This week Prince Andrew and
Donald Trump were locked in a dramatic battle to see who could say the dumbest thing in public, and while you’re no doubt acquainted with the Duke of York’s disastrous TV interview, you might not have had time to keep up to date with the president.
Fortunately, HuffPost
UK has been keeping track for you.
Here’s a little amuse-bouche to warm you up...I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2019Wut?Don’t worry, it’ll make a little bit more sense later on.OK, refresh my memory – what’s going on again?Democrats are investigating allegations that Trump used the power of his office to pressure a foreign government into discrediting his leading rival in next year’s presidential
election, Joe Biden.
The impeachment inquiry was sparked by a still-anonymous intelligence official who was so worried about what Trump said in a call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he took his concerns to the top levels of the US intelligence services.Ah, yes.The week began with US house speaker
Nancy Pelosi providing a view of just how seriously the proceedings so far are being taken – well, by
Democrats, at least.
In a CBS interview broadcast on Sunday, she alluded to Richard Nixon’s resignation after the Watergate scandal that shook the US and the world in 1974.
Not mincing her words, she said: “I mean, what the president did was so much worse than even what Richard Nixon did, that at some point Richard Nixon cared about the country enough to recognise that this could not continue.”
Pelosi then upped the ante even further – responding to the president’s repeated claims that the whole impeachment inquiry is rigged and stacked against him...Never has the
Republican Party been so united as it is now. 95% A.R. This is a great fraud being played out against the
American people by the Fake News Media & their partner, the Do Nothing Democrats. The rules are rigged by Pelosi & Schiff, but we are winning, and we will win!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2019Pelosi invited him to give evidence in front of investigators. She said: “If he has information that is exculpatory – that means “ex”, taking away; “culpable”, blame – then we look forward to seeing it.”
Trump said in a tweet he “liked the idea” and would “strongly consider it”.....that I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing. Even though I did nothing wrong, and don’t like giving credibility to this No Due Process Hoax, I like the idea & will, in order to get
Congress focused again, strongly consider it!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2019So has he?Nope, not yet.What happened on Tuesday?Forget Tuesday, we’re going to skip straight ahead to Wednesday when the really juicy stuff unfolded.
This, is US ambassador to the
European Union, Gordon Sondland. It’s long been suspected that Sondland had intimate knowledge of how the Trump administration was working with and possibly pressuring Ukraine, but the president had forbidden him from giving evidence to the inquiry.
His excuse? Well here it is...I would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify, but unfortunately he would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2019But it turns out Trump may have had another reason to want to keep him away from a microphone.
On Wednesday Sondland did sit in front of the inquiry and, on live TV, proceeded to throw Trump and his personal lawyer
Rudy Giuliani under the proverbial bus, saying both men explicitly sought a “quid pro quo” (a favour in exchange for a favour) with Ukraine.
In opening remarks Sondland said: “Was there a ’quid pro quo?′ With regard to the requested
White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.”
The rest, he said, was obvious: “Two plus two equals four.”
He added: “Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret. We followed the president’s orders.”
Sondland also said that he and Trump spoke directly about desired investigations, including a colourful mobile phone call in the summer overheard by others at a restaurant in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.That sounds quite damning.That’s because it is. Here was a senior US official telling the impeachment inquiry that the very thing they’re trying to impeach Trump over definitely – at least in his telling – happened.How did Trump react?Bizarrely, he tried to claim it as proof he did nothing wrong and had some big handwritten notes to prove it.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump cited comments by Sondland about a conversation with the president, in which he said Trump told him he wanted nothing from Ukraine.“I said to the ambassador in response, I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. Tell Zelensky, President Zelensky, to do the right thing,” he said.
While Trump’s characterisation of the testimony was accurate, it was incomplete.
He did not mention that Sondland also said during the same exchange that he had relayed the president’s remarks to another diplomat – who was concerned about the pressure being applied – simply to signal he had taken the issue as far as he could.
“My reason for telling him this was not to defend what the president was saying, not to opine on whether the president was being truthful or untruthful, but simply to relay: ‘I’ve gone as far as I can go,’” Sondland had said.
Undeterred by this pesky piece of reality, Trump declared vindication.Republicans seem to be under the impression that, unless the president spoke the words "I am bribing Ukraine," there's no evidence of bribery or misconduct.Nonetheless, Sondland has provided significant evidence of precisely that conditionality, for both the WH meeting and aid. pic.twitter.com/LGAD15sVHh— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) November 20, 2019How could Thursday possibly top that? In a way you’re almost certainly not expecting.
A coal miner’s daughter from County Durham lit up the impeachment inquiry on Thursday as her accent and straight-talking drew plaudits on social media.
British-born Fiona Hill, a distinguished Russia analyst, was the former top National Security Council official for Europe and
Russia under Trump until July.
As millions of Americans tuned in, Hill’s name was the number one trending topic on
Twitter in the US, with many beguiled by her knowledge and skill,
shooting down of conspiracy theories, and her northern English brogue.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to
Barack Obama, said Hill “is operating on a different level” to those questioning her, and was just one of many to heap praise on her.One thing that struck me about watching Fiona Hill and Marie Yovanovitch testify was that a few weeks ago hardly anyone in the world knew their names or who they were. It goes to show you good people exist in and fight for a better world, and most of us have no idea who they are— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) November 22, 2019During one of her most striking testimonies, Hill warned committee members against spreading what she called false conspiracy theories that
Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.“Some of you on this committee appear to believe Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country — and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did,” Hill said.Did this stop Donald Trump from repeating the conspiracy theory?Absolutely not.
Here he is on Friday morning less that 24 hours after Hill spoke, repeating the very same conspiracy theory.Remember, "Crowdstrike" is the conspiracy theory that Ukraine and the DNC framed Russia. Here's
President Trump again pushing this claim, supported by Republicans: that Russia is innocent, didn't interfere in the 2016 election. Who did it? Ukraine and the DNC. pic.twitter.com/mmSjgKTQJq— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 22, 2019So he’s not learned anything this week?Sadly not.Related... A Coal Miner’s Daughter From County Durham Has Taken The Trump Impeachment Inquiry By Storm State Department Officials' Snide Eye Roll Becomes Put-Down Meme Of Impeachment Hearings Donald Trump Defends Himself With Help Of Handwritten Note After Impeachment Bombshell