We probably will find out what President Trump said to Ukrainian President Zelensky. But the phone conversation that we will never know is the one between Trump and his “TV Lawyer” Rudy Giuliani. It must have been remarkable.
- Trump – Rudy, I was trying to get Zelensky to move on Biden. I told him he might get his money if he’d start investigating.
- Giuliani – Mr. President, that was my job, please tell me you didn’t do that on an open phone call?
- Trump – Rudy, do you think that might be a problem?
- Giuliani – Oh, Mr. President, it’s going to come out.
An Offer You Can’t Refuse
The President of the United States was, as Don Corleone of The Godfather would say; “making an offer he can’t refuse.” In the movie, the offer was made with a horse head in bed. For the Ukraine, if they didn’t investigate Trump’s rival, then no foreign aid money. If they began an investigation begins, Ukraine gets even more aid than they asked for.
Is that illegal? Sure, and it’s not the vague “emoluments” clause of profiting from a foreign state. He asked a foreign power to intervene and interfere in America’s election; something he announced was “OK” by him, even if it violates Federal Statutes. And he spent the money of the United States’ government as if he owns it, using it to leverage the intervention. Whether he “knew” he was asking Russia for help in 2016 or not, a question that the Mueller Report couldn’t answer; he sure knows he did it this time.
Crazy Grandpa
Rudy Giuliani was the tough Federal Prosecutor, then the firm and courageous Mayor of New York during 9-11. After another divorce and a failed Presidential campaign, Giuliani has developed a whole new “persona.” He is now the “crazy grandpa” on CNN, contradicting himself and seeming to blurt out “privileged” information about his sole client, Donald Trump.
You know, he ain’t crazy. When he blurted out that Trump paid “hush money” to keep his affair with Stormy Daniels out of the papers, everyone went “nuts.” Giuliani confessed that his client was guilty, live on CNN!! But what he really did was get the “bad news” out, and begin the process of justifying how it was “OK” to pay off a porn star. The fact that Trump did it to hoodwink the American people and his wife and then later lied about it: well that might be unsavory, but certainly not illegal, according to Rudy.
Lying to the press and public is an integral part of the Trump operation. Ask Corey Lewandowski: last week he testified in the Senate that he felt no obligation to tell the truth to the media or the American people.
So Rudy going on CNN, getting “confused,” and telling Chris Cuomo that the President did pressure Zelensky to investigate Biden wasn’t a “crazy grandpa” error. Just like the Porn Star scenario, Giuliani was getting the bad news out. But he did more than that. He began to change the story.
Lock Him Up
Rudy doesn’t really want this to be about the President of the United States muscling a foreign leader to help in his US campaign. The Trump narrative is to hamstring Joe Biden with the same smear of corruption that covers the President himself. Rudy took the “holy” position that the President was helping Ukraine ferret out Biden’s crimes; they just needed a little financial incentive to do it.
And so the message went out to the faithful Republican leaders. Make this all about Biden, his son, and the made-up corrupt acts of the Obama Administration. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, running for reelection, has already called for a Biden investigation. More will chime in today.
They want to make this a whole new “lock her up” message. Hillary was smeared with all sorts of untrue accusations: in the Republican-Fox News universe, the facts really don’t matter. Now Giuliani and Trump are laying the same groundwork for the 2020 campaign and Joe Biden. “LOCK HIM UP, LOCK HIM UP:” we can hear the chants even now.
The Silence of the Good
And where are the “good” Republicans in the House and Senate. You can hear them in their silence. Adam Schiff, Democratic Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is trying to protect the oversight power of the Congress. Richard Burr, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, must have gone fishing in the mountains of North Carolina: we’ve heard not a word from him. He must have taken most of the other Republican Senators with him.
And the fact that this smears Trump even more really doesn’t matter.
Mud on mud? It looks like mud.
