General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDid Trump Link Arms Sales to Ukraine with Cutting Off Mueller? - By Josh Marshall
By Josh Marshall - May 2, 2018 1:50 pm
I agree with Jon Chait. This revelation from The New York Times is a big deal. The Times reports that soon after the administration okayed the sale of Javelin missiles to Ukraine, Ukrainian officials have ended cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and essentially suspended a series of domestic investigations which touch on Paul Manafort.
The precise nature of Ukraines cooperation to date is murky. In January a Ukrainian prosecutor sent Muellers office a formal offer of cooperation to which he apparently didnt receive a reply. This was a couple months before the kibosh got put on all Manafort related matters. Likely more important than formal cooperation is halting all their own investigations. Whats striking is that members of the Ukraine government are quite open about their motivations. A Ukrainian parliamentarian who is an ally of the President Poroshenko told the Times: In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials. We shouldnt spoil relations with the administration. Another member of Parliament told the Times, Everybody is afraid of this case.
No one in the article says the administration demanded or suggested an explicit quid pro quo. But Im not sure one was necessary. The Ukraine government could see as easily as anyone else can that anyone seen to be assisting Robert Mueller becomes President Trumps enemy. And they are in desperate need of his being a friend. Weapons sales are critical. But they need the US to at least keep some counter-pressure on Russia against the proxy war it is fighting in the eastern part of the country.
We are usually in the habit for good reason of not assuming things we dont know (an explicit quid pro quo). That is especially the case when the facts on offer dont require it. As I said, if you were the Ukraine government, stuck with a deep dependence on President Trump, would you be cooperating with Mueller? This is yet another example where Trumps consistent attacks on the rule of law in the US yield tangible benefits on numerous fronts. At a minimum, these threats have communicated to the Ukraine government that they should not provide any assistance to Muellers probe if they want any support from the President of the United States. Chaits point is that everything weve learned about Trump and his associates militates against a cautious assumption: much for likely that the President or those working on his behalf did tell Ukraine to shut down their Manafort probes. He always exceeds our good faith assumptions about the scope of his dishonesty and corruption.
Is this true about the Ukraine decision specifically? I have no idea. Likely? Probably so. If not, he told them all they needed to know on Twitter.
more
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/did-trump-link-arms-sales-to-ukraine-with-cutting-off-mueller
Johnny2X2X
(19,024 posts)Absolutely illegal and disgusting.
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)Nitram
(22,781 posts)translate into leverage over another country's cooperation with the Mueller probe. A whole new approach to obstruction of justice! Interesting how Marshall points out that Trump never needed to suggest a formal quid pro quo with Ukraine, because it was obvious that they wouldn't get assistance from the US government if they cooperated with Mueller. But Marshall suspects, judging by past actions, the Trump team probably did anyway. Which means there could be evidence in the form of wire taps that caught Trump in the act of obstruction. "He always exceeds our good faith assumptions about the scope of his dishonesty and corruption." LOL!
RockRaven
(14,958 posts)that he doesn't even need to articulate the quid pro quo. Other parties just assume what he wants, do it, and get their payoff.
niyad
(113,232 posts)S.E. TN Liberal
(508 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)duforsure
(11,885 posts)Number of obstruction charges ever amassed b a sitting president, and convictions too.