Diplomats’ Texts Lay Out Trump Ukraine Scheme In Stark Detail | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Rachel Maddow reports on newly published transcripts of text messages between Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland and others, in which Donald Trump's demand for investigations into Joe Biden's son and a debunked conspiracy theory in exchange for foreign aid and a White House meeting for Ukraine are discussed in plain terms, even as Sondland made late changes to his testimony to the Donald Trump impeachment committees. Aired on 11/05/19.
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Diplomats' Texts Lay Out Trump Ukraine Scheme In Stark Detail | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

82 comments

    1. I think his lawyer told him that unless he wants to go to jail he might want to refresh his memory and so he got really scared and presto! Another enabler turning on the King

  1. Lindsay Grahams NEW (there have been many different approaches) defence of Trump consists of – fingers in ears, and singing la lala lala lala very loudly.

    1. Exactly. I’ve been telling my friends that this reminds me of what my little brother used to do to me when I was trying to pass on some of my wisdom. He would plug his ears and sing “nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, I can’t hear you.”
      Sure looks like Lindsey can not hear but, seems he can’t see either. If only he couldn’t speak….

    2. LG keeps repeating, fingers in ears, eyes closed, buttcheecks clenched, “ I LOVE MY JOB. I LOVE MY JOB. I LOVE MY JOB……”.

  2. Why is Graham refusing to read transcripts of witnesses? What is he getting paid for isn’t it the oath of office to the American people ?

    1. Im telling you, this POTUS is promising all the Republicans he has left that if they stick by him they well be well compensated and if hes still in office he would pardon any or all perjury charges. Thats why these folks are still hanging around. Los your job oh well Trump will give me 2mil, go to jail? Going to get pardoned, not worried about it…So they think..Pretty big gamble in my opinion..

    2. @True True The Senate is 6 year terms of service, the House of Representatives is 2. Moscow Mitch + 21 Republican seats in the Senate are up for re-election, only 12 Democrats. At last count, 3 Republican Senators and 17 Republican members of the House are NOT running for re-election.

    1. @Sébastien Same happens in germany and in france. Just look which parties there got support by russia in various forms. Russia tries to destroy any ally bounds to weaken the world so they can more easily go for their interesets.

    2. @Stefan Ionescu That’s true. They really hit the jackpot in the US. But many other countries are impacted and may fall in the future. We know Putin is testing his latest online manipulation tricks in Africa right now.

  3. Graham, do you know which side are you on? Can you be honest, you haven’t got any integrity left. RESIGN. You really shouldn’t be there anymore

    1. Does anyone else find this suspicious??? We wanted to hold private depositions so the Republicans could not alleged that any one of the witnesses testimony would not influence any other. Now they have the ability to argue that witnesses may have been/be tainted. This to prove it. All this guy has to do is change once again on the stand to discredit all testimony leaving the whistleblower as hearsay. Trump would grant pardon, justified by his current position. Loophole!!!! Perjury for the bigger game may be a viable play here, wouldn’t put it past them. Every time a testimony is given in a close room there is a leak or reference to that testimony, creating an opening for this strategy and/or defense. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

  4. If Lindsey Graham isn’t going to do his constitutional duty (to which he swore an oath) then he should simply resign. His conduct is bizarre & appalling.

    1. ANY BUS DRIVER AVAILABLE IN THE UNFORTUNATE DEATH OF A CONGRESS SENATOR? only the one from S.C. UNLESS THE TWO FROM KANSAS ARE DEAF DUMB AND BLIND FOR TRUMP sorry one of those lives in Virginia and has for years, BUT ks kris KOBACH THINKS LIVING IN ANOTHER STATE FOR YEARS IS NOT ELECTION FRAUD?

    2. @glxy55 I would have to agree with you, but I believe it is not just the Russians that have very damaging information, Trump too has it. On anyone of them that have visited any of his hotels, clubs, golf courses etc. How much compromising stuff goes on in places like that?!?! Too much of a coincidence that so many of these spineless worms are willing to fall on a grenade for this douchewaffle!

    1. Graham is one of the best spoken people in South Carolina and so the people look up to him….. Mostly because they don’t know what he is saying. So they are not likely to vote him out until someone does something about their education system… Which would take time.

  5. I guess the people in Kentucky really did read the transcripts . Thanks trump. 194 likes…I never ever had that many likes. 😊😊😊😊 Thanks trump.

    1. CellGames2006 — Steve Kornaki (sp.?) on MSNBC analyzed the KY votes county by county, and he pointed out that several counties in eastern KY flipped from Trump to Beshear. Eastern KY is coal country, and it’s mostly rural. Beshear also picked up quite a few votes in northern KY; much of that area (including my hometown) is considered part of the Cincinnati suburbs, and it’s been solidly republican for decades.

    1. That’s for sure. Unfortunately he thinks he’s smarter than all of Democratic members of the House of Representatives! Something tells me he will not have the last laugh.

    1. @Luis Jalabert He’ll do or say whatever he thinks he needs to do to stay in office. This is about keeping the base happy.

    1. @Nu brænder Den STORE LUDERBOG!! I don’t think that will ever be a problem. I don’t think Trump will run in 2020, and if he does his own stupidity will defeat him.

    1. EXTORTION. Even worse than bribery, because bribery implies consent, extortion relies onTHREAT. Zelensky did NOT want to consent, he tried to water down the threat but was unable to. A “mob shakedown”, exactly.

    1. Because of the decision by the United States Supreme Court: US v Nixon, they rulled Executive Privilege does not apply to criminal investigations, and Nixon had pulled the exact same B$ Trump is, he claimed Executive Privilege gave him the authority to deny a Citizen their right to testify to Congress, they don’t, the House included them. He resigned between when he turned over the tapes, and the full House of Representatives voted on filing the Articles of Impeachment.

    2. Mary Hjort Oh, I think Ms. Pelosi is busy building that additional brick into Her Impeachment wall . . . L O L Squared.

    1. April Jones-Foston That’s what’s bothered me about him—dead eyes. I don’t like to look at him, but I didn’t think about why, but it’s the dead, brainless, soul-less eyes. He’s really creepy…

    2. @April Jones-Foston “His eyes are vacant & he looks literally lost.”
      Maybe that band-aid on the side of his head is because he stabbed himself with an ice pick.

    1. @Carrie LOL, Correct! Look at Guiliani, he’s just hired a team of lawyers to deal with all the tire marks on his back.

    2. Annette Carter Frankly, I’m looking forward to Lev Parnas singing now that he’s been thrown under the bus by Ghouliani (who is due to join Lev somewhere near the muffler or rear axle) AND trump. Hey, MoronDon: Nothing like pretending you don’t know people you’ve used for years to profit from laundering money by selling your condos to Russians, working wonky deals and getting oligarchs to donate money to you…nothing like insulting people who were silly enough to think you were a friend, to incite them to rat you out, Donnnnald. I hope he really spills everything. Too bad he can’t pin Graham to a wall while he’s at it, but I guess that’s too much to hope for…

    3. I know right?!? I’m laughing here. Their house of glass will crash In on them. They still voted for that FACIST RACIST WHITE SUPREMACISTS HOMEGROWN terrorist’s POS.

  6. Republicans be like: why is everything done in secret.. we aren’t able to see anything… we want things done in public.

    Also republicans when everything is in the open: yeah no we are not going to read anything.

    1. @speedoflite1 These tRump’s supporters, including Nunes, Gaetz, and McCarthy and company should be charged as accessories to the crimes committed by Traitor tRump.

    2. Also the Benghazi hearings and Kenneth Starrs Whitewater prosecution were conducted in closed proceedings. Odd that Kenneth Starr has since insisted that these hearings should be conducted in public.

      Trey Gowdy, who chaired the Benghazi hearings (and who said in 2012 “The notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress, no matter whether you’re the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles”), joined Tre45ons defence team four weeks ago. He’s now presumably involved in the endeavour of having material ruled out of consideration in evidence.

    3. FionaOfMountLawley pure hypocrisy. Now that it is public n that what’s coming out makes them look worst they saying they won’t read it n that they want the whistleblower to come out in public. They are just going to keep Moving the goal post n nothing will be enough, they need to be voted out.

      Also the whistleblower identity or intentions should matter even if it was a hit job all it should matter is if it was true or not and obviously it has been proven to be true even by the guy that gave trump a million dollars.

    4. @FionaOfMountLawley Based on current court disclosures, we see how badly Mueller dropped the ball, in not facing this bully head-on. Inevitable

  7. Sondland: “Oh, you meant the Ukraine scam, I thought you were talking about one of the other scams, that I definitely have no knowledge of, until someone says different”.

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