Jonathan Chait:Did Trump bribe Ukraine to stop cooperating with Mueller?

[MBS]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/trump-bornstein-mueller-questions-leaks-ukraine-missile-bribe.html

Donald Trump’s habitual dishonesty is a trait well understood by the entire mainstream news media, and even many members of the conservative media. But it is not fully understood. Trump manages to lie in ways that hardened cynics never anticipated. The last few hours alone have brought news of fresh new forms of Trumpian dishonesty that have managed to shock even the people who were looking for it.
. . .
. . . . The “disgraceful” leak was planted by Trump’s own staff — probably at the direction of Trump himself — in order to concoct evidence of wrongdoing by Mueller, in order to advance Trump’s claim that Mueller is supposedly setting him up.* The Trumpian dishonesty we were all engaging with merely concealed more bad faith buried at a much deeper level. Bear this lesson in mind when you process the following. In December, the administration allowed the sale of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine. Supporters of the administration held up the sale as evidence that Trump could not have colluded with Russia — here he was, arming Russia’s enemy. . . .

Today’s New York Times suggests a darker interpretation altogether. In response to the missile sale, Ukrainian officials have frozen out the Mueller investigation. Ukraine’s government had previously cooperated eagerly to expose the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia — providing, among other importance evidence, ledgers detailing payments to Paul Manafort by the Russian-backed Ukrainian party he had advised. Now Ukraine is withholding cooperation from Mueller, and Ukrainian officials are not even hiding the fact that they’re doing so because of the missile sale. “In every possible way, we will avoid irritating the top American officials,” one Ukrainian lawmaker says. “We shouldn’t spoil relations with the administration.”
It is of course possible that Ukraine reached this decision on its own, completely independent of any suggestion from Washington. It is far more likely that somebody in the administration proposed a quid pro quo, and Ukraine quite rationally decided it would rather have weapons to defend itself against the next Russian aggression than participate in an investigation that the president of the United States regards as a mortal threat.The latter possibility cannot be assumed as fact, of course. But it is striking that when the missile sale came up in December, almost nobody even considered the possibility that it might be used as a bribe to shut down Ukrainian cooperation with Mueller. . .
. . .
We may think we comprehend the depths of Trump’s venality. We continue to learn that there is no bottom. The number one rule in understanding Trump is that the lies are usually covering even worse lies.

[shraby]

1. That was my FIRST thought.

edited to add...
It was my LAST thought too.

[malthaussen]

2. Of course not. That would be illegal.

Mr Trump is very, very law-abiding. No one in the history of the world has ever been more law-abiding than he. Many people are saying that he's so law-abiding, he should make all new laws to hold everyone to a higher standard.

-- Mal

[Blue_Tires]

3. IMPEACHMENT WHEN