During today’s impeachment hearing, Trump charged out on the White House lawn to yell triumphantly at the assembled reporters--“you got the cameras rolling?”—the following, from his Sharpie-scrawled notes:
I want nothing
I want nothing
No quid pro quo
President Zelinksy should do the right thing
I want him to do what he ran on
This is what Trump said to Sondland on September 9, when Sondland (prompted by the “are we conditioning aid on investigations? That’s crazy” text exchange with Taylor) called to ask “What do you want from Zelinsky?”
And there you have it, all Trump wanted was for Zelinsky to do the right thing, no quid pro quo. Case Closed, right?
Now all day long, you can roll your eyes at the notion that this phone call exonerates Trump. There’s a ton that can be said in rebuttal, but chiefly of course, September 9 was the day the House got wind of the whistle blower’s complaint. In Adam Schiff’s three little words: “He got caught.”
But I maintain, there is much more to be said, beyond dismissing Trump’s hand-in-the-cookie-jar “no quid pro quo.” in fact, this phone call destroys a key part of the Republicans’ defense, that Trump did finally release the aid.
(The quid Zelensky sought, for which Trump demanded the quo of two investigations, also included a White House meeting, but the Republicans are ready to shrug that off. Zelensky got a [half-assed] meeting when the two presidents were in New York for the UN General Assembly session, they point out (I could go on and on about that farce, but this piece is already too long). But primarily, they calculate the public isn’t going to care about the denial of a White House meeting. One of the Rs laid that out in today’s hearing: “We’re going to impeach a president over a meeting not taken? The Democrat Party is going to look pretty stupid in the eyes of history.”)
Now, the Republicans are well aware that “he got the aid, no harm no foul” is not going to cut it all by itself. They also have to explain why Trump held up the aid to begin with, and released it when he did, pure coincidence that the House learned of the whistle blower complaint just two days before.
The story they have hit on—and it is their most insufferable member who was chosen to spin it, Jim Jordan—goes like this. It was Trump’s deep concern over Ukraine’s history of corruption that prompted the hold. New guy in town, got to check him out, make sure he’s the real deal. And the good news is, by September 11, Trump had completed his due diligence, and the results were positive. Trump’s boys thoroughly checked Zelensky out, Pence met with him, and they were able to report that the new guy seems legit. Plus, the new Ukraine parliament had recently enacted a key anti-corruption law. It all came together after a 55-day effort, not such a long time, happy ending.
So mystery solved! The hold had nothing to do with the favor that Trump—merely—requested in the July 25 phone call. If a small army of Trump’s henchmen and all Zelensky’s people got the idea that announcing Burisma and 2016 investigations was a requirement, a condition, a—choke—quid pro quo, well, I guess that was all just an unfortunate misunderstanding.
Cue the trademark Jim Jordan smirk.
So now, let’s look again at the September 9 phone call between Sondland and Trump. It is clear, and not denied by the Rs, that Trump understood “what do you want from Zelensky?” to be “what do you want, in order to release the aid?” That’s clear just from Trump immediately going to “no quid pro quo.”
It’s also clear that Sondland was asking the question with a good deal of frustration and urgency. The more accurate transcript of Sondland’s question was “what the fuck do you want?” And if I heard Trump correctly, he also made reference to there being some shouting on the phone call.
The call took place on September 9, the aid was released on September 11, two days. The meeting with Pence had happened over a week before. The bill passed by the Ukrainian parliament had already happened. There had been almost two months in which Trump’s henchmen met repeatedly with Zelensky and his people, ample opportunity to do all the sniffing they felt necessary. Presumably, there was not a flurry of additional, critical, due diligence that only came together in the space of two magic days between September 9 and 11.
In other words, if you believe Jim Jordan’s tale, the 55-day-long investigation into Zelensky’s corruption-fighting bona fides was no doubt complete, or very damn nearly complete, when Sondland called.
So. Instead of a curt, cranky, defensive “I want nothing. I want nothing. I want President Zelensky to do the right thing”--
Why didn’t Trump just deliver the good news? Sondland was frantic, why not put his fears to rest? “You’re asking about the aid, well I’m happy to tell you, I had some concerns but I’ve been able to get them resolved to my satisfaction.” Or “I’ve been checking out the guy’s commitment to honest government, I’m a few days away from finished with it, but I can tell you, it’s looking good, and I think we’ll be able to lift the hold very soon.”
Why such an angry, testy, and short phone call? It should have been all happiness and relief, right? Why the vague “I want him to do the right thing,” instead of the far more satisfying and timely answer, “he did what I wanted, he passed the test, the aid will be released shortly”?
Explain that away, SmirkFace.