Following yesterday's ugly, wonky hearsay-palooza, I hoped today would provide some breathing room before tomorrow's 9:00 a.m. EST hearing, but of course not. Instead, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi revealed the Democrats' latest pitch: quid pro quo is so yesterday. Now it's "bribery."
That's right, instead of a warm introductory call between two presidents elected to fight corruption, now the July 25 Zelensky call is being characterized by Pelosi as a bribe. Hey kid--I'll give you $391 million and some anti-tank missiles...if you rat out the last guy who "lost" the $1.8 billion!
Why would Pelosi change course? First, she recognizes that the current approach isn't working. Yesterday was a disaster for Schiff. They aren't going to net Trump with wishy-washy Latin, so they're opting for a harsher language. It's the equivalent of saying that Hoyt Hutchinson didn't "pop the Trump balloon" at the LSU-Alabama game, rather, he "knifed the baby."
It's telling that the Dems are already resorting to semantics.
Another telephone call took place between Ukrainian President Zelensky and President Trump before July 25, and Trump has teased the release of the transcript. "I'm going to be releasing, I think on Thursday, [another] transcript, which actually was the first of the two [phone calls with Ukraine's leader]," he said yesterday.
Notice the hedge: "I think on Thursday". If he doesn't release it, it's because he doesn't have to. Perhaps Trump had anticipated more blowback from yesterday's hearing, and planned the release of the second call to remind voters that he had the temerity and foresight to release the previous transcript. Perhaps releasing the second one now would simply prove distracting, more grist for the media mill. Best to keep the powder dry?
Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will testify at tomorrow's impeachment hearing. Yovanovitch was relieved of her duties by Trump in May after what she characterized in closed-door sessions as a "smear campaign" against her by Rudy Giuliani.
Expect some of the same lifelong-unelected-bureaucrat bloviation and wounded-pride pearl-clutching that was shared in abundance yesterday by Kent and Taylor. In this case, it's a woman, and she was fired, so she will likely play up the bully angle. Trump and his goon squad ousted me after a lifetime of dedicated service! For shame!
What she won't mention is how she stood in the way of exposing Joe and Hunter Biden's reckless plunder of Ukraine.
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