ukraine needs all the help it can get to keep its democracy. It is clear that in a ham-handed manner Trump sought to keep that aid from Ukraine. Here’s how Trump tried to undermine Ukrainian’s ability to defend itself.
Trump administration told Congress the approved aid to Ukraine was going on February 28. It didn’t happen. Again on May 23 , it said it. It failed to explain the reason the funds were delayed. On July 18 it announced the funds were being withheld. This upset those working with Ukraine. They could not get an answer why it was happening.
On August 12 the Whistleblower bravely filed a complaint about the July 25 telephone call between Trump and President Zelensky which he said Trump was wrong seeking favors which included an investigation of the Bidens. (Transcript of call shows that was correct.) Whistleblower complaint sent to White House, word leaks out about it, and on September 9 Congress announces an investigation, on the 10th Congressman Schiff tells of Whistleblower complaint, and on the 11th the aid is released.
The big problem the GOP puppets have is explaining why Trump never explained why he withheld the aid during the time it was being withheld. Many people in our government who had to interact with the Ukrainians wanted to know the answer and never could find it. If it was for corruption or because the European nations should do more he never said it. It remained a big mystery. The puppets thus have to come up with preposterous positions such as demanding Biden’s son be investigated as if that changes anything.
There is no doubt Trump was trying to force the investigation into the Bidens, Burisma and CrowdStrike. You do know about CrowdStrike, don’t you? It’s the company Trump wanted investigated by Ukraine. Look it up.
https://propertyofthepeople.org
Profiting off the Presidency
Donald Trump is enriching himself at the taxpayers’ expense, and we got the documents to prove it.
https://propertyofthepeople.org/about-us/
Ryan Shapiro holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a former Research Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Shapiro is an historian of national security, the policing of dissent, and government transparency. Shapiro is widely known as a leading expert on the Freedom of Information Act.
Politico describes Shapiro as “a FOIA guru[.]” MuckRock describes Shapiro as “a FOIA superhero.” The FBI argued in federal court that Shapiro’s MIT dissertation FOIA research methodologies are themselves a threat to national security. Relatedly, Professor and author Will Potter describes Shapiro as “The FBI’s Worst Nightmare.”
DOD, OMB. NSC, etc. approved, but the Trump A-Team needed to do real checking. Funny, the money gets released a day or so after the actions get attention from Inspector Generals and Congress. No explanation, just “Okie Dokie”.
Matt, Thanks for writing here on the always lengthy William M Connolly response blog. How about considering writing about Trump and he and his familys unlawful and illegal behavior from the time Trump started dealing with mobsters in New York construction and how he father evaded estate taxes. That way you could get paid for your time .
I still want someone to explain to me how someone opens a casino in Atlantic City without getting touchy-feely with the mob. Can’t be done. I’m not saying he is in the mob. He had to associate with them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. My father was a runner for a bookmaker from Hat Off’s down to Dudley Square. A guy had to make it any way he could back in the day.
Matt, the other answer, simple and obvious, is that President Trump withheld aid in order to size up the new Ukrainian President and new Ukrainian Parliament. Congress approved the $400 million in Aid in February 2019; the new President was elected on April 21, 2019; the new Parliament wasn’t elected until July 21, 2019.
You have omitted these facts: Trump campaigned on a promise to make sure American Tax Dollars were not wasted; to make sure Europe did its fair share; and to put America’s interests first. He took this approach to Ukraine.
You forget Trump formed a team (Bolton, Pence, Perry, et alia) and sent them to Ukraine to vet and assess the New President and the Newly Constituted Ukrainian Parliament. When his team reported back favorably to his satisfaction that the New President and New Parliament were legit, the $400,000 million was released.
You forget, that even after President Zelensky appointed his new cabinet, Trump had concerns about some of them, that some might be from the old corrupt guard. Trump’s very words in the July 25th transcript were, “I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people.” He then said that he wanted the new president to work with Trump’s attorney general. So, Trump wanted to look closely at these things.
Was Trump interested in corruption in Ukraine? Everyone was. Its past history of corruption was notorious. Many say that past corruption in 2016 and regarding the Burisma corporation and its owner was never fully investigated. Did Trump want the new Ukrainian Administration to investigate past corruption, including Burisma’s hiring of Hunter Biden, within two months after Hunter was discharged from the Navy from cocaine abuse? Remember, Hunter tested positive for cocaine one month after he started with the Navy, and he had received a waiver for prior drug abuse to get into the Navy in the first place. He was drummed out within 9 months. When arguably the most corrupt corporation in Ukraine suddenly puts the Vice-President’s son on its Board of Directors, folks want to know if the U.S.-Ukrainian governments then “backed off” their investigations of Burisma. I’ve posted evidence before that indicates they did. Even assuming Hunter and Joe did nothing wrong, the issue is did Burisma leverage Hunter to get Ukraine investigators/U.S. investigators to back off?
Did Trump “demand” Ukraine conduct investigations as a condition of receiving aid? Absolutely not. Trump said, “no quid pro quo.” Sondland, when asked, admitted that “no one on planet earth” told him there was a quid pro quo, he just “presumed” there was, as you presume there was. “Presumptions” are not facts.
THE CRIMEA: The history of Ukraine’s relations with Russia is long and complex. Eastern Ukrainian territory is disputed, as is the Crimea. Like Northern Ireland, Serbia-Kosovo, parts of Georgia, Palestine, the Golan Heights, Kashmir, there is disputed territory in the world.
A brief history puts the issue in focus. The Crimea was overrun by Mongol Invaders, the Golden Horde, then the Ottoman Empire. In 1783 (when the U.S. declared its Independence) Catherine the Great defeated the Ottoman Empire and incorporated the Crimea into Russia. So, Crimea was part of Russia from 1783 to 1921. From 1921-1945, Crimea was an autonomous republic. Russia again owned/included Crimea as an Oblast from 1945-54, then it became an Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR (1954-1991); then it became an Autonomous Republic with an independent Ukraine from 1991-2014.
This from Wikipedia: “During the Crimean Crisis the peninsula was taken over by Russian and a referendum on whether to rejoin Russia was held. Shortly after the result in favor of joining Russia was announced, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation as two federal subjects: The Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.”
Now, it may be that Russia’s taking of Crimea is as legit or as suspect as Israel’s taking of the Golan Heights . . . .territories in Eastern Ukraine are disputed as are territories in Palestine, on the West Bank. These territorial disputes are best settled through peaceful negotiations, recognizing all parties legitimate interests.