TPM - Marshall "This is An Insanely Big Deal" (re ghouliani)

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/this-is-an-insanely-big-deal

By Josh Marshall
May 3, 2019 12:28 pm
I need to return to the fact that the country’s biggest paper reported this week that the President’s personal lawyer is conducting unofficial diplomacy abroad, apparently mixed with his own private business and investments, in which he offers friendly treatment from the President of the United States in exchange for those governments targeting the President’s political enemies. This was reported and it wasn’t the biggest story of the week. This is a far, far bigger deal than any other fears about future tampering in a US presidential election using Facebook ads. The stakes are much higher, the danger much greater, when the colluding candidate is also the President of the United States.

This is a classic case of refighting the last (2016) war, while the President is already on to entirely new kinds of corruption and bad acting made possible by holding the presidential bundle of powers.

In this particular case it’s Rudy Giuliani with the now-outgoing government of Ukraine and Joe Biden and his son. But while representing the President in the Mueller probe, Giuliani has not only worked on behalf of an exile Iranian extremist group, every few weeks we find out he’s visiting another foreign capital and holding meetings with the government or major oligarchs in those countries.

Usually, this only crops up or we only find out because it appears in the local press. Here’s just one podcast episode and brief write up about some of these trips. Here’s a less probing but still interesting Times write up. Here’s a story about a Ukrainian mogul investigated by Robert Mueller was a client of Giuliani’s.

It’s a given that this stuff is all sleazy, Giuliani making millions trading on his role as the President’s close advisor and personal lawyer. As long as it’s just sleaze and buck-raking it doesn’t matter that much to me. We’ve got much bigger things to worry about. But this effort to get the government of Ukraine to whip up investigations into Biden is clear evidence that it’s not just that. It is almost certainly just the tip of the iceberg.

This requires tons more attention.

[spanone]

1. K&R...

[malaise]

2. K & R

Frightening

[SunSeeker]

3. K & R for exposure.

[WheelWalker]

4. Kicked and recommended

[JDC]

5. KR

[Wounded Bear]

6. So that's why he disappears for weeks at a time...

He's off colluding and emoluating with foreign powers...

[FakeNoose]

7. What deals is this guy making? What's the quid pro quo?

This is insane, but I don't think anybody is surprised by it.

[UTUSN]

8. K&R

[ProudProgressiveNow]

9. KR NT

[NBachers]

10. When do the "plausible deniability" assassinations by shadowy foreign or domestic agents begin here?

[suffragette]

11. Too damn easy to imagine a meeting about doing this

Trump and his cronies love to accuse opponents of what they do themselves. So now they are testing out accusations of conspiring with foreign governments on political opposition.

They are blatant about committing nefarious acts in plain view, in part because they keep getting away with it.

[sop]

12. Trump's Tsunami of corruption, criminality and treason is overwhelming

No one seems capable of holding this man accountable for anything; not Congress, the courts, independent Counsels, the press or any other institution. It doesn't seem possible a president could act with such impunity, and in full view. Trump has apparently won. The rule of law is dead.

[duforsure]

13. He's probably shaking down countries into helping him

Win again, and probably demanding money for his PAC, and he would repay them by giving them a promise, a common tactic he uses.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. Ghouliani has no soul. At all.

[UniteFightBack]

25. That's what happens when you go corrupt and dirty. I bet he went all bad after 2008, after he

lost that primary hope.

[dchill]

15. K&R

[SergeStorms]

16. This needs to be blown up in their faces...

before they blow it up in Democrats' faces in the coming 18 months. This would be an excellent story for Rachel to delve into.

[BadgerMom]

17. K/R

I’d missed this. Thank you.

[Arazi]

18. Morning kick

[KPN]

19. K&R.

[tblue37]

20. K&R for visibility. nt

[Laelth]

21. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[NastyRiffraff]

22. It is an "insanely big deal"

And I wonder why it's not more widely reported. Is what Giulliani is doing even legal? It looks like, at a minimum, bribery or quid pro quo.

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. So trump, who got into office with the help of a foreign power, is doing the same thing now

but using ghoulini instead of Dumbo Jr.

Brass balls indeed.

[peggysue2]

23. Not only an insanely big deal but . . .

it should scare the bejesus out of everyone. There is a criminal enterprise leading this country with global connections, otherwise known as a crime syndicate.

These people must be removed, permanently. Our national survival and future depend on it!

[Blue Owl]

24. tRumpCo is held to a completely different standard than virtually anyone else

And it fucking sucks for this country's well-being...

[UniteFightBack]

26. Can the next Justice Dept look into all this? nt

[NurseJackie]

27. There's only one solution for all of this...

... but I'll say no more since it's already been discussed.

[orangecrush]

28. KICK

[Baltimike]

30. knr