Didn't a US Senator just come out saying that US embassador told him the US aid to Ukraine was contingent on an investigation into the presidents political rival?
Yes
which one bb
First. Joe Biden should be investigated. He's caught on video doing this even. Does Trump talk about this ? Yes he does, and there is nothing wrong with that. Like Hillary Clinton, a lot of politicians are criminals.
And I don't believe Trump pressured Volodymyr Zelensky, as Zelensky claimed there was no pressure, and the transcript of the phone call showed no pressure.
- The Whistleblower is bias against Trump, they weren't there and they suggest accusation is something they heard.
- The DNC sold this to the mainstream media before they even read into it.
- The Russian collusion conspiracy was obviously fake news to some of us, and now it's proven to be fake news. The hopefuls remain resentful as they were programmed to be.
- DNC is accusing Trump of what they did to him. Obama ordering FBI to spy on Trump for political reasons, they also fabricated lies, Hillary was the first to say Trump was being aided by the Russians at the 2nd Presidential debate, and she said she was notified by the FBI.
- Again FBI had nothing ( Russian Collusion shit they been feeding you for years )
- To me it's beyond obvious that they ( the establishment ) tells you how to think, and are successful at it.
Trump never sewed division in the US. The mainstream media did that, and they continue to do it every single day, from the media bias we see on the news, to Late night Television. The project hatred and ridicule not only for the President, but for his supporters.
The DNC knows on Trump's 2nd term, he's going to purge the government of their corruption. They are afraid of this man, because he's unlike the others. He doesn't owe any donors like big banks or corporations any favors. More money will not change his life. And he really doesn't need to endure this nightmare of a path he's chosen.
People don't give a shit about gender identity politics and carbon tax and tax hikes and Chinese manufacturing. They want prosperity.
Yes
which one bb
First. Joe Biden should be investigated. He's caught on video doing this even. Does Trump talk about this ? Yes he does, and there is nothing wrong with that. Like Hillary Clinton, a lot of politicians are criminals.
Do you think that Trump could be a criminal?
And I don't believe Trump pressured Volodymyr Zelensky, as Zelensky claimed there was no pressure, and the transcript of the phone call showed no pressure.
I mean he kept reminding him that the only ones Helping them was the US, and how the US was very good to Ukraine but that it wasn't reciprocal but that the US has been very very good to Ukraine. When Zelenskyy mentions that They are almost ready to buy javelins from the us for self defense purposes Trump's says 'i want you to do us a favor tho.'
Does that not sound strange at all to you?
- The Whistleblower is bias against Trump, they weren't there and they suggest accusation is something they heard.
Doesn't the law say that they just need to have reasonable belief not based on gossip that there is misconduct happening? As long as they had a reasonable belief they can lodge a complaint. The call did happen, making it a reasonable belief.
Trump never sewed division in the US. The mainstream media did that, and they continue to do it every single day, from the media bias we see on the news, to Late night Television. The project hatred and ridicule not only for the President, but for his supporters.
Yeah he definitely never said at his rallies that the immigrants were all only Mexican rapist and criminals even those 2year olds and totally didn't invite violence at least once
The DNC knows on Trump's 2nd term, he's going to purge the government of their corruption. They are afraid of this man, because he's unlike the others. He doesn't owe any donors like big banks or corporations any favors. More money will not change his life. And he really doesn't need to endure this nightmare of a path he's chosen.
People don't give a shit about gender identity politics and carbon tax and tax hikes and Chinese manufacturing. They want prosperity.
You think Trump is going to get a 2nd term? People don't give a white about tax hikes? Really?
Didn't a US Senator just come out saying that US embassador told him the US aid to Ukraine was contingent on an investigation into the presidents political rival?
Yes, Senator Ron Johnson stated that U.S ambassador for the EU Gordon Sondland told him that the holding of funds was for a quid pro back in August. He then confronted Trump about this because Johnson is in strong support of Ukraine and after that conversation he states he had no doubt that Trumps intentions were to weed out corruption. Essentially, if you only read the title of news articles you going to be misled.
Time said:Johnson has largely stood by Trump and told reporters in Washington last week that he thinks the whole complaint against the president, sparked by a government whistleblower’s allegations, has been “blown way out of proportion.”
The senator told Washington reporters last week that he briefed Trump before and after the Ukraine visits and understood the president’s desire to root out corruption that has long plagued the Eastern European ally. He also agrees with Trump’s desire to have NATO allies contribute more money toward their security.
“I’m completely sympathetic with President Trump wanting to get the truth, where did this Russia narrative begin?” Johnson said about the 2016 election.
“I take what President Trump is saying at face value,” said Johnson, who’s leading some of those investigations, including calling on the Justice Department to probe a Ukrainian company affiliated with Biden’s son. He said Trump is “concerned about corruption and continues to say European allies need to step up.”
Johnson was among those who traveled to Ukraine in May, with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, for Zelensky’s inauguration after Vice President Mike Pence was unable to make the trip. On his return, Johnson joined others to brief Trump in the Oval Office.
Johnson recalled Friday that he and others were confident in the new Ukrainian president and wanted to share their enthusiasm with Trump. “We were trying to encourage the president to show a great deal of support” in backing the new leader, he told reporters in Wisconsin.
Ahead of his next trip to Ukraine, in September, he told the Wall Street Journal he was informed by Sondland of the tie-in to the military aid. “At that suggestion, I winced,” Johnson told the Journal. “My reaction was: Oh, God. I don’t want to see those two things combined.”
Sondland would have known what was under way. It was about that time, in August, that the top diplomat and two others were scrambling to prevent their attempt to broker a meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy spiral into a quid-pro-quo for the military aid, according to text messages released by the chairmen of the House oversight committees in the impeachment inquiry.
Johnson said that in a call with Trump the next day he tried to convince the president to let him tell Zelensky the military aid would be coming but was rebuffed.
Republicans has been reluctant to break with Trump, and Johnson also suggested he was standing by the president. “I certainly understood President Trump had real concern about corruption in general,” Johnson said Friday.
“I’m very sympathetic to the fact what he’s been dragged through,” he said about the 2016 election investigations. “He’d like to understand what happened.”
Trump, in August Call With GOP Senator, Denied Official’s Claim on Ukraine Aid
The Wall Street Journal said:A Republican senator said he was told by an American diplomat in August that the release of U.S. aid to Ukraine was contingent on an investigation desired by President Trump and his allies, but Mr. Trump denied pursuing any such proposal when the lawmaker pressed him on it.
Sen. Ron Johnson said that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, had described to him a quid pro quo involving a commitment by Kyiv to probe matters related to U.S. elections and the status of nearly $400 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine that the president had ordered to be held up in July.
Alarmed by that information, Mr. Johnson, who supports aid to Ukraine and is the chairman of a Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the region, said he raised the issue with Mr. Trump the next day, Aug. 31, in a phone call, days before the senator was to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. In the call, Mr. Trump flatly rejected the notion that he directed aides to make military aid to Ukraine contingent on a new probe by Kyiv, Mr. Johnson said.
“He said, ‘Expletive deleted—No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?” the Wisconsin senator recalled in an interview Friday. Mr. Johnson said he told the president he had learned of the arrangement from Mr. Sondland.
This was all came to light after this memo was released by the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs, House of oversight and Reform, and House Committee of Intelligence
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10/5/2019 12:58:21 AM
It's against the law, no? Putting people you agree with above the law is a slippery slope for everyone.
I agree with the latter.
There is no proof that Trump broke the law and there is no proof there was quid pro quo.
Every official document with the possibility of holding up in a court of law pertaining to the matter is in this thread and none of them implicate Trump of breaking the law, I am not interested in hear say I am interested in physical evidence and statements made under oath. Ethics is another matter.
Didn't a US Senator just come out saying that US embassador told him the US aid to Ukraine was contingent on an investigation into the presidents political rival?
Yes, Senator Ron Johnson stated that U.S ambassador for the EU Gordon Sondland told him that the holding of funds was for a quid pro back in August. He then confronted Trump about this because Johnson is in strong support of Ukraine and after that conversation he states he had no doubt that Trumps intentions were to weed out corruption. Essentially, if you only read the title of news articles you going to be misled.
This was all came to light after this memo was released by the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs, House of oversight and Reform, and House Committee of Intelligence
I'd actually read this one
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said:SHEBOYGAN - U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson was blocked by President Donald Trump in August from telling Ukraine's president that U.S. aid was on its way amid accusations Trump was withholding it until the eastern European nation investigated his political rival.
Trump rejected Johnson's request after also refusing in May to back new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Oshkosh Republican said Friday.
“I was surprised by the president’s reaction and realized we had a sales job to do,” Johnson said during a constituent stop in Sheboygan. “I tried to convince him (in August) to give me the authority to tell President Zelensky that we were going to provide that. Now, I didn’t succeed."
Johnson told reporters Trump said he was considering withholding the aid because of alleged corruption involving the 2016 U.S. election. Johnson stood by the president, saying he was sympathetic to his concerns and didn't see any bad motives on his part.
"What happened in 2016? What happened in 2016? What was the truth about that?” Johnson said about Trump's concerns.
With his comments Friday, Johnson made clear that he was aware of allegations Trump was withholding aid to Ukraine for political reasons weeks before the public knew.
Trump, who faces a fast-moving impeachment inquiry over the matter, has denied the claim and Johnson has defended the president — but Johnson's story helps House Democrats learn more about a key aspect of the probe.
Subscribe to our On Wisconsin Politics newsletter for the week's political news explained.
Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, was part of a delegation that attended Zelensky’s inauguration in May. He and others briefed Trump on the inauguration and urged Trump to back Zelensky, but the president resisted the idea, Johnson said Friday.
“We all went in there having come in from the inauguration and, you know, we were trying to encourage the president to show a great deal of support,” Johnson said. “Oval Office visit, appoint an ambassador who could be appointed quickly on a bipartisan basis — because we came back from meeting President Zelensky pretty confident, pretty encouraged that he really does understand what his mandate is and he’s dedicated to fulfilling it."
Trump was not receptive to the message from the delegation, which included Johnson; Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union; and Kurt Volker, the State Department special envoy to Ukraine at the time. Volker stepped down last week and testified behind closed doors Thursday as part of the impeachment inquiry.
Johnson told the Wall Street Journal on Friday that Sondland told him that Ukraine would appoint a prosecutor who would, as Johnson put it, work to "get to the bottom of what happened in 2016 — if President Trump has that confidence, then he’ll release the military spending."
“At that suggestion, I winced,” Johnson told the Wall Street Journal. “My reaction was: Oh, God. I don’t want to see those two things combined.”
He said he asked Trump about it and the president denied it.
"He said — expletive deleted — ‘No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?'” Johnson told the Wall Street Journal.
In an interview this week with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Johnson said the call lasted 10 to 15 minutes and Trump said he was holding the money back because of corruption concerns.
“He was very consistent in why he hadn’t made that decision (to release the aid) yet,” Johnson said. “He said, ‘Ron, do you know how fricking corrupt that place is?’”
Trump said he hadn’t made a final decision, but he thought Johnson would like it when he reached it, Johnson said.
When Johnson met with Zelensky days later, the Ukranian president asked about the U.S. aid, Johnson said.
“At no point in time did Zelensky ever mention or indicate that he was feeling pressure,” he said. “He was just concerned, he said, and by the way — far more important than the funding is just to show support.”
Johnson said he told Zelensky not to worry about the funding because there was unanimous support for it in Congress and lawmakers would make sure his country got it.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was also at the meeting. Johnson said Murphy told Zelensky not to work with Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney who has sought to dig up dirt on Biden in Ukraine. Murphy has given a similar account of his comments to Zelensky.
Johnson on Friday also sought to walk back comments he made Thursday about whether the president acted properly by calling on a foreign government to investigate Joe Biden, the former vice president who is running for president.
Johnson's call with Trump over the allegation suggests he may not be comfortable with the president using the power of his office to ask foreign countries to investigate a potential 2020 rival.
That's in contrast to comments Johnson made Thursday to reporters in Wisconsin.
"I don’t think there’s anything improper about doing that," Johnson said Thursday when asked whether he agreed with the president asking Chinese officials to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter.
But by Friday, Johnson said he didn't think it was appropriate for the president to use the power of his office to push a foreign country to do so.
"No, and I'm not sure that's what's happening," he told reporters in Sheboygan.
Johnson and his aides said Johnson meant there's nothing wrong with a president asking foreign governments to provide information for U.S. investigations.
"He did not comment on what the president is reported to have said," spokesman Patrick McIlheran said Friday, despite Johnson making specific references to Biden's son's business dealings in China in his answers to questions about Trump's request.
Trump said Thursday that China "should start an investigation into the Bidens" as he faces impeachment over a similar request of the president of Ukraine and just months after Trump's 2016 campaign was investigated over its ties to Russian officials.
Democrats criticized Trump over the request, saying the president was inviting another foreign power to interfere in the next presidential election just as Russia did in 2016.
Thanks for the tiny heart attack on that PDF link 😩
Yes
which one bb
First. Joe Biden should be investigated. He's caught on video doing this even. Does Trump talk about this ? Yes he does, and there is nothing wrong with that. Like Hillary Clinton, a lot of politicians are criminals.
Do you think that Trump could be a criminal?
No.
And I don't believe Trump pressured Volodymyr Zelensky, as Zelensky claimed there was no pressure, and the transcript of the phone call showed no pressure.
I mean he kept reminding him that the only ones Helping them was the US, and how the US was very good to Ukraine but that it wasn't reciprocal but that the US has been very very good to Ukraine. When Zelenskyy mentions that They are almost ready to buy javelins from the us for self defense purposes Trump's says 'i want you to do us a favor tho.'
Does that not sound strange at all to you?
He says that and he says it isn't fair that the US is the only ones supporting Ukraine.
It isn't criminal for the US to right their wrongs, this also goes for the vice president who used his position to benefit his family millions of dollars. The bribery in this case is in the hands of the Obama administration. When asked Zelensky said yes i know about it, and at this point Biden's undoing came to light as the corrupt DNC tried to put a stop to the truth in the matter with the impeachment inquiry.
- The Whistleblower is bias against Trump, they weren't there and they suggest accusation is something they heard.
Doesn't the law say that they just need to have reasonable belief not based on gossip that there is misconduct happening? As long as they had a reasonable belief they can lodge a complaint. The call did happen, making it a reasonable belief.
Sure. And with little effort Trump's so called agenda is done. Biden should be investagated. That is real corruption and there is no reason to not call it out.
Trump never sewed division in the US. The mainstream media did that, and they continue to do it every single day, from the media bias we see on the news, to Late night Television. The project hatred and ridicule not only for the President, but for his supporters.
Yeah he definitely never said at his rallies that the immigrants were all only Mexican rapist and criminals even those 2year olds and totally didn't invite violence at least once
He also said some of them are nice people, so all of the above.
I never did follow up on the 2 million+ illegal immagrants the US had incarcerated over crimes they commited, but one thing is for certain the US shouldn't have to pay for them.
The DNC knows on Trump's 2nd term, he's going to purge the government of their corruption. They are afraid of this man, because he's unlike the others. He doesn't owe any donors like big banks or corporations any favors. More money will not change his life. And he really doesn't need to endure this nightmare of a path he's chosen.
People don't give a shit about gender identity politics and carbon tax and tax hikes and Chinese manufacturing. They want prosperity.
You think Trump is going to get a 2nd term? People don't give a white about tax hikes? Really?
Yes. For many reasons on many levels including ones you wouldn't digest, but for you I'll mention, Trump's approval rating is higher than Obama's.
The mainstream media is loud and they show you what they want you to see.
As for tax hikes, yes the DNC largely wants to raise taxes cause that's their only solution to cope with the national debt. Sanders, Clinton, Biden, they straight up say they will jack it up. They have no plan to jumpstart the economy but rather send work overseas so their biggest donors can get cheap labor.
Right.
He makes it very clear that the conversations he had with trump involving Ukraine and blocked aid were about corruption during the 2016 election and that he deems it in the power of the president to make such a request.
Trumps request to investigate the where abouts of a server tied to corruption during the 2016 election is completely separate from his comments about the Biden's.
After listening to the audio 4 times it's clear that this is being misreported heavily, he talks four roughly 8 minutes yet look at how many times they quote him. Instead they sprinkle in information that does not reflect his stance nor what he said.
Also, the wallstreet journal article I shared is the one he mentions int he audio.
Thanks for the audio clip, added it to my archive.
last edit on
10/5/2019 3:25:27 AM
Confirmed by Bernie's campaign that he had a heart attack :(
Bernie Sanders Had Heart Attack, His Doctors Say as He Leaves Hospital
NY Times said:Senator Bernie Sanders had a heart attack this week, his presidential campaign said on Friday as he left a Las Vegas hospital, following three days of near silence from the candidate and his advisers about his health.
Mr. Sanders, 78, had entered the hospital on Tuesday night after experiencing chest pain at a campaign event, and doctors had inserted two stents in a blocked artery, a relatively common procedure. But the campaign did not confirm that Mr. Sanders had had a heart attack until Friday, inviting questions about his condition, and his campaign’s transparency, as he remained off the campaign trail this week.
Television cameras filmed Mr. Sanders as he left the hospital Friday, waving to onlookers and pumping a fist, then driving off in a sport utility vehicle. He will remain in Las Vegas on Friday night and return to his home in Burlington, Vt., on Saturday, campaign officials said.
“After two and a half days in the hospital, I feel great, and after taking a short time off, I look forward to getting back to work,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement.
While much of the conversation in the Democratic race has centered on issues like health care and student debt, Mr. Sanders’s heart attack is likely to heighten scrutiny on age in a primary where the top candidates are all in their 70s. In addition to Mr. Sanders, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is 76 and Senator Elizabeth Warren is 70. President Trump is 73.
But if Mr. Sanders has, until this week, largely avoided questions about his health — he has projected an image of fitness as a candidate and has maintained a blistering schedule on the campaign trail — the spotlight is now squarely on him. The ages of the current leaders notwithstanding, many Democratic voters have expressed discomfort with nominating a septuagenarian candidate, a notion that some political strategists say Mr. Sanders’s heart attack is unlikely to dispel.
“Running for president is a physical and emotional trial, and the presidency itself is even more demanding,” said David Axelrod, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama. “While we all wish Senator Sanders well, this has to be a big flashing light for him. And given his age, it may be for some voters, as well.”
Mr. Sanders began experiencing chest discomfort on Tuesday evening during a grass-roots fund-raiser he was hosting at a Las Vegas restaurant. As he began taking questions from the audience, he asked a campaign aide for a chair. He did not stay much longer at the event, and became visibly uncomfortable in a car afterward, according to two campaign officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.
At that point, Mr. Sanders was taken to an urgent care facility, where doctors determined that he should be transferred to a hospital. He was then taken by ambulance to Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center.
At the hospital, he was taken immediately to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, where doctors inserted two stents into a blocked artery. By Wednesday, he was talking to his campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, about the campaign. By Thursday, he was walking laps around the hospital hallway, the officials said.
His doctors in Las Vegas, Arturo E. Marchand Jr. and Arjun Gururaj, said in a statement that Mr. Sanders’s “hospital course was uneventful with good expected progress.” He spent three nights at the hospital and canceled his events and appearances for the week.
The campaign released little information during the week about the extent of Mr. Sanders’s heart trouble, fueling speculation about his health. But on Thursday the campaign said he would participate in the next Democratic debate, to be held near Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 15.
A heart attack means that a portion of the heart muscle died, starved of blood when a vessel was blocked, Dr. Gilbert Tang, a heart surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said.
“The first question is, how serious was the heart attack? What muscle was damaged and how will that affect the heart’s function?” Dr. Tang said. “If it was a significant portion of the heart, will that affect the heart’s ability to pump?”
If only a small portion of heart muscle was damaged, he added, Mr. Sanders should make a full recovery — even at 78. These days recovery does not depend on age so much as other medical issues, like lung problems, he said.
That does not mean that Mr. Sanders can simply continue as if nothing happened, though. Doctors usually recommend a cardiac rehabilitation program, which is essentially an exercise program in which patients are closely monitored. Such a program, Dr. Tang said, “conditions the heart to work harder.”
Mr. Sanders would normally also take a cocktail of drugs to reduce his risk of another heart attack, including powerful anti-clotting medications that require close monitoring for a month, Dr. Tang said.
In the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Sanders’s doctor said that the senator was “in overall very good health.” His ailments included gout; a mild elevation of cholesterol; an inflammation of out-pouches in the bowel known as diverticulitis; and hormone replacement therapy for an underactive thyroid gland. He had no reported history of heart disease.
Among the other candidates, Mr. Biden underwent emergency surgery in 1988 for a near-fatal ruptured berry aneurysm of an artery in his brain. He also underwent surgery to remove a second berry aneurysm. In 2008, Mr. Biden’s doctor said that he had recovered fully.
Mr. Trump has not had a medical emergency while running for or serving in office, though he has not released as much medical information to the public as other recent presidents have. This year, the White House physician pronounced Mr. Trump in “very good health,” although the president had gained weight and is now officially obese.
Other presidents and presidential candidates have had heart trouble, though not all of it was known to the public at the time. Experts believe that President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack that his doctor did not detect. Toward the end of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third term and until his death in his fourth term, his White House doctor withheld the fact that he had serious heart failure. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack near the end of his first term, and might have had a heart attack before he ran for president.
In 1999, former Senator Bill Bradley damaged his presidential campaign by not disclosing that he had had a number of episodes of atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm abnormality, before he experienced one while campaigning and had to be rushed to a hospital with reporters trailing him.
Before his heart attack pulled him from the campaign trail, Mr. Sanders was polling in the top tier of the Democratic primary race with Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren, and his staff has been trying to project optimism about his candidacy. But the episode has cast a shadow over his campaign just as he was attempting to reinvigorate it after a summer slump that saw his standing in some polls slip.
Hoping to reverse course, he had recently begun to focus more on his electability, arguing that he is the candidate best positioned to beat Mr. Trump in the general election.
The Sanders campaign announced this week that it had raised $25.3 million in the third quarter, placing him ahead of Ms. Warren, his chief ideological rival, by a hair and at the top of the field in fund-raising.
In a show of force, the campaign announced a $1.3 million ad buy in Iowa that it then postponed as it waited to assess the situation; the ad will now begin airing next Tuesday, and will run for two weeks as planned.
Campaign officials said they would determine when he would return to the trail as he recovers at his home, and it was possible that his first public appearance would be at the debate. His demeanor then will likely be watched closely by both voters and the news media.
Already, Mr. Sanders is working against a built-in bias. When asked about age, voters show a clear preference for younger presidential candidates, with an overwhelming majority saying they prefer candidates in their 40s through 60s, according to surveys. When asked about the ideal age for a president, just 3 percent said the 70s, according to polling released by Pew Research Center in May. Other polls have shown that Americans express more discomfort with a candidate in his or her 70s than one who is gay, Muslim or an independent.