True. But never for personal political gain. There's a reason the diplomats claim Trump puts his personal agenda over the benefits of the USA.
(1) Not quite. The EU and individual governments were equally pressuring onto Ukraine (as well as some instances within the country) to get Shokin removed. Joe Biden was just representing the US in this regard.
I'd also like to repeat what I said earlier: that Shokin
slowed down the investigation of Burisma (
source).
(2) again: wrong. Shokin was never cleared of his charges. And in case you're referring to Hunter: he was never officially charged, for the simple reason he was just one of the many employees of Burisma. The investigation against Burisma just continued...and ended in an anticlimax (read: there was no evidence of corruption).
(3) yes...republicans are indeed wishing they could make that claim. Too bad that the differences aren't exactly details
-Trump doesn't have the backing of other countries or instances. Heck...he doesn't even have the backing of his own diplomats
-There was plenty of evidence against Shokin. Against Hunter, they've got nothing
I beg to differ. When I'm suddenly getting promised money withheld from a country, and then shortly after get on the phone with the country's leader saying I need to do them a favor(1), I know what is implied. It doesn't make it less extortion.
(1): that's based on the publicly released transcript. The actual phone call had Trump insisting repeatedly that Zelensky start an investigation.
...which further proves that there's something fishy going on. A delay of nearly 400 million dollar and republicans can't even produce a valid reason for it being withheld?
Inappropriate is pretty light. If diplomats call it "very disturbing", then I'm more inclined to go with that. Is it any less inappropriate to set up an entire alternative diplomatic entity for this job? C'mon...are you really expecting us to believe that a former hotelier (Sondland) and a NYC mayor (Giuliani) have better interests in the country than veteran diplomats?
Fuck...Ukraine isn't part of the EU, but I think that piece of trivia flew over the head of the guy interrogating Taylor (Steve Castor: "ok, so it's unusual <that EU diplomat Sondland schemes in Ukraine>...but it's not as outlandish as it could have be...correct?" Taylor: <*holds back laughter*>).
This isn't about Russia, dude. Crowdstrike is at best a hoax because Trump doesn't want to keep promises USA made to the world.
Easy claims when he's hiding in the white house.
It's an interesting link, I'll give you that. Unfortunately, it doesn't answer the main question I have: what explanation was given to Prystaiko for the delay?
It'd be nice to hear more about the Ukraine side of the story, but at this point I don't see much contradiction in either statements (remember: the charges are Trump requested president ZELENSKY to open an investigation).
Lol, what?
Seriously: Trump may be many things, but he's too incompetent to be a mastermind. I've seen him described as a puppet of Russia quite some times, but never in charge of it.
So no...the USA isn't in charge of Ukraine. But again: the allegations are that Trump uses military funds for personal political gains. That's perfectly doable without being "a criminal mastermind controlling the entire country".
If they witnessed actions and conversations tracing back all the way, it's irrelevant whether or not they literally met Trump. Taylor claims, for example, that Trump shouted so hard that his employees on his side of the line could hear it. It doesn't somehow make them less a witness to the incident.
It goes without saying, but I don't share your opinion of democrats. If you ask me, it's the republicans going all sorts of nuts. Which is in and of itself amazing (yes, I've got a different world view than them...but even so I find it scary how blind they follow Donald Trump's opinion)