July 10, 2020: A Tale of Two Witnesses Tells All

 

7/10/20: Two men testify before Congress. Which witness will be punished? Which will be rewarded by Team Trump?

 

Now, you have a chance to be judge!

 

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“The grand jury is designed to help the state proceed with a fair accusation against a person, while protecting that person from being charged when there is insufficient evidence.”

 

The Ohio Supreme Court

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Witness A vs. Witness B

 

Witness A: This man tells the truth as far as he can see it.

 

Witness B: This man lies to the congressional committee hearing his testimony.

 

Witness A: His testimony is later backed up by former National Security Advisor John Bolton.

 

Witness B: With investigators hot on his trail, this man earns an extra felony count for threatening Witness C.

 

Witness A: This man does not get charged with any felonies.

 

Witness B: Counting that extra charge, this man is charged with seven felonies, after a grand jury decides there is ample evidence to pursue a case against him.

 

This is how grand juries work, as explained by the Ohio Supreme Court:

 

The grand jury is an accusatory body. It does not determine guilt or innocence. The grand jury’s duty is simply to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to make a person face criminal charges. The grand jury is designed to help the state proceed with a fair accusation against a person, while protecting that person from being charged when there is insufficient evidence.

 

At his criminal trial, Witness B is represented by high-priced lawyers. He is still convicted on all seven counts by a jury of his peers. His legal team couldn’t convince a single juror that there was reasonable doubt about a single one of the crimes Witness B was accused of committing. He might as well have hired Mr. Blogger to be his lawyer, for all the good it did.

 

Witness A: He is a decorated combat veteran. He was awarded a Purple Heart for service in Iraq.

 

Witness B: He used to work for a lobbying firm that burnished the reputations of scumbag dictators and world leaders. That firm became known in Washington D.C.  as part of the “Torturers’ Lobby.”

 

Witness A: This man was recommended by superiors for promotion to the next highest rank in the U.S. Army. His record was clean, his service meritorious.

 

Witness B: This man was called in by the judge, while out on bail, after he seemed to threaten her life.

 

 

“Significant national security implications for our country.”

 

If you haven’t already guessed, Witness A, is Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman. He testified truthfully in front of the House Intelligence Committee.

 

While under oath he made it clear he believed President Trump had held up critical military aid to Ukraine to force the president of that country to help gather dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden.

 

At the time, Lt. Col. Vindman explained his decision to come before Congress and give testimony:

 

I want to emphasize to the committee that when I reported my concerns on July 10 [2019] relating to Ambassador Sondland and on July 25 relating to the president, I did so out of a sense of duty. I privately reported my concerns in official channels to the proper authority in the chain of command. My intent was to raise these concerns because they had significant national security implications for our country. I never thought that I’d be sitting here testifying in front of this committee and the American public about my actions. When I reported my concerns, my only thought was to act properly and to carry out my duty.

 

Witness B is, of course, Roger Stone, man of zero integrity. At his trial, the prosecutor pointed out that all the lies that Stone told served to protect the president.

 

To give you some idea of who Stone is, he has a tattoo of disgraced former President Richard M. Nixon on his back.

 

So, which man would you reward? And which would you punish?

 

Lt. Colonel Vindman is leaving the U.S. Army after saying that he has faced retaliation for testifying. His promotion, which the Army said he earned, was blocked.

 

Roger Stone, the seven-time felon, has had his prison sentence commuted by President Trump, without ever spending a day in jail.

 

 

POSTSCRIPT: You have to follow matters closely to grasp the full extent of how sleazy this president is, and how sleazy so many of the men and women Trump attracts to his service are. Stone, you may remember, lied about ever meeting with any Russians during the 2016 campaign. A second gentleman, who helped set up Stone’s parlay with the Russian, and said he forgot about it too, who then amended his testimony to avoid a perjury count, still has a job deep in the large intestine of the Trump administration.

 

That would be Michael Caputo.

 

He was quietly posted to serve as assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services in April. Tweets immediately surfaced, with Caputo showing his chops for public affairs, by calling multiple women “dogface,” and making racist comments. Call the spreading virus what you want. Caputo decided to “focus” on HHS matters by denigrating Chinese people. “Millions of Chinese suck the blood out of rabid bats as an appetizer and eat the ass out of anteaters,” he tweeted. In Caputo’s mind eating anteater ass completely explains the spread of COVID-19.

 

When other Twitter users questioned his comments, he responded with….more racism. “Don’t you have a bat to eat?” he asked one Asian American. “You’re very convincing, Wang,” he replied to another.

 

A person not named “Wang.”

 

What happened to Vindman and what happened to Stone, with Michael Caputo for dessert, tells you everything you need to know about Trump and his scuzz bag crew.