Anyone familiar with what Chargé d’Affaires Bill Taylor and George Kent, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, told lawmakers in October during closed-door testimony knew Wednesday’s public hearings would reflect poorly on Donald Trump.
Taylor’s 15-page prepared statement was positively devastating for the president last month, and the transcript of his testimony was even worse. It was Taylor, you’ll recall, who, on September 9, told EU ambassador Gordon Sondland that in his assessment, it was “crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign”.
As for Kent, the transcript of his testimony revealed that in one exchange with lawmakers, he said it was his understanding that “POTUS wanted nothing less than [Ukraine’s] President Zelensky to go to [the] microphone and say ‘investigations’, ‘Biden’, and ‘Clinton'”.
Between their testimony and that of nearly a dozen other witnesses, there is now no doubt as to whether Trump and Rudy Giuliani worked through Sondland, Kurt Volker, Rick Perry and Mick Mulvaney to effectively extort the Zelensky government, using nearly $400 million in congressionally-approved military aid as leverage to secure investigations into Trump’s political rivals.
Wednesday’s first public hearings underscored that assessment.
Taylor, for example, testified that Trump cared more about “investigations of Biden” than he did about Ukraine. Specifically, Taylor said one of his staff heard a phone call between Sondland and Trump, where the two spoke of “the investigations”.
“The Ukrainians were ready to move forward”, Sondland allegedly told the president. Taylor’s aide then asked Sondland about Trump’s feelings towards Ukraine. The ambassador “responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for”.
That is new information, and he shared it with Congress (and the public) for the first time on Wednesday.
Taylor also reiterated that according to Sondland, “everything” (where that means a White House visit for Zelensky and the military aid) was contingent upon Ukraine investigating Democrats and the Bidens.
As for Kent, he was asked by the Democratic counsel whether there was “any factual basis to support the allegations” against Joe Biden. His answer was unequivocal: “None whatsoever”.
“When vice president Biden acted in Ukraine, did he act in accordance with official US policy”, the counsel asked. “He did”, Kent responded.
If you’re wondering how things went for the GOP, the following exchange – which finds Taylor trying his best to be helpful as the Republican counsel conjures conspiracy theories – tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
All you can do is laugh.
Yah know … this Ukraine thing is nothing less than the core essence of Pandora’s Box. While it may not be infinite in depth or a total black hole, it has a whole lot of crazy pieces that nobody will understand.
While wasting part of a day off, I explored a long list of edits/updates trump has made to:
22 USC Ch. 32: FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
From Title 22–FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE
CHAPTER 32–FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
SUBCHAPTER I–INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Part I–Declaration of Policy; Development Assistance Authorizations
That was somewhat entertaining to see how his edits are incorporated into law, including insertion of Memorandum for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget — “including updating the guidelines required by section 3(b) as he may think proper, in accordance with the Act.
The delegation in this memorandum shall apply to any provision of any future public law that is the same or substantially the same as sections 3(b) and 3(d) of the Act.”
==> Not a huge deal (maybe) but it is interesting to note there has been a large shift in terms of how America will deal with foreign aid — and in my warped mind, I can’t help think that the current unfolding deficit problems are playing a part in how to shuffle money around, in his increasingly shrinking budget (the one where the interest on the debt keeps expanding).
So, just as an off-the-wall FYI, here’s some background on foreign aid — but, sadly, no clear connection related to withholding funds from Ukraine, yet, there is some new policy language that seems to take public accountability away from foreign aid and place it’s accountability into a private quasi corporate veil that helps lay the groundwork for how public funds will be used in negotiating favors — so, yah, kinda looks like a nice way to normalize the art of bribery. I’m probably wrong …
H. Rept. 115-814 – BETTER UTILIZATION OF INVESTMENTS LEADING TO DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2018 115th Congress (2017-2018)
Committee Report
SEC. 610. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.
“(r) Expanded Nonmilitary Assistance for Ukraine.–Section 7(c)(3) of
the Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014 (22 U.S.C. 8926(c)(3)) is
amended–
(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking
Overseas Private Investment Corporation'' and insertingUnited States International Development FinanceCorporation”; and
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking “by eligible investors
(as defined in section 238 of the Foreign Assistance Act of
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2198))”.”
October 2019
While the launch of DFC was slated for Oct. 1, the agency was created by the Better Utilization of Investment Leading to Development, or BUILD Act, which was signed last year and its foundations have been built since, including the approval of its bylaws and its risk and audit committees by the board in June.
The agency’s new authorities – including the ability to make equity investments, provide technical assistance, and provide funds in local currency – will be delayed until the launch, but there is still some planning work on the way to ease the transition once the funding is in place.
Staff from USAID’s Development Credit Authority will be moving to OPIC’s building and they will continue to be paid by USAID until the appropriations bill goes through.
https://www.devex.com/news/failure-to-launch-why-congressional-budget-drama-delayed-us-dfc-95718
Lol Castor bringing up Manafort. Someone should tell him Manafort is in prison.