Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Main Event

Rich Galen

Monday September 30, 2019

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This impeachment deal is not a case of "He said, she said."
It's a case of "He said."
Even in the sanitized version that the White House provided of the phone call between Donald Trump and the then-new president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, it appears that Trump is holding up Zelensky with a promise to release defense funds in return for investigating Joe and Hunter Biden.
I'm not certain why the White House released the memo of that phone call. I don't even think it's a particularly good idea. Trump already has a global reputation for spilling the beans about sensitive subjects without releasing summaries of calls between him and other heads of state.
Republicans have countered with a furious attack on the Bidens.
We're not talking about the Bidens. We're talking about Donald Trump.
The GOP is revisiting Hillary Clinton and her private computer server. The State Department is investigating over 100 Department employees having spent the past 3½ years going through every one of their emails to see if they ended up being routed to Hillary and wither they contained classified information.
We're not talking about Hillary Clinton. We're talking about Donald Trump.
Although …
If we WERE talking about the Clintons we might point out that when Hillary Clinton was a U.S. Senator and then Secretary of State, the foundation run by Bill Clinton is in the news constantly, raising money from rich people and corporations from here to Pluto, taking donations from foreign governments and associated entities, and was generating multi-hundred-thousand-dollar speaking fees, all to help pay for a luxurious corporate lifestyle that included dinners at the best restaurants, overnights in the best hotels, and flights on the best private jets.
Thus it looked for all the world, like Bill was trading influence with his wife for money to his foundation.
United Nations General Assembly week, which has just finished, was a spotlight for Bill and his boys. The Clinton Foundation was on everyone's list and everyone, it seems, was on the Foundation's fundraising list.
Since the Mrs. is no longer in public life, the only reference I could find (during an admittedly casual search) to Bill Clinton was as an attendee at the Bloomberg Global Business forum.
None of that has any sway on my thinking that Trump used the same tactics on the president of Ukraine that he had, as a private citizen, become an expert at dealing with contractors working on a golf course or a casino:
"I know what you were promised, and I want to give it to you, but first I need a favor."
This, via the NY Times:
"No evidence has surfaced that the former vice president intentionally tried to help his son by pressing for the prosecutor's dismissal."
Yeah, but would Hunter Biden been given a $50,000 a month gig to serve on the board of a Ukrainian gas company if his dad had been a ticket agent at the Amtrak station in Wilmington, Delaware?
Not likely. But, that's not the issue the House Intelligence Committee will be investigating over the next couple of months. Even if they do, it doesn't negate what Trump is accused of doing.
Was Intel Chair Adam Schiff (D-Ca) a dope for opening the hearing with the Director of National Intelligence with a parody of the proceedings?
Yes. He was a dope.
The fact that the senior Republican, Devin Nunes appeared to be off his rocker when he was chairman, including that midnight run to the White House to deliver secret info that he had, apparently, received from that very White House not long before.
Devin Nunes acting like Inspector Gadget has nothing to do with Adam Schiff acting like Henny Youngman.
And Rudy Giuliani …
Giuliani sounds like Groucho Marx on speed. Words pour out of his mouth so quickly that his brain can't keep up and he continually contradicts himself within seconds. When someone has the nerve to point this out, Giuliani calls them a "moron" and/or an "idiot."
All of this is like the undercard at a major boxing event: Just enough to amuse and entertain the audience until Donald Trump climbs into the ring to face U.S. the House of Representatives.
That will be the main event.
Happy New Year to all my Jewish Readers. We're gonna party like its 5779.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the bios of the Ukrainian President, to Devin Nunes, and to Adam Schiff. Also to the NY Times article about the BIdens from last Spring.
The Mullfoto appears to be the granting of a wish, but it really was taken on King Street in Alexandria, Va.

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