David Corn: The Trump-Ukraine Scandal: More than a Quid Pro Quo, It's Extortion

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/the-trump-ukraine-scandal-more-than-a-quid-pro-quo-its-extortion/

The Trump-Ukraine Scandal: More than a Quid Pro Quo, It’s Extortion
And the president is again trying to gaslight the public.
David Corn


Donald Trump is at it again. In the face of new and damning evidence in the Trump-Ukraine scandal, he is making false claims and trying to mount diversions. On Wednesday morning, Trump responded to William Taylor, the acting US ambassador to Ukraine, who the day before presented testimony to Congress confirming the White House withheld security assistance from Ukraine in an effort to pressure its president to launch investigations to produce political dirt useful for Trump and his reelection campaign. Quoting a GOP member of Congress, Trump tweeted that no such thing happened. “Neither he (Taylor) or any other witness has provided testimony that the Ukrainians were aware that military aid was being withheld. You can’t have a quid pro quo with no quo.’ Congressman John Ratcliffe @foxandfriends.” And referring to the still-unidentified CIA official who had filed the complaint about Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine that triggered this scandal, he added, “Where is the Whistleblower? The Do Nothing Dems case is DEAD!”

Once more, Trump was trying to gaslight the nation.

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Taylor’s testimony is a strong indictment of Trump and the henchmen, including Rudy Giuliani, he used to muscle Zelensky. It details not an impetuous act but a monthslong campaign on Trump’s part to squeeze Zelensky, and Trump exploited US government policy and funds for this moblike extortion racket.

As for Trump’s reference to the whistleblower, that’s just Trump trying to change the subject. Though this anonymous CIA official who was detailed to the National Security Council kicked things off by submitting a complaint to the inspector general of the intelligence community, Taylor’s testimony, and the accounts of others who have appeared before the House Intelligence Committee, practically renders him irrelevant. Taylor’s opening statement matches the complaint and provides investigators an easy-to-read roadmap of where to go next: who to interview, what documents to seek. The whistleblower, in a way, is not needed at this point.

Trump and his gang will continue to ask questions about the whistleblower—with some pushing the notion that he is a part of the deep state plot to sabotage Trump—and raise other questions about how the investigation is being handled. (On Wednesday morning, a band of Republican House members stormed into a committee room used for classified and sensitive hearings in order to disrupt the deposition of a Pentagon official involved in Ukraine policy. They claim they were protesting the Democrats holding private interviews with witnesses, but there is nothing unusual about investigators conducting depositions in private—which was routinely done by the House Intelligence Committee when it was controlled by Republicans during its Russia investigation—and GOP members and staffers of the relevant committees are allowed to attend these sessions.) When the evidence is damning—and shows you’re a liar—assail the process. Or, in Trump’s case, declare black is white. In the Ukraine scandal, he is drowning in a sea of improper—and perhaps illegal—quid pro quos. Obviously, he and his cultists will stick with the playbook he used during the Trump-Russia scandal: Attack witnesses and investigators, distract with real or imagined side-issues, and deny reality. For the moment, though, reality may be catching up to Trump—and the investigation is not yet finished.