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No sooner had his name been uttered during the impeachment hearings, when the news breaks that Rudy Giuliani is under investigation.
“Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, is being investigated by federal prosecutors for possible campaign finance violations and a failure to register as a foreign agent as part of an active investigation into his financial dealings, according to three U.S. officials.
The probe of Giuliani, which one official said could also include possible charges on violating laws against bribing foreign officials or conspiracy, presents a serious threat to Trump’s presidency from a man that former national security adviser John Bolton has called a “hand grenade.””
The officials are named in this breaking news story from Bloomberg. Oh wait, they aren’t. It’s all from anonymous sources.
Giuliani’s name has been waived around quite a bit since all this impeachment mess started taking off. Because he dared to do as the President asked, and act as an envoy in talks with Ukrainian officials, he’s done something BAD! As if the Democrats nor media had ever heard of back channel communications before?
Back channel communications are part and parcel of the political landscape and have been for centuries. Benjamin Franklin went to France and England prior to the Declaration of Independence to gain support and assistance for the American cause. FDR used numerous back channel communications prior to and during World War II. Reagan did the same when trying to get the Soviet Union to back down.
It is a fair bet that Obama used back channels to get things rolling with his craptastic Iran Deal and Paris Agreement. How else were they able to get things arranged for transporting those pallets of cash in the dead of night?
The Democrats will use this from George Kent as much as they can.
Presidents set foreign policy. Period. People like Alex Vindman can certainly offer their opinion, but they do not dictate what the foreign policy should be. The media wants us to forget that.
“I would not be surprised if he gets indicted,” said Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. “It’s clear Giuliani is up to his ears in shady stuff and there’s tons of smoke.”
According to Mimi, Sondland was making sure that Republicans were protected while Trump coerced the Ukrainians. We are supposed to believe the telephone call that took place …in a freaking restaurant…that an aide reported to former Ambassador Taylor (who admitted he never met Trump) is one of the smoking guns that will get Giuliani??
Never mind that, she wants the mob boss taken down.
This is so spot on. The “no pressure” defense is exactly what a mobster would say. And, as everyone knows – you don’t need to be explicit in exerting pressure when you’re a mob boss – or when you are the POTUS. https://t.co/QSJWsRqwAP
— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) November 14, 2019
Lovely. The media and Democrats will do everything they can to deflect from the fact that they are running this impeachment based upon hearsay. Oh wait, our Constitution says we can impeach off of high crimes and misdemeanors. Even with misdemeanors you’d still need actionable evidence to convict. Is hearsay considered actionable evidence?
Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi do not want anyone to question the veracity of the whistleblower.
““I wonder if you could explain to the American people, why the legal rights of the whistleblower should prevail in this political setting over those of President Trump, who should ordinarily enjoy a right to confront his accuser?” Rosen asked.
“Well, let me just say this, I will say to you, Mr. Republican talking points, what I said to the President of the United States,” Pelosi said while gesturing to Rosen. “When you talk about the whistleblower, you’re coming into my wheelhouse. I have more experience in intelligence than anybody in the Congress.””
Nancy has more experience in intelligence than everyone else? Great! Which means that she knows that back channel communications are part and parcel of what makes foreign policy tick.
Why is Rudy Giuliani being investigated now? Bribery!
"We're beginning to line up the people that the President is going to throw under the bus," says Rep. Denny Heck. "I'm predicting there's a good chance he's going to throw under the bus Ambassador Sondland … acting chief of staff Mulvaney, … potentially Rudy Giuliani." pic.twitter.com/7YSvotVEqh
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) November 15, 2019
Yes, not long after the impeachment proceedings were underway, the narrative abruptly shifted from quid pro quo to bribery.
Did Giuliani fail to register as a foreign agent? We don’t know. Did Giuliani bribe or coerce people on behalf of Trump? We don’t know that either. Yet the Democrats/media would have us believe that the smoke that is blowing is actually fire. Thus impeachment is a certainty. Or is it?
Analysis: The first two witnesses called Wednesday testified to President Trump's scheme, but lacked the pizzazz necessary to capture public attention. https://t.co/1UfkaeZ3I4
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 14, 2019
So, impeachment is certain as long as the witnesses have pizzazz. Got it.
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Feature Photo Credit: Marc Nozell from Merrimack, New Hampshire, USA [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], cropped and modified
Kevin says: I agree with Nina Bookout that the US government has conducted foreign policy through hundreds if not thousands of back channels that are out of the public eye. I don’t think that’s the concern. The concern is that the President and Mr. Giuliani were orchestrating a back channel that was in conflict with what the State Department, Department of Defense and Intelligence Agencies policies/goals were in this region. Here’s my comment about the broader implications of the insane conspiracy theories that Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani were chasing … Had the American people (politicians and the electorate) heard the basic facts without any identifying information … a high level government official used their influence as well as the backing/support/influence of the United States government to coerce a foreign government to provide the high level government official with a personal favor that would only benefit their own personal political goals … again, we don’t know who this is … I would confidently venture to guess that a massive/overwhelming percentage of the American people (again, politicians and electorate) would say, “Whoever this is, they must resign immediately.” Now, toss out the name of the “high level government official” and let the chips fall where they may.
Here was one of the “eye opening” bits in the first hearing … Taylor telling the committee that his staff could hear President Trump and Ambassador Sondland speaking on Sondland’s cell phone. (Now, more than one person has come forward to corroborate “hearing Mr. Trump” on the phone.) I heard Abby Huntsman (a host on The View) say yesterday, “I would talk to my father (Jon Huntsman, Ambassador to Russia) on the phone and my dad knew every call was being ease dropped on by the Russians. If he had anything to share that was sensitive, he would ask me to talk to him in person.” She was apoplectic at Mr. Trump’s behavior and cavalier approach to national security. (I think we’ve moved exponentially higher on the “national security risk scale” with Mr. Trump’s behavior than that of a former Secretary of State using a private server.)
Every day that goes by President Trump puts the United States in an unsafe and untenable position and on a catastrophic path that allows our adversaries to gather more and more information to use against us as a nation. The Russians (and Chinese) are sitting on their big, overstuffed sofa, eating popcorn watching the dumpster fire and gleefully laughing at every twist and turn. We will not hear the outcome of Mr. Trump’s poor decisions for years to come.
GWB says: the State Department, Department of Defense and Intelligence Agencies policies/goals
Sorry, Kevin, but you’ve missed the point. Those goals are subordinate to the chief executive of the United States. His end-running those positions speaks more to the un-Constitutional activities/attitudes of those groups than it does to anything he has done wrong. They do not get to decide what the position of the executive branch of the United States is, only the President does.
Had the American people … heard the basic facts
LOL! They did! When Trump released the transcript, all the normal people went “So what?”
a personal favor that would only benefit their own personal political goals
Bullcrap! That is NOT what happened. He asked them to investigate corruption and (ironically) the very same election interference the Dems have been on about for the last 3 friggin’ years.
The idea that someone in an elected position of law enforcement cannot investigate their potential rival for criminal acts is one of the most pernicious lies the left has ever propagated in the public mind. It would cripple our law enforcement if that were true – all a crook would have to do is toss his hat in the ring and, voila!, no more investigation!
(BTW, note that Biden didn’t jump immediately into the Democrat presidential circus. He was one of the last entrants among the first batch. Might he have been getting in exactly to provide that defense against any charges?)
[Abby Huntsman] was apoplectic at Mr. Trump’s behavior
Well, since her father is one of the people who seemed to be working for Fogy Bottom instead of his actual boss, the President, I would fully expect her to be “apoplectic”. Do you have anyone without an axe to grind to make that sort of accusation assertion?
I think we’ve moved exponentially higher on the “national security risk scale” with Mr. Trump’s behavior than that of a former Secretary of State using a private server.
Which demonstrates your lack of understanding of “national security risk scale”. Heck, it demonstrates your lack of understanding of “national security”.
Sorry, Kevin, but you’re very wrong. Your interpretations of what went on are drastically colored by your ideological leanings and political affiliations. You don’t understand foreign policy, nor national security. And your analysis leaves most things to be desired. Or, possibly, you’re just a drone posting the latest talking points because that’s what the Party asks of you.
Mike says: Kevin, you could have saved us all a lot of time if you had just limited your comment to “orange man bad!”. That was a long screed that provides nothing beyond your own delusions.
GWB says: bribing foreign officials
Well, that sounds familiar.
failure to register as a foreign agent
HUH?! He was sent to Ukraine by the President, and he’s supposed to register here as a foreign agent? Or did something get left out of this, and he’s accused of acting on behalf of some foreign person/group?
exactly what a mobster would say
Yes, and the attempts to “take down” mobsters have often led to the most egregious civil rights violations by prosecutors. So, might want to watch out there.
I have more experience in intelligence than anybody in the Congress.
Crenshaw would like to have a word with you, Ms Speaker.
We’re beginning to line up the people that the President is going to throw under the bus
My, that sounds political……
lacked the pizzazz necessary to capture public attention
Ummm, no. They actually lacked facts necessary to capture public attention.
Yeah, this whole charade has revealed the peril our republic is in. The rot is in the frame, and we need to do something about it – preferably other than burning it down and building a new place.
James Raclawski says: on target GWB… our “4th co-equal branch” is being exposed as the shadow govt that has an agenda that seems often at odds with what our Republic stands for, or use to … or the direction of POTUS….
go see glennbeck.com “democrats’ hydra” … their own words on video… their documents… their program “civil society 2.0” …..
it’s not dem vs rep…. right vs left…. it’s oh so much bigger …
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