The political theatrics that begin Wednesday raise several questions. For starters, will Joe Biden be investigated for mounting evidence of corruption? And why is the corporate media turning the CIA “whistleblower” into a phantom in plain sight?
By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News
Now that “Russiagate” has failed and “Ukrainegate” neatly takes its place, many questions arise. Will the Democratic Party, this time in open collusion with the intelligence apparatus, succeed in its second attempt to depose President Donald Trump in what might fairly be called a bloodless coup? Whatever the outcome of the thus-far-farcical impeachment probe, which is to be conducted publicly as of Wednesday, did the president use his office to pressure Ukraine in behalf of his own personal and political interests? Did Trump, in his fateful telephone conversation last July 25 with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, put U.S. national security at risk, as is alleged?
All good questions. Here is another: Will Joe Biden, at present the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, get away with what is almost certain to prove his gross corruption and gross abuse of office when he carried the Ukraine portfolio while serving as vice president under Barack Obama?
Corollary line of inquiry: Will the corporate media, The New York Times in the lead, get away with self-censoring what is now irrefutable evidence of the impeachment probe’s various frauds and corruptions? Ditto in the Biden case: Can the Times and the media that faithfully follow its lead continue to disregard accumulating circumstantial evidence of Biden’s guilt as he appears to have acted in the interest of his son Hunter while the latter sat on the board of one of Ukraine’s largest privately held natural gas producers?
Still from C-SPAN video of House of Representatives debate on Sept. 25, 2019. (Wikimedia Commons)
Innuendo & Interference
It is not difficult to imagine that Trump presented Zelensky with his famous quid pro quo when they spoke last summer: Open an investigation into Biden père et fils and I will release $391 million in military aid and invite you to the White House. Trump seems to be no stranger to abuses of power of this sort. But the impeachment probe has swiftly run up against the same problem that sank the good ship Russiagate: It has produced no evidence. Innuendo and inference, yes. Various syllogisms, yes. But no evidence.
There is none in the transcript of the telephone exchange. Zelensky has flatly stated that there was no quid pro quo. The witnesses so far called to testify have had little to offer other than their personal opinions, even if Capitol Hill Democrats pretend these testimonies are prima facie damning. And the witnesses are to one or another degree of questionable motives: To a one, they appear to be Russophobes who favor military aid to Ukraine; to a one they are turf-conscious careerists who think they set U.S. foreign policy and resent the president for intruding upon them. It is increasingly evident that Trump’s true offense is proposing to renovate a foreign policy framework that has been more or less untouched for 75 years (and is in dire need of renovation).
Ten days ago Real Clear Investigations suggested that the “whistleblower” whose “complaint” last August set the impeachment probe in motion was in all likelihood a CIA agent named Eric Ciaramella. And who is Eric Ciaramella? It turns out he is a young but seasoned Democratic Party apparatchik conducting his spookery on American soil.
Ciaramella has previously worked with Joe Biden during the latter’s days as veep; with Susan Rice, Obama’s recklessly hawkish national security adviser; with John Brennan, a key architect of the Russiagate edifice; as well as with Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-born Democratic National Committee official charged during the 2016 campaign season with digging up dirt on none other than candidate Donald Trump.
For good measure, Paul Sperry’s perspicacious reporting in Real Clear Investigations reveals that Ciaramella conferred with the staff of Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Democrat leading the impeachment process, a month prior to filing his “complaint” to the CIA’s inspector general.
This information comes after Schiff stated on the record that the staff of the House Intelligence Committee, which he heads, had no contact with the whistleblower. Schiff has since acknowledged the Ciaramella connection.
Phantom in Plain Sight
No wonder no one in Washington will name this phantom in plain sight. The impeachment probe starts to take on a certain reek. It starts to look as if contempt for Trump takes precedence over democratic process — a dangerous priority. Sperry quotes Fred Fleitz, a former National Security Council official, thus: “Everyone knows who he is. CNN knows. The Washington Post knows. The New York Times knows. Congress knows. The White house knows…. They’re hiding him because of his political bias.”
Here we come to another question. If everyone knows the whistleblower’s identity, why have the corporate media declined to name him? There can be but one answer to this question: If Ciaramella’s identity were publicized and his professional record exposed, the Ukrainegate narrative would instantly collapse into a second-rate vaudeville act — farce by any other name, although “hoax” might do, even if Trump has made the term his own.
There is another half to this burlesque. While Schiff and his House colleagues chicken-scratch for something, anything that may justify a formal impeachment, a clear, documented record emerges of Joe Biden’s official interventions in Ukraine in behalf of Burisma Holdings, the gas company that named Hunter Biden to its board in March 2014 — a month, it is worth noting, after the U.S.–cultivated coup in Kiev.
There is no thought of scrutinizing Biden’s activities by way of an official inquiry. In its way, this, too, reflects upon the pantomime of the impeachment probe. Are there sufficient grounds to open an investigation? Emphatically there are. Two reports published last week make this plain by any reasonable measure.
‘Bursimagate’
John Solomon. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
John Solomon, a singularly competent follower of Russiagate and Ukrainegate, published a report last Monday exposing Hunter Biden’s extensive contacts with the Obama State Department in the early months of 2016. Two developments were pending at the time. They lie at the heart of what we may well call “Burismagate.”
One, the Obama administration had committed to providing Ukraine with $1 billion in loan guarantees. In a December 2015 address to the Rada, Ukraine’s legislature, V–P Biden withheld an apparently planned announcement of the credit facility.
Two, coincident with Hunter Biden’s numerous conferences at the State Department, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, was swiftly advancing a corruption investigation into Burisma’s oligarchic owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was by early 2016 living in exile. Just prior to Biden’s spate of visits to Foggy Bottom, Shokin had confiscated several of Zlochevsky’s properties—a clear sign that he was closing in. Joe Biden wanted Shokin fired. He is, of course, famously on the record boasting of his threat [starts at 52.00 in video below]to withhold the loan guarantee as a means to getting this done. Shokin was in short order dismissed, and the loan guarantee went through.
Solomon documents his report with memos he obtained via the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year. These add significantly to the picture. “Hunter Biden and his Ukrainian gas firm colleagues had multiple contacts with the Obama State Department during the 2016 election cycle,” he writes, “including one just a month before Vice President Joe Biden forced Ukraine to fire the prosecutor investigating his son’s company for corruption.”
Last Tuesday, a day after Solomon published his report, Moon of Alabama, the much-followed web publication, posted a granularly researched and well-sourced timeline of the events surrounding Shokin’s dismissal at Vice President Biden’s request. This is the most complete chronology of the Burismagate story yet available.
In an ethical judicial system, it or something like it would now sit on a prosecutor’s desk. There is no suggestion in the Moon of Alabama’s timeline that Shokin had shelved his investigation into Burisma by the time Biden exerted pressure to get him sacked, as Biden’s defenders assert. Just the opposite appears to be the true case: The timeline indicates Shokin was about to pounce. Indeed Shokin said so under oath in an Austrian court case, testifying that he was fired because of Biden’s pressure not to conduct the probe.
It is important to note that there is no conclusive evidence that Joe Biden misused his office in behalf of his son’s business interests simply because there has been no investigation. Given what is beginning to emerge, however, the need for one can no longer be in doubt. Can Democrats and the media obscure indefinitely what now amounts to very strong circumstantial evidence against Biden?
We live in a time when the corporate media make as much effort to hide information as they do to report it. But as in the case of Ciaramella’s identity, it is unlikely these myriad omissions can be sustained indefinitely — especially if Biden wins the Democratic nomination next year. Forecast: If only because of Burismagate, Joe Biden will never be president.
As everyone in Washington seems to understand, it is highly unlikely Trump will be ousted via an impeachment trial: The Republican-controlled Senate can be counted on to keep him in office. Whatever Trump got up to with Zelensky, there is little chance it will prove sufficient to drive him from office. As to the charge that Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainian president threatened national security, let us allow this old chestnut to speak for itself.
Price of Irresponsible Theatrics
This leaves us to reckon the price our troubled republic will pay for months of irresponsible theatrics that are more or less preordained to lead nowhere.
More questions. What damage will the Democrats have done when Ukrainegate draws to a close (assuming it does at some point)? What harm has come to U.S. political institutions, governing bodies, judiciary and media? The corporate press has been profligately careless of its already questionable credibility during the years of Russiagate and now Ukrainegate. Can anyone argue there is no lasting price to pay for this?
More urgently, what do the past three years of incessant efforts to unseat a president tell us about the power of unelected constituencies? The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law. There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency’s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.
What, at last, must we conclude about the ability of any president (of any stripe) to effect authentic change when our administrative state — “deep,” if you like — opposes it?
Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, author and lecturer. His most recent book is “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century” (Yale). Follow him on Twitter @thefloutist. His web site is Patrick Lawrence. Support his work via his Patreon site.
Consortium News does not necessarily agree with all positions taken by its columnists.
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We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency’s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.
Don’t you recall the day after the election that the Clintons and Obamas wore purple? At the time it was noted that there would be a color revolution and there was!
I do remember that! And I had the same thought about the ‘color revolution’ too.
Another reason the Dems are hilarious: Aren’t the sanctions against other countries, extortion?
The Dems are for these sanctions.
And they’ve “colluded” with the Evil Vlad’s puppet in every war/arms sales/coup action,
on easing Bank/Finance Regulations, Warrantless Surveillance, Border Security..
(with the exception of some resistance on Yemen)
Just how can they deal with this ‘treasonous’ menace at all?
I’m afraid they’ve unnecessarily given our clown 4 bonus years :-(
I agree with David, below, about the noise machine trying to blot out Bernie.
6 days a week Congress must attend for hearing making it very difficult for Tulsi and others to campaign. no problem for Biden and other DNC favorites.
Patrick’s work has performed a wonderful miracle.
Since the first talk of Golden Showers, a wedge was driven between me and my father.
Having followed US-Soviet-Russian relation since Gorbachev, I rejected the claims of hacking and of serious Russian interference.
I became person-non-grata in my father’s home.
Yesterday, I copied Patrick’s bio, then attached this excellent piece.
I got a return email, my father thanked me. He had finally seen through this massive three year “wag the dog” op.
I cannot thank Mr Lawrence enough!
Kleenex! Please!
Thank you so much, Patrick!
Wow! That’s quite a story. Happy for you and your father.
Clark.
Thanks v much this lovely note.
Best wishes to you and your Pa.
P. L.
President Trump will not be impeached; what we are experiencing are the tantrums of the failed DNC and its legions of white collar criminals and corruption of federal civil servants collectively known as “The Swamp” and yes it includes corruption at the CIA. USA is a capitalist nation and the People whose tax dollars and fantastic global credit worthiness hold the golden key; eith The People stop this filthy corruption such as Rep Schiff and other white collar criminals causing downfall of USA- OR USA does go down. The unspoken catalyst is- everyone should stop and look up- there is a significant problem hovering about in space- do not offend what you cannot overcome with your filth and corruption.
Rank and file Democrats seem to be doing a lot of magical thinking here. First, convicting Trump would require a 2/3 Supermajority in the Senate which has a Majority of Republicans. The partisanship shown in the impeachment, ignoring Biden’s crimes, and unconstitutional operation of CIA officials, following on the trail of the RussiaGate lies and hyperbole are not going to win any Republican friends in the Senate. We already know the outline of the UkraineGate, and it hasn’t changed anyone’s mind. All that’s left to do is prove intent, which as always is near impossible, and many will be “unconvinced.” All the theatrics and hyperbole keeps people wrapped to their newsfeeds but most likely isn’t going to change the mind of a single Republican Senator.
Electing more Democratic Senators would be a good thing, but numerically it’s not any easier than just electing a Democratic President, and no way are we going to get to 2/3 Democrats in the Senate. And this highly partisan issue probably isn’t going to help elect new Democratic Senators anyway, it’s just the same old hyperpartisanship which most who are not solid blue despise. It would be more likely to Lose close races for Democrats, races Democrats might win by opposing actual Trump policies and failures and proposing popular policies, like Medicare for All instead.
And then, most rank and file Democrats, like me, wouldn’t even necessarily prefer Pence. Nothing in the docket here relates to Pence at all. But most seem to magically feel Impeachment would remove Pence also (most I’ve talked to do) with no plausible justification.
Somewhere, there have to be some people who are not thinking magically about all this. And their goal must be something different, which I’m pretty sure is far more about Controlling Trump, making sure he wouldn’t be tempted to make peace anywhere, and also helping to get him re-elected because he is so easy to control. That must be what the Deepstate is actually doing.
Yep, that’s it, it’s all about controlling and re-electing Trump, not removing him. Democrats do have a solution to that–select the candidate with the most intense appeal to both partisans and non-aligned voters: Bernie Sanders. That would get a lot of new Democratic Senators elected also. But corporatist DNC would rather lose than do that.
The most chilling thing is the blob’s success in garnering mass consent and even adulation.
One must grudgingly credit Agent Orange for inadvertently exposing the deep state for not only what it is today, but for what it has always been, because the only thing truly novel about all of this is how openly the blob is operating domestically at present.
The media sycophancy of power in evidence today is as old as time.
The blob manufactures it’s own consent. The public is left out of the process.
The owners are only requiring that thier servants disrupt the admins agenda – that is the measure of success. That they look like corrupt, treasonous idiots doning it is not particularly significant.
Thank you, Patrick. I’m just further saddened as to how far our country has devolved into such a rogue mafia state, clubbing into submission any country daring to stand for its people against the wishes of the Owner class and its enforcer minions. It’s become a de facto place for young and aggressive budding federal careerists to get on the gravy train of that particular alt economy that has grown up to our detriment so much since 2001.
Erik Prince’s mercenary military *contractors* were but the first wave, now functionary bureaucrats like Ciaramella are legion too, playing their part in the further deconstruction of the U.S. Constitution, already so battered under Bush and then Obama.
Just joining the revolving door of noxious opportunists like that prototypical ex-Federal Judge / Homeland Security chieftain Michael “Skeletor” Chertoff, ex-Generals and lesser politicians swilling at the Trough of Plenty—that abysmal U.S. Federal Reserve Bank USD printing machine that so far has no apparent bottom—so far—as the detritus of this Beltway shark feeding frenzy continues to slowly sink deeper than whale shit at the terminus of the Marianas Trench. As this continues to its now seemingly inevitable end, both said feces and our country ultimately do have an appointment with that muddy rock bottom. Empires come and empires go. As do we.
I would say that 2 generations of constant warfare and growing authoritarianism, one generation of impoverishing most Americans are what have disillusioned many of us with the US government.
What should our slogan be? I got it! Make work, not war.
The closing paragraph is especially strong. It is illegal for the CIA to operate on American soil, and yet today we find all kinds of CIA personnel as paid consultants in mainstream media operations…right on camera. The CIA’s involvement in American politics is no longer only covert — it’s out in the open. And thus we are constantly in the midst of a “rolling coup”.
The old Smith Mundt Act made propaganda released domestically by the government illegal.
Under Obama, propaganda narratives were made legal (“modernization” of the Smith Mundt Act in 2012).
I can’t help finding the Democrats hilarious. The Obama administration “wrecked” Ukraine and won’t acknowledge the truth about Crimea, and we shouldn’t be giving weapons to Ukraine at all.
Watching Impeachment proceedings, and.I came to one conclusion the Ambassadors giving testimony arejust as corrupt and lacking in honesty as are Trump and Biden.
During temp Ambassadors testimony the untrue situation as to how and why UKraine has become what it is today places all blame upon Russia.
No mention that it was US Ambassadors that set in motion the Coup responsible for Ukraine unrest.
Money withheld by Trump was sorely needed to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine , with specific mention of Seperatist Republics Dombast and others, with emphasis upon Crimea.
That Ukraine was now a Front line Nation in war to stem Russia military invasions of NATO forces.
Saying money was needed to stop separatist from killing invading and killing Ukraine military men with a neat BS treat that during period a Ukraine Soldier lost his life, killed By Russian backed Dombas military.
Not a one our Elected Senators questioned veracity of why we were in Ukraine, who authorized and how and to whom was spent the over $100 millions in Bribes spent in just 3 months prior to Coup date of High up Ukraine politicals and military, nor how years of 100s of millions of US$ funding Ukraine Coup were spent by same years before by US Ambassadorial Division setting up groups of importent and sttategic Ukraine individuals support.
Not a one questioned where and who within State Department let out huge financial contracts and provided equipment and transport of U S based Contract Security Forces in immediate responce during coup.
What firm had to of obtainedbadvance notice of US intent, no operation of that size can be put together in day or week, or even three months for such a deployment.
When it comes to guilt for war crimes we often look to a military man, or even a President yo blame, but those soulless sociopaths and psychopaths within our Congress, State Department bureaucrats and military of US escape all scrutiny.
Watch close, listen closer, they have no feelings of compassion or remorse for deaths caused by their actions, none at all.
The temp Ambassador was more worried about sales of hi tech armaments, which is a major part of all USmAmbassafors and their department personel.
Find transcripts past and todays are.already in print especially the public viewed ones.
Also stop a listen when every now and then those seated slip and mention the person they are questioning has already been, not questioned but interviewed, prior to public display.
Why?
To make sure certain issues do not come into public domain.
Scripted plays, play on words, reinforce nobility of our Cause.
Obama overthrows a democratically elected government in the Ukraine with NAZIS and Biden brags about withholding funding to them until they fire the prosecutor investigating his drug addicts sons company for which he magically was paid more then 15 K a month…..
It’s amazing how little knowledge these testimonies reveal about Hunter
Biden and Burisma, which should be the subject of this hearing.
Democratic VP involved in corruption: no problem. Trump trying to spark
action to expose it: IMPEACH TRUMP!! (and don’t mention anything else)
That was $50,000 a month for Hunter, but who’s counting? And you are right to point out the Obama/Biden/Clinton corruption regime in regards to their actions in Ukraine. You’d think more Americans would question all you mentioned and be absolutely outraged by it, but when the polished little sociopath did it, the blue people lauded him. Disgraceful. And if that winged serpent inserts Her claws into the upcoming 2020 circus, I will be thoroughly green with nausea.
@ML
$50K/month is the lowest estimate, it’s as high as $166,000.00 by some reports
Can anyone argue there is no lasting price to pay for this?
Sadly, yes, I can. 2000. In a nakedly partisan decision, the Supreme Court anoints Shrub as head dog catcher.
2001-2008 Shrub invades Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. Shrub authorizes torture. Shrub authorizes the “extraordinary rendition” program that snatches people from around the world for us to torture without recourse to any legal system fictional or real. The US outs a CIA agent and Shrub, foaming at the mouth, claims that he’ll get the bastard that did this until it turns out to be David Addington a Shrub apparatchik. Then silence. Scooter Libby who was convicted of lying to persecutors. Surprise, surprise his punishment is commuted and Donnie Murdo later pardons him. Shrub attacks Iraq in clear violation of US and international law and the UN charter. Consequences for Shrub? Zero, zip, nada.
The Great One – Obama of the Nobel peace prize – ruthlessly attacks Libya and undermines Syria again in violation of international law and the UN charter. Foments a coup in Ukraine to overthrow the democratically elected government and then slaps sanctions on Russia for listening to the people of Crimea who wanted nothing to do with the viscous Ukrainian Nazis we allied with to perpetrate the coup. Obama of the peace prize is the same Obama that developed the targeted assassination program.
All that’s for starters and I haven’t gotten to Donnie Murdo yet. And you seriously think that the MSM corporate media is going to pay a price for toeing the government’s narrative on Russiagate and Ukrainegate? Hell’s bells the almighty AP is still claiming that Russia “meddled” in the 2016 election!
With all due respect I think you missed his point. The price to pay is not for the perpetrators, but rather for the American people.
Oh, how I miss Molly Ivins!
“The Impeachment Pantomime”
Sorry, I think that sounds almost like something from the Alt-Right.
I regard it as an entirely inappropriate characterization.
There is little doubt that Trump did something wrong, whether it reaches impeachment-level requirements is what the investigation is about, as well as the trial that may follow.
Yes, Joe Biden was also sleazy, that adjective covering a great deal of his total political career.
But so what?
Seems to me the author is saying the prosecutors should not pursue a case of fraud at hand just because there is another case that we know of earlier.
I cannot agree with that kind of thinking.
Of course, the truth is virtually every member of the Washington establishment is dirty.
I am now so convinced of Trump’s dangerous irrationality that I welcome anything that can put him out of commission.
You can’t impeach a man for dangerous irrationality .
However he goes, he is well gone.
As for the rest of the bunch America calls leaders, starting with Joe Biden, who can also be removed, great, but I’m not holding my breath.
Writers in America just have not recognized what a corrupt place their country is.
A plutocracy. A corrupt political system. A privileged elite. A brutal global empire. A place with no dedication to principles except in speeches.
“I am now so convinced of Trump’s dangerous irrationality that I welcome anything that can put him out of commission…. However he goes, he is well gone.”
Let the readers of this commentary understand: This is v dangerous thinking–not to say prima facie undemocratic thinking. In my view, the sound position is to dislike Trump but to like (what remains of) our democratic process more than one’s dislike of the president. The author of the above comment quite misses this. No matter: He has plenty of company.
As to the rest, the author of this entry misread my commentary. What transpired between Trump and Zelensky on July 25 should be investigated to the point of clarity. On this we agree. Then in the Biden case the author goes all flaky: Well, everyone’s corrupt. Weak, v weak. If nothing else, the impeachment fiasco sets the bar: To investigate Trump for abuse of office and excuse Biden away w/ saccharine truisms is sheer hypocrisy.
For the record, and pitiful it is I should have to state this, the commentary takes no side other than the side of ethical, blind-justice integrity in public space.
P.L.
Trump ran against the bush republicans and GOP and the wars and won
Trump wanted to work with Russia and democrats along with the pentagon and cia and fbi started another Cold War with Russia based on lies and propaganda and zero evidence
Trump tried to pull us out of wars in Afghanistan and Syria and democrats along with the cia false flag attacks pushed us back in
This is a coup nothing less
I know what is more dangerous
Agree!
RESPECT!
You want Trump gone no matter the consequences to the country? Did you read the last paragraph? Here’s the key point…
“The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law.”
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to impeach Trump and get him out of office. Unfortunately it won’t happen because congress is just as corrupt and complicit in his actions. You might enjoy that moon of Alabama essay discussed here too. I strongly disagree with you that Trump should be removed from office on this farce.
No. Your statement, “I am now so convinced of Trump’s dangerous irrationality that I welcome anything that can put him out of commission,” is ill-considered. With this (semi-) covert coup, the US acknowledges the triumph of our unelected elites. We will have ceded full control to them. It is the fulfillment of their neoliberal dream, where national sovereignty and democracy, no matter how imperfect, are fully neutered.
Noriega may have been despicable, but GHW Bush’s illegal invasion of Panama, with full MSM complicity, and with little or no reported opposition, set an irreversible precedent. The US now — with no apologies or excuses — invades at will other nations (which neither threaten nor attack us). Iraq is the premier example, but of course there are many others. The US crossed a line and continues to head ever deeper into a landscape of pure evil.
No matter how bad Noriega, Saddam, Gaddafi and others were, the US actions that removed them were much worse.
No matter how bad Trump is, the CIA-backed coup against him will have untold horrific consequences. With full MSM complicity and little reported opposition, what remains of the US imperfect democracy will cease to exist. With no constraint on elite power, we will soon see war like we have never seen before. The US can survive Trump. It can not survive this abomination.
@ John Chuckman: “I am now so convinced of Trump’s dangerous irrationality that I welcome anything that can put him out of commission.”
Even the overthrow of a U.S. president by the CIA? Are we now to share the fate of all those who have survived CIA coups in foreign lands?
@ “You can’t impeach a man for dangerous irrationality .”
Why not? The Repubs impeached Bill Clinton for far less.
@ “However he goes, he is well gone.”
If you believe there is a snowball’s chances in Hell that the Senate will vote to convict, I’d be happy to accept that wager.
This partisan impeachment procedure is indeed a political circus… are the Democrates so utterly stupid that they cannot find any weaknesses in Trump’s presidency that they base all their hope on Russiagate and Ukrainegate ? It feels like they are panicking all the way to the coming presidential election.
@mbon
A reminder that private US business interests supported by US military troops stole the sovereign nation of Hawaii in 1898 without justification, since we’re talking precedence.
yes
Your Trump Derangement Syndrome is on full display.
Although I’m certainly not a Trump supporter–and I shouldn’t even have to mention that–he is nowhere near the mass murderer that Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama//etc. were/are.
I guess it’s that hair that makes him so extra despicable.
Brilliant! Acting Ambassador Bill Taylor’s testimony today was unabashed and explicit: the real issue is how best to bring Ukraine into the Western orbit–a bipartisan 30-year effort.
For a follow-up, dig deeper into Burisma Holdings and its strange set of directors: Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, Cofer Black, Alan Apter, and the former president of Poland, among others. Then Google “Burisma and LNG,” as in liquified natural gas. That will lead to the business press: Forbes 9/30/2019, Reuters 8/30/2019, and Petroleum Economist 8/8/2017. The apparent plan, still in process, is to ship U.S. LNG to Ukraine via a port on the Baltic coast of Poland, thereby weaning Ukraine away from Russian natural gas and hurting Russia’s export-dependent economy. Cold War II stuff. Check it out.
The bottom line is all these holdovers from the Obama administration, Ukrainian Americans with divided loyalties and rabid DC neocons/ neolibs are pushing their “bipartisan 30-year effort”. As even George W. Bush noted “I am the Decider” on foreign policy (Cheney or Addington must have explained that to him). The agendas pushed by the think tanks, and the obvious chagrin of these crooked bureaucrats living in their paradise of corruption that Trump is interfering in “their” foreign policy is difficult to reconcile with the constitutional right of the President to make and CHANGE foreign policy (otherwise why do we have Elections?) All these outraged parasites serve only as advisors, to give their opinions (even in writing, so they cannot lie later). Even spineless Obama stood firm against giving lethal aid to Ukraine (but he went along with the corruption and Maidan Coup in 2014, so he was not impeached.) Presidents should interfere with foreign policy at least every four to eight years if they see need for corrections. Most Americans see need for lots of corrections.
Patrick, thanks for this. Last Monday and Tuesday when Solomon posted those cables he obtained through FOIA, my reaction was that the NYT, WaPO, other MSN outlets would have to acknowledge Biden’s misdeeds in Ukraine. Yet complete silence on their end, they are pretending that there is nothing there. Not a single mention in any of those outlets about those state department memos. Also good for you to acknowledge b’s timeline in Moon of Alabama — this most certainly shows a temporal pattern supporting a prima facia case of outright corruption on the part of Joe Biden and his idiot son Hunter.
To state something I’ve bemoaned b/f here on CN, in most liberal circles one is mocked and ridiculed for pointing out that a deep state is indeed orchestrating a coup to unseat Trump. Even if one tells them that one is not a Trump supporter, but rather a supporter of democracy who reviles the sadistic and criminal intel agencies and corporate Dems, they still heap scorn, mockery and ridicule.
There is a segment of the U.S. population that’s completely beyond reach when it comes to this all important issue.
And that’s why it’s no use even discussing it with those folks. Who needs the scorn? Who needs to have to explain that one is deeply repulsed by the man Trump and all he represents and yet disgusted also with the contemptible Democratic Party? These liberal partisans don’t get it and they never will. Hyper partisanship on either side unsettles me. Who needs heartburn over such propagandized souls? Just point them to Consortium News and if they don’t take the hint and start examining their respective world views, then leave them to their stupidity. Neither the trump lovers or the true, forever blue folks are ever gonna get a clue. Your passion is understandable, but a waste of your passionate nature. I always watch a classic George Carlin tirade when I feel hopeless. Somehow, his sarcastic hopelessness and well-placed cynicism, lifts my weary spirits. Humor is the antidote.
Hi Drew-
I had an email exchange with a friend after I forwarded this article to him and a few others. Basically he said that he felt Trump “has to go”. and that Biden was guilty of more common “subtle elite corruption”. Here’s my reply:
I think it doesn’t really matter at this point, and a successful impeachment based on an erroneous premise will only lead to further miscarriages of justice down the line, be the target Democrat or Republican. Replace Trump with Pence, the Deep State wins, and we have another Evangelical nut job in the White House. If the Deep State wins, the Forever War will continue unabated, more innocent people will die, more kids will come home maimed or with PTSD, more refugees will flood into Europe and the USA, income inequality will continue to get worse, and it will not matter one whit who wins in 2020.
Trump sucks. W sucked. Obama sucked. Slick Willy sucked. And on and on.
The USA is in the deranged throes of the end of Empire. “We the People” retaking charge of all the branches of government is our only hope. It is the only way we will be able to make changes fast enough to avoid catastrophe.
I believe more subtle elite corruption is more dangerous because the majority choose to let it go unseen, and the MSM enables this nearly willful blindness with endless “info-tainment”.
That’s how I see it.
That has been my experience too. I think Caitlin Johnstone was right when she compared it to trying to deprogram a loved one who is in a cult, or an abusive relationship. I think she was right to suggest such people should be handled the same way, not with attacks, but by indicating you will be supportive of them when they come to their senses and find themselves alone among the programmed, i.e. give them some place to go.
> Even if one tells them that one is not a Trump supporter, but rather a supporter of democracy
Binary minds don’t understand the difference. Anyone who doesn’t sign onto their narrative du jour obviously supports the other tribe, what other possible explanation could there be?
Thanks for clarifying this mess.
I have felt from the beginning that Ukrainegate was a thin reed upon which to base impeachment, especially when Trump has committed a large number of other genuinely impeachable offenses. The menu of his impeachment-worthy acts is almost as large as a menu in a Chinese restaurant. Yet none of them appear to matter to the Democratic leadership, or as Nancy Pelosi once put it: Trump’s not worth impeaching.
Now it appears that the Deep State has forced the Dems hand, and rabid dog Adam Schiff is foaming at the mouth in anticipation of tearing off a large piece of Donald Trump’s hide. But as Patrick Lawrence has clearly explained, Trump will not be removed from office, and Joe Biden’s reputation and presidential aspirations are in jeopardy. At least that last part is something to celebrate.
Exactly, Rob. Well put!
Biden is an escapee from Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. The sooner he gets out out the way, the better. Trump won’t be removed from office, we know that, but what is the best set of cobwebs to tangle him up in, for the time being, curtail his potentiality for ignorance-launched destructiveness. It is certainly not Ukraine. These craven Democrats have chosen Ukraine so they can keep wagging their poop-stained finger at the Rooskies, the easiest form of ‘evil’ for them to target, keep those mountains of dollars heading toward military contractors, keep the foundering economy afloat.
Agreed! I could build a better case for impeachment than the Dems have done but, after considering who is VP, I would opt to let the matter slide. Therefore, I conclude the goals of the DNC/Dem Party are (as usual) distraction or misdirection. They as a Party propose no policies for 2020, and seem content to campaign as being “Not Trump.”
Thank you for exposing what has happened and is happening to the US system of governance or lack thereof .It is becoming glaringly obvious that the system is broken and many wonder if indeed it can be fixed without actually starting over from a clean sweep .It is like a cancer that has metastasized beyond hope of a cure .It has been very hard to watch as the destroyers of nations continue to create chaos in the state that was once an example to the world or so we were told.
From the above opinion piece:
“But the impeachment probe has swiftly run up against the same problem that sank the good ship Russiagate: It has produced no evidence. Innuendo and inference, yes. Various syllogisms, yes. But no evidence.
“There is none in the transcript of the telephone exchange. Zelensky has flatly stated that there was no quid pro quo.”
= = = = =
Permit a reader to offer some advice, Mr. Lawrence. We all know that you are a serious writer with serious credentials. Either *believing* that there is no evidence of Trump’s corrupt intent in the exchange with Zelensky and the surrounding actions, or *pretending* to believe it, can only damage your credibility. That Trump did what he is accused of doing, in that case, is transparently obvious to all with eyes and ears.
No, of course that behavior didn’t threaten US security, because US security, unlike US empire, isn’t in danger from anything that has happened, is happening or might happen in Ukraine — unless, of course, we actually manage to provoke Russia to the point of serious reaction.
Of course Hunter Biden’s perceived value to Burisma was due to his father’s position and of course Joe knew that and considered that sort of garden-variety corruption perfectly normal (which, as you know, it is).
Of course Ciaramella and the rest of the deep-state spook universe are acting, as they have from the beginning, to undermine Trump, lest he somehow — bumblingly — endanger the drive to maintain planetary domination.
Of course the Newspaper of Record and the rest of the MSM will play along. That’s what they have always done.
And so on.
And none of this changes the fact that Donald Trump is manifestly guilty of *exactly* the sort of behavior that Hamilton, in Federalist #65, described as high crimes and misdemeanors.
OH please, ElderD. Try watching another network. And do not pretend to speak for all of us.
“More urgently, what do the past three years of incessant efforts to unseat a president tell us about the power of unelected constituencies? The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law. There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency’s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.
What, at last, must we conclude about the ability of any president (of any stripe) to effect authentic change when our administrative state — “deep,” if you like — opposes it?”
As we watch the latest US lead coup in Bolivia, my thoughts exactly. Using impeachment as a means of running a soft CIA coup is what we’re witnessing. With the MSM in toe it’s hard to know just how good or bad Trump is. What is the primary reason for going after him? Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with immigration or illegally lobbing bombs into Syria, or selling arms to the Saudis to bomb innocent Yemenis. These are all the right reasons, but hardly something the “deep state” cares about stopping.
So far it hasn’t worked with Trump, but they may be hoping to bloody him enough to have the electorate do their dirty work, or will it backfire?
I think back to the Nixon and Clinton impeachments. None of them seemed to use pressing matters of international illegality (Cambodia/Laos and millions of SE Asians brutally killed, or in the case of Clinton the brutal killing of an estimated 500,000 Iraqi children). Instead the charges were about a 3rd rate burglary and lying about sex with an intern.
Amazing how screwed up our priorities….but than again they’re NOT OUR priorities…are they.
Certainly everyone here is aware that Barr and Durham have now elevated their investigation into how the 2016 Russia election “interference” nonsense started from an inquiry into a criminal probe with Grand Juries being formed??!
This means that Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Srzok, Page, Rice, Power, the Ohr’s and many others may well be indicted for orchestrating a paper coup against a legally elected president.
The Horowitz IG report is apparently being used by Barr and Durham as a “road map”.
I think Ciaramella was “the insurance policy” the FBI lovers/traitors Strzok and Page were busy texting about.
The American people need the truth and I hope Barr and Durham deliver that truth to us with some indictments and mugshots.
We are WAY overdue.
Great article. Patrick Lawrence is honest and sane in his assessments of the scams being perpetrated on us by so called intelligence community, the DNC and the corporate media. Let’s ask the questions. Thank you Patrick.
Most welcome, friend and generous supporter. P.L.
Thank You, Patrick Lawrence! It is amazing that the Democrats, Obama, and Joe Biden can get away with
suck obvious fraud and criminality. But, with the CIA attacking Sovereign Countries around the world in order for the USA to steal their resources, OR, to acquire a much-valued country which can be used by the USA to enhance its desire for world Domination this is how the USDA works.
Joe Biden who seems apparently suffering from early Dementia is fighting the truth of his criminality, because he thinks, ” The USA’S successful coup in Ukraine was to enable USA millionaires like himself and his family to loot Ukraine.” So Biden is trying to continue to lie to save himself. Biden’s lies also keep Ukrainegate going. Someone, ( Like Biden and Son) should soon be going to jail, and Trump’s impeachment should be canned with Shiff joining Biden in Jail!
The goal of the trial is to gain seats back in the Senate. Pure and simple. It will be the democrats rallying cry heading into next year. “Give us the Senate and Trump will go” will be the slogan.
What it really shows Americans is just how far the corrupt will go to keep the gravy train from derailing. As indictments proceed under John Durham, corruption and abuse of office will be threatened. A second Trump term would be a major blow to the gravy trains’ tracks and those desperate to impeach and remove the president are likely the largest benefactors of the status quo.
“There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. ”
I think what Lawrence means here is:
“This is not in doubt.”
Or
“This is not in question.:
But it required a reread.
At first I thought it meant:
“No one is allowed to question this point.”
But I think it means:
“There is no doubt that the CIA is now operating on American soil in the same way it has operated on foreign soil since it was set up post-WW2. This is of course completely illegal, but no one will do anything about it. Get ready for ‘regime change’ here in the ‘homeland.’
“That is, electionless regime change.”
Thank you, Litchfield. Comment registered. You seem to have the soul of an editor. Bests. P.L.
These paragraphs from the article bear reposting:
“What damage will the Democrats have done when Ukrainegate draws to a close (assuming it does at some point)? What harm has come to U.S. political institutions, governing bodies, judiciary and media? The corporate press has been profligately careless of its already questionable credibility during the years of Russiagate and now Ukrainegate. Can anyone argue there is no lasting price to pay for this?
More urgently, what do the past three years of incessant efforts to unseat a president tell us about the power of unelected constituencies? The CIA is now openly operating on American soil in clear breach of its charter and U.S. law. There is absolutely no way this can be questioned. We must now contemplate the frightening similarities Russiagate and Ukrainegate share with the agency’s classic coup operations abroad: Commandeering the media, stirring discontent with the leadership, pumping up the opposition, waving false flags, incessant disinformation campaigns: Maybe it was fated that what America has been doing abroad the whole of the postwar era would eventually come home.
What, at last, must we conclude about the ability of any president (of any stripe) to effect authentic change when our administrative state — ‘deep state, ‘ if you like — opposes it?”
That says it all. The lawlessness of major American institutions has been exposed for all to see. And the people responsible for letting this “cat out of the bag” seem to have no idea what they have done.
Great comment in the article: “As to the charge that Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainian president threatened national security, let us allow this old chestnut to speak for itself.” Amusing and sad.
Noted is Mr. Lawrence’s point that the Trump debacle resembles the efforts at regime change abroad. I think that thought has occurred to many, I assume and the effort began minus day one of being sworn in.
And his final comment: “What, at last, must we conclude about the ability of any president (of any stripe) to effect authentic change when our administrative state — “deep,” if you like — opposes it?”
Even at the low level where I worked in the government, a bureaucrat’s success was often measured by their ability to “get around” the White House. When I first entered government service, I was surprised how the division head had a direct line to the chairman of one of the congressional committees, and plotted how to obtain power and funds contrary to White House policy.
The ongoing effort now underway is of course far more serious because the bureaucrats are not alone in this effort and the enormous implications of the effort.
“to a one they are turf-conscious careerists who think they set U.S. foreign policy and resent the president for intruding upon them. It is increasingly evident that Trump’s true offense is proposing to renovate a foreign policy framework that has been more or less untouched for 75 years (and is in dire need of renovation).”
This may be even worse than Lawrence depicts. It is clear that Vindman in his opening remarks made it clear that the consensus policy of experts (like John Bolton) had been following an agenda from the Obama administration (or before, but implemented under Obama, Biden and Nuland) and it is verboten to change anything, despite constitutionally these people at best only having advisory roles to the President (and constitutionally the President can ask for their opinions in writing; CYA even back then!) The Ukrainian Americans involved in the coup (national security from Vindman’s perspective) are deeply committed since 2014, and they expect to reap the benefits with no interference from Trump. And the Democrats/ Ukraine-Americans “running the show” are probably much more corrupt than Ukrainians governing their country before 2014.
I have started Oliver Bullough’s “Money Land” and was aghast at the luxury items Yanukovich had stolen through corruption and accumulated at his many properties. Surely with so much money going to corrupt Yanukovich and his henchmen, the coup would have been a blessing for the Ukrainian people! Right? I was shocked to find that after the overthrow of Yanukovich in 2014, the median per capita household income in Ukraine, which had risen steadily from $2032 in 2010 to $2601 in 2013, had dropped over 50% to $1110 to $1135 in 2015 and 2016, and has only risen to $1694 in 2018 (ceicdata.com). So the Ukrainians traded their corrupt Ukrainian elected President, mostly accumulating stuff in Ukraine, for corrupt neocon/ neolib Democrat bureaucrats and Ukrainian/ Americans, who now cannot be denied their pound of flesh (which will quickly exit Ukraine, taking much of that country’s value with it). Even the anti-corruption agencies are corrupt! So American policy now is set by such bureaucrats, who not only play military adventurism games (to justify all that money in loans, grants, and weapons), but even pass the corruption level of the Native Ukrainians in skimming that incoming money and getting rich, and of course steal whatever isn’t nailed down (American policy as previewed in “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”).
I refuse to watch this staged political show. I know the Dems will impeach and the Reps will not convict. Get out of my face. I’m not interested in watching it.
I’m never voting for Joe Biden no matter what they do. Just like Hillary, they are trying to sneak in a right winger under cover of protesting the right wing of the other party.
I was just at a doctor’s office for a visit. They had MSM TV on. The commentator said, “all our intelligence agencies now agree that Russia tampered with the 2016 elections, but they also agree that there is no proof that Ukraine aided the Democrats. And the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden misused if office has been completely debunked.”
I felt like throwing up.
I will not watch any more of this rubbish.
I dont understand how you can state that there is no evidence when there has been testimony of officials who were on the call and overheard it. That is evidence.
Thanks Patrick, for an excellent piece on this reeking mess pawned off as “American democracy.” Truly surreal at times.
Excellent article that shows how utterly corrupt our entire government has become in its service to Empire. No US president has been in control of foreign policy since Nov. 22nd 1963. The MSM has become an arm of the “Intelligence” community in its service to the Empire’s goal of a unipolar, corporate run planet. I would include them in Frank Zappa’s observation that politics is the entertainment division of the MIC. Our “entertainment” has devolved into a “theater of the absurd”.
Tulsi Gabbard is the only candidate that truly challenges the Empire. For that she is constantly demonized while TPTB attempt to destroy her campaign, and remove her message from public scrutiny.
An excellent piece from Patrick! No wonder he can’t work for the MSM anymore.
My sentiments exactly. Right from the start–beginning with that weird ‘pussyhat’ march that took place a few days after the election–I had the oddest feeling that we were about to experience our very own domestic ‘color revolution’, just like the ones the government has been launching abroad all these years. It looks like I was right.
This is an excellent summary of the impeachment charade so far.
After watching the hearings so far, I am surprised at how much I agree with many of these comments. With all the fuss about what the President is said to have done, no one is calling for the obvious witnesses and necessary recordings that are said to substantiate the charges..
What would be the repercussions of a successful impeachment of the US president?
Many think it would be a safer world if Donald Trump was not in the Oval Office. But people should consider carefully any negative consequences – unforeseen and unintended consequences. History warns that nations blindly take the path to war: the conflict they need to avoid.