Good Tuesday morning.
Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:
- The president delivers remarks at the Economic Club of New York
- President Trump participates in a roundtable with supporters
- The president delivers remarks at a fundraising committee reception
Trump had issues with Ukraine corruption, held up aid back in 2017
While we are watching the derp state impeachment narrative transform from the non-crime and basic foreign policy principle of quid pro quo into the more extreme and criminal charges of bribery and extortion, State Department official Catherine Croft testified that Trump had concerns about the Ukraine back in 2017. Joel Pollack at Breitbart reports that Trump:
held up the first grant of military aid to the Ukrainian government of then-President Petro Poroshenko partly because of concerns about the country’s corruption and the president’s frustration that the U.S. was expected to pay for its defense.
Trump was concerned about “the Russian reaction” and lectured “President Poroshenko — to his face — about Ukraine’s corruption and inability to pay for its own defense.” From the Croft transcript:
When this was discussed, including in front of the Ukrainian delegation, in fnont [sic] of President Poroshenko, he described his concerns being that Ukraine was corrupt, that it was capable of being a very rich country, and that the United States shouldn’t pay for it, but instead, we should be providing aid through loans.
OH THE HUMANITY! The United States shouldn’t pay for it! Scandalous!
On Tuesday, the administration is expected to release another call transcript, predating the one that caused the fake whistleblower to file a fake whistleblower complaint. I can’t wait to see what it says.
Related:
LOL. Hillary Clinton: ‘shameful’ of UK not to publish report on Russian meddling
Who cares, shrink it. Trump’s plan to shrink NSC staff draws fire
Trump: Schiff ‘doctored’ impeachment testimony transcripts
Joe Biden says there’s ‘zero rationale’ for GOP to call on son Hunter to testify in impeachment hearings
‘Anonymous’ book excerpts describe Trump’s score-settling and toxic West Wing
Nikki Haley knows where her bread is buttered
Nikki Haley fired back at critics who wondered why she kept mum about former chief of staff John Kelly and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson trying to recruit her to undermine the president. Haley makes the claim about the duo in her new book that hits the shelves today. It’s a good question, Nikki, why didn’t you reveal these traitors?
Seb Gorka, former WH official and current pro-Trump firebrand, asked the future presidential candidate exactly that. She responded: “I did. Thank you for your interest.” Of course you did, Nikki.
It wasn’t just Gorka, radio superstar Rush Limbaugh also pondered why Haley kept her yaphole shut.
“I have one question for Nikki Haley. Did you tell Trump what Kelly and Tillerson were doing, or did you save it for the book? And if you didn’t tell Trump and you only saved it for the book–what do you mean, you know about the book?”
“She’s published a book, and in the book the big leak is that she says that the chief of staff, Marine General John Kelly, and Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state, sought to recruit her to subvert Trump, but that she kept all of this to herself until now, until her book!” he said.
To be fair, the president has been warned repeatedly, including before he was sworn in, about the vipers working in the federal government he needed to axe and about the people he was floating as potential administration officials. He didn’t listen. The public now knows who many of those people are because they are twerking and jiving before Impeachment Emporer Adam Schiff in his impeachment star chamber aiming to take out the president. Fake whistleblower ERIC CIARAMELLA, Lindeman, Fiona Hill et al., were all flagged. Nothing happened.
However, to continue to be fair, what does the universe of people who are both capable of filling the 4,500 political appointments open to the new president and are Trump supporters look like? It looks very, very small to me.
Rex Tillerson responded to Haley’s allegations.
“During my service to our country as the Secretary of State, at no time did I, nor to my direct knowledge did anyone else serving along with me, take any actions to undermine the President,” Tillerson said in a statement to The Washington Post.
“My conversations with the President in the privacy of the Oval Office were always candid, frank, and my recommendations straightforward. Once the President made a decision, we at the State Department undertook our best efforts to implement that decision,” Tillerson said. “Ambassador Haley was rarely a participant in my many meetings and is not in a position to know what I may or may not have said to the President. I continue to be proud of my service as our country’s 69th Secretary of State.”
I don’t believe him. A pox on all these clowns.
Your daily WTF:
Seattle Children’s shuts down 11 operating rooms over mold concerns
Other morsels:
Trump weighs conditioning foreign aid on religious freedom
Report Flags Issues With 24,000 Voter Registrations in Single Florida County
Jimmy Carter admitted to hospital to undergo procedure to relieve brain pressure
Google Is Working On A Secret Project To Collect Personal Health Data On Millions Of Americans: Report
History Says Bloomberg 2020 Would Be a Sure Loser
Bricks of ‘very pure’ cocaine keep washing up on French beaches
Hong Kong cop shoots student, man set ablaze as chaos continues
Israel kills leader of Palestinian jihadist group in targeted missile strike
Thousands of Twitter ‘bots’ targeted Kentucky with fake news on election night
New York investigating Apple’s credit card for possible sex discrimination with Apple Card
Deval Patrick considering entering 2020 Democratic presidential primary
University of Virginia cancels 21-gun salute from Veterans Day ceremony
San Francisco’s new DA pledges not to prosecute public urination, other quality-of-life-crimes
Good. Why would they talk to CNN? White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has yet to hold a briefing with reporters, but finds time for Fox News
Police detain man eating a sandwich on a San Francisco train platform
New York Times: EPA plans to limit scientific research used in writing public health regulations
Widow of Elijah Cummings to run for his seat in Congress
Sean Spicer eliminated from ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’
T-Mobile Pressures Employees to Use Transgender Language
2 horses dead, 1 injured after racing day at Del Mar racetrack in Southern California
Company with Ties to Chinese Communist Party Buys One Third of British Steel Industry
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!