Plus, why Jared Kushner's peace plan was dead on arrival
| | | | | Republicans Now Say It Doesn’t Matter If There Was A Quid Pro Quo With Ukraine |
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| | Republicans now maintain President Donald Trump was completely justified in engaging in a quid pro quo with Ukraine after an extended period of time adamantly denying that it had ever happened at all.
Last year, after the White House released a summary of Trump’s infamous July 25 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Republicans insisted that they saw no evidence of a direct link between security assistance to Ukraine and the opening of investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential Trump opponent in the 2020 election.
“If you could show me that Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Axios in October.
“It clearly isn’t a quid pro quo,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in November after several top U.S. diplomats testified before the House that the Trump administration did, in fact, withhold aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into a political opponent.
But Republicans changed their story on the matter this week after The New York Times revealed the existence of a book manuscript from former national security adviser John Bolton. The book, which is due to be released later this year, alleges that Trump told Bolton directly that the aid to Ukraine was tied to the Ukrainian government opening investigations into Biden and his son.
The revelation from a first-hand witness threatened to derail Republican desires for a quick acquittal of Trump in the Senate impeachment trial this week and upped the pressure on them to allow witnesses such as Bolton to testify and new documents to be presented during the proceedings.
During their opening arguments in the Senate, Trump’s defense team contended that even if Bolton’s account were true, it would not merit the removal of a president during an election year. Their argument opened the door for some Republican senators to acknowledge that Trump did, in fact, withhold Ukraine aid, but that it didn’t merit his removal from office because he was morally justified in seeking investigations into the Bidens. |
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| | | | | | | | | Trump unveiled his long-awaited Middle East plan Tuesday, winning immediate praise from a beaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but a swift rejection from the Palestinians, who called it “nonsense.” Under the terms of the “peace vision” that Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been working on for nearly three years, all settlers would remain in place, and Israel would retain sovereignty over all of its settlements as well as the strategic Jordan Valley. |
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| | Dozens of scientists have endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) sweeping plan to combat global climate change after fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared that “not a single solitary scientist thinks it can work.” |
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| | NPR journalist Mary Louise Kelly wants to make sure “the substance” of her contentious interview with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo doesn’t get lost in the coverage of him attacking her. The “All Things Considered” co-host says the secretary of state’s personal attack on her is “not the point.” |
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