October 28, 2019: Trump Blocks Testimony of Man Who Could Clear His "Good Name."

 

10/28/19: Just another day in Trumpistan. The president travels to Chicago to talk to a gathering of police chiefs from across the nation. 

At the conference he launches into one of his patented rants. He’s mad because the police superintendent of the Windy City isn’t there to listen to his speech. “He’s not doing his job,” Trump says of Chief Eddie Johnson. He calls him “disgraceful.” He lists the numbers of killed and wounded in shootings in the city and blames them on the Chief. He blasts the “stupid politicians” who have no idea what they’re doing. He says Johnson doesn’t have the his officers’ backs. Strict gun laws aren’t working. “Afghanistan is a safe place” compared to Chicago, the president says. 

“It’s true,” he adds simply. 

You know, if President Trump says, “it’s true,” why, by all the gods in the firmament, it’s true.

 

And that is how you help the police in Chicago to address the problems they face. You trash the superintendent to score cheap points. 

Let’s see if we have this straight: all the bloodshed in Chicago is Eddie Johnson’s fault. 

So, all the bloodshed in America would be….

 

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YOU FIGURE the president is in a foul mood to start the work week. He’s sweating all the witnesses who have already testified in the impeachment inquiry. His administration is having difficulty blocking others, several of whom have made it clear they would be happy to talk with lawmakers. 

On Monday, under White House orders, Dr. Charles Kupperman, fails to appear before the House Intelligence Committee. Kupperman, through his lawyer, has asked the courts to rule. Does a White House claim of executive privilege prevail – meaning he can’t talk? Or does a congressional subpoena compel him to give evidence in the impeachment inquiry? 

The judges will have to rule. 

Dr. Kupperman, of course, was on the July 25 phone call – so you figure if the call was “perfect” and “innocent,” as the president likes to say, his testimony might shine a ray of glorious light on all things Donald J. Trump. Then again, it might not matter much whether Kupperman talks. 

 

On Thursday, Tim Morrison has said he will testify, despite White House insistence that he cannot. Morrison, too, was listening in on the call, and he could save the president, or send another torpedo into the hull of the U.S.S. Trump. 

The president’s tall tale of a perfect phone call was not bolstered over the weekend when the lawyer for Ambassador Gordon Sondland gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal. He made it clear his client had told lawmakers that he too believed the president had offered a White House meeting, and resumption of U.S. military aid, but only if Ukraine would investigate Joe Biden and his son. 

That is: the quid pro quo.

No investigation of this guy: Hunter Biden....

Then no military aid...quid pro quo.

 

* 

WE ALSO KNOW, that on Friday, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ordered the DOJ to turn over Grand Jury testimony from the Mueller investigation to the House Judiciary Committee. 

Much of that testimony was redacted in the Mueller Report, but redacted material might contain additional information to support an “obstruction of justice” finding in the articles of impeachment that are likely coming. 

(One tantalizing theory holds that Donald J. Trump Jr. refused to testify before the Grand Jury, indicating that if called, he would plead the Fifth Amendment. If for no other reason than the pure fun of it all, it would be a pleasure to we of a liberal persuasion to find out if that was the case.)

 

* 

TRUE, MONDAY is still generally a good day for the President of the United States. The leader of ISIS is dead; and, his remains have been buried at sea, as was the case with Osama bin Laden. 

There will be no pilgrimage site for jihadis, as a result, which is good. So +1, for Donald J. Trump.

BLOGGER’S NOTE (4/28/22): Dr. Kupperman never appeared to testify. In December 2019, the court threw out his legal challenge, after the House Judiciary Committee withdrew its subpoena, rather than delay the impeachment hearings. Could he have helped “clear” Trump? Now we’ll never know. 

His superior, then-National Security Advisor John Bolton never testified either – but later wrote an entire book about how Trump held up military aid to get the investigation he wanted, putting U.S. and Ukrainian security at risk.