Wednesday, January 22, 2020

OMB releases trove of Ukraine aid documents to American Oversight

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with President Trump during a September meeting. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The Office of Management and Budget released a trove of documents related to Ukraine military aid to American Oversight on Tuesday following an FOIA request.
Why it matters: Allegations that Trump froze nearly $400 million of congressionally approved military aid in order to pressure Ukraine to investigate a potential 2020 rival are central to the case against the president in the Senate impeachment trial. Trump denies any wrongdoing over the aid.
Details: The documents were released just before midnight, two minutes before the deadline, after American Oversight made a "request for directives and communications that may relate to any effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate one of President Trump's political opponents as part of an effort to give the president an electoral advantage," the nonpartisan oversight watchdog said.
  • The documents show emailed exchanges in late June following the publication of a Washington Examiner article on military assistance for Ukraine.
  • Emailed exchanges featured include between Katie Wheelbarger, acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, Michael Duffey, the OMB's associate director for national security programs, and Mark Sandy, an OMB career official.
  • Wheelbarger, Duffey, Sandy and other officials appear to be hammering out details on the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) in the emails — dated from early August to Sept. 30.
  • USAI refers to a defense program that the Pentagon allocates money to Ukraine through.
  • "Additional emails through the summer and early fall, when Pentagon official Elaine McCusker was raising concerns about the legality of the freeze, are heavily redacted," American Oversight noted.
Flashback: Sandy testified that he was told in a July 12 email that Trump "is directing a hold on military support funding for Ukraine," but that he was not given a reason for the hold until early September.
  • Duffey was one of the top four political appointees helping White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney withhold aide to Ukraine, per the New York Times. House Democrats tried to subpoena Duffey to testify on Tuesday night in the Senate.
What they're saying: American Oversight’s executive director Austin Evers said in a statement, "President Trump’s lawyers stood in the Senate on Tuesday arguing that documents are totally unnecessary for the impeachment trial, but these documents give lie to that entire position."
"Despite the Trump Administration’s obstruction and the rhetoric at the trial, the public can now see even more evidence of the president’s corrupt scheme as it unfolded in real time. The volume of material released, and the volume of material still secreted away, only highlights how much the administration has withheld from the House, the Senate, and the American public."
— Evers
  • Axios has contacted the White House and the OMB for comment.
Go deeper:
AXIOS Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
TRUMP-UKRAINE INVESTIGATION
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Social mobility may explain life expectancy gap between rich and poor



A pharmacy technician grabs a bottle of drugs off a shelf in 2018. Photo: George Frey/Getty Images

AXIOS
Social mobility — the ability to move up the income ladder — can help explain the gap between the life expectancies of the rich and the poor, according to a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine.
What they found: Counties with higher social mobility tend to have smaller life expectancy gaps between the rich and poor, and the poorest people in those counties live longer.
Between the lines: Drug, alcohol and suicide-related deaths — which have led to declining U.S. life expectancy — are labeled as "deaths of despair" and are often linked to decreasing socioeconomic prospects.
  • "A growing body of literature suggests that living in areas with low social mobility may harm individuals’ health by reducing their beliefs about future well-being, consequently increasing stress or diminishing the motivation to engage in healthy behaviors," the authors write.
Go deeper:
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How the Trump family learned ‘how to turn politics into money’


January 22, 2020 By Pro Publica


In 1975, New York City was run-down and on the verge of bankruptcy. Twenty-nine-year-old Donald Trump saw an opportunity. He wanted to acquire and redevelop the dilapidated Commodore Hotel in midtown Manhattan next to Grand Central Terminal.

Trump had bragged to the executive controlling the sale that he could use his political connections to get tax breaks for the deal.

The executive was skeptical. But the next day, the executive was invited into Trump’s limousine, which ushered him to City Hall. There, he met with Donald’s father Fred and Mayor Abe Beame, to whom the Trumps had given lavishly.
Enjoy progressive journalism? Help fight right-wing disinformation by supporting Raw Story. Click to learn more.

Beame put his arm around the Trumps. “Anything they want, they get,” Beame said, as recounted by Trump’s first biographer, journalist Wayne Barrett.

Trump got an unprecedented 40-year tax break. According to new figures given to us by the New York City Department of Taxation and Finance, the break has cost the city $410,068,399.55 in forgone revenue to Trump and the hotel’s subsequent owners. The break ends this April.

In “The Art of the Deal,” Trump said there was a reason for the 40-year deal: “Because I didn’t ask for 50.”

Trump got it over the misgivings of some state officials. The former chairman of the state economic development agency, Richard Ravitch, recalled in an interview that Trump approached him in December 1975. Trump, who had ties to Gov. Hugh Carey, “started raising his voice, and threatening me, and said, ‘If you don’t give me a tax abatement, I’m going to have you fired.’ I said, ‘Get the fuck out of here.’”

Ravitch was not fired, but the state agency did approve the break. Trump has said the decision was made on the merits.

“Really the story of Donald Trump, rather than this Horatio Alger figure, this is a guy who managed to learn how to turn politics into money,” said Barrett during a 1992 WNYC interview, the same one in which he told the Beame story. (Barrett died on Jan. 19, 2017, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration.)

Trump has long worked hard to avoid taxes. “That makes me smart,” he famously retorted during a 2016 presidential debate. But Donald Trump didn’t come up with those smarts himself.

In 1954, Fred Trump appeared before the Senate Banking Committee, which questioned his practice of valuing his properties at top dollar for government mortgages while using much lower assessments for tax purposes. A federal report criticized the practices that Fred Trump and other developers engaged in, calling them “outright misrepresentation.”

It’s all in our latest episode of “Trump, Inc.” Listen.
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IT SEEMS A WASTE TO HAVE THE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ACT LIKE THE CHIEF VOTE CALLER (LIKE THE PROVERBIAL BINGO CALLER HIS JOB IS SIMPLY TO ANNOUNCE THE NUMBERS THE VOTES ARE COUNTED BEFORE HAND) FOR VOTES IN THE SENATE FOR IMPEACHMENT 

John Roberts presides over the impeachment trial -- but he isn ...


https://www.cnn.com › 2020/01/21 › politics › john-roberts-trump-impeach...

12 hours ago - Washington (CNN) As Chief Justice John Roberts presides over the Senate trial of President Donald Trump, he has a highly public perch but ..

 THEN AT THE END OF 13 HOUR'S HE ADVISES BOTH SIDES PLAINTIVELY TO PLAY NICE WITHOUT RULING ON WHO WAS LYING AND WHO WAS TELLING THE TRUTH


1:45
Chief justice admonishes discourse during impeachment trial

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LINDSEY GRAHAM AND  OTHER GOP SENATORS HAVE BEEN INSISTING THAT TRUMP CANNOT BE IMPEACHED BECAUSE HE DID NOT COMMIT A CRIME

 DEAR LINDSEY, 
per·ju·ry
/ˈpərj(ə)rē/
noun
LAW
  1. the offense of willfully telling an untruth in a court after having taken an oath or affirmation.
    "he claimed two witnesses at his trial had committed perjury"
    synonyms:lying under oath, violation of an oath, giving false evidence/testimony, bearing false witness/testimony, forswearing oneself, making false statements, willful falsehood; 

Did Lindsey Graham Really Say This in 1998 About Presidential


https://www.snopes.com › Fact Checks › Politics
Claim: Lindsey Graham once said President Richard Nixon made himself subject to impeachment the day he failed to answer a congressional subpoena.
Fact check by Snopes.com: True
Feedback

Graham: Senate GOP doesn't 'have the votes' to dismiss ...


https://www.politico.com › lindsey-graham-impeachment-trial-100953
3 days ago - Lindsey Graham, Patrick Leahy, Roy Blunt and Dianne Feinstein walk ... not have the votes” in the Senate to quickly dismiss the impeachment trial of ... “There is no allegation of crime against the president,” Graham insisted.

Lindsey Graham - Axios


https://www.axios.com › tag › lindsey-graham
Lindsey Graham says he's not trying to be a "fair juror" in impeachment trial. Sen. Lindsey ... Top Democrats say Giuliani's Ukraine trip is "a crime in progress".

Lindsey Graham predicts Trump impeachment trial will 'die ...


https://www.cnn.com › 2019/12/14 › politics › lindsey-graham-trump-impea...
Dec 14, 2019 - Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a close ally of ... 'I'm not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here': Graham predicts ...

Sen. Lindsey Graham on calls for witnesses in impeachment trial


https://www.foxnews.com › transcript › sen-lindsey-graham-on-calls-for-wit...
3 days ago - In a moment, we'll speak with Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch ... It's the first impeachment in history where there's no allegation of a crime ...

On impeachment, Lindsey Graham won't 'pretend to be a fair ...


www.msnbc.com › rachel-maddow-show › impeachment-lindsey-graham-...
Dec 16, 2019 - Lindsey Graham will soon "solemnly swear" to do "impartial justice" ... “There will be no difference between the president's position and our ...
Missing: CRIME

Impeachment: Alan Dershowitz, Lindsey Graham preview ...


https://www.usatoday.com › story › news › politics › 2020/01/19 › dersho...
3 days ago - Graham, Dershowitz say effort to dismiss articles of impeachment 'dead' as they ... "The idea of dismissing the case early on is not going to happen. ... High-profile criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, who has been ...

Is the president's abuse of power an impeachable offense? - Vox


https://www.vox.com › policy-and-politics › impeachment-trial-abuse-pow...
3 days ago - Lindsey Graham ahead of the Senate's receipt of the articles of ... “It's the first impeachment in history where there's no allegation of a crime by ...
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