Yovanovitch Testifies, Kurds Die, DT Melts Down, and Shep Throws in the Towel

America is watching a presidential administration collapsing under the weight of its corruption and incompetence. This was a horrible week for Donald Trump, but it was much worse for the nation.

The impeachment inquiry is expanding like a wildfire. Yesterday, New York federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani to determine if he "violated lobbying laws in his dealings in Ukraine". That news came on the heels of the arrest of two of his associates on campaign finance charges as they were trying to leave the country. And in Congress former Ukrainian Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch testified that she was removed from her job because, "contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.” Yovanovitch seems to have been caught up in a series of corrupt dealings with Ukrainian officials.

New York Times: "Her version of events added a new dimension to the tale of the campaign against her. It apparently began with a business proposition being pursued in Ukraine by two Americans who, according to an indictment against them unsealed on Thursday, wanted her gone, and who would later become partners with the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani in digging up political dirt in Ukraine for Mr. Trump."

"From there it became part of the effort by Mr. Giuliani to undercut the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and push for damaging information about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a possible Democratic challenger to Mr. Trump in 2020."

The situation in Syria also deteriorated yesterday as Turkey pushed its invasion further into that nation and bombed a US Special Forces unit by mistake. And, as widely predicted, Isis militants began escaping from Kurdish prisons in the chaos caused by Turkish bombing. More than 100 Kurdish fighters and civilians have already been killed as Turkey presses further South into Syria. The UN warned of a new humanitarian crisis in the long-suffering nation.

UN News: "Airstrikes and a ground offensive by Turkey in northern Syria against Kurdish forces have left civilians dead and forced tens of thousands to flee, UN agencies said on Friday, amid fears of another “humanitarian catastrophe” in the war-torn country." 

As the House ramped up its impeachment inquiry and his Syria policy was ridiculed by nearly everyone not named Rand Paul, President Trump swung wildly at his accusers and the press. In Minnesota and Louisiana this week the President portrayed himself as an innocent victim, unfairly targeted by a shadowy cabal led by Nancy Pelosi, plotting his demise.

New York Times: "To the delight of thousands who repeatedly roared their approval, Mr. Trump denounced the impeachment inquiry and condemned what he called the “unholy alliance of corrupt Democrat politicians, deep-state bureaucrats and the fake news media.” ...

... "The president lashed out at the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, saying that the top Democrat in Congress “hates this country” and ridiculing her decision to begin an impeachment inquiry into his efforts to get foreign countries to dig up damaging information on his rivals."

Over at Fox, one of the news division's only real journalists called it quits yesterday, unable to stomach another moment of the network's nonsense. Shep Smith gave up his 15 million dollar a year contract saying, “even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day,” that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive."

There is no place for such sentiments at Fox News, and his integrity was clearly a handicap.

New York Times: "A member of the network’s founding staff in 1996, Mr. Smith became increasingly conspicuous at Fox News for his skepticism on President Trump. “Why is it lie after lie after lie?” Mr. Smith asked during a 2017 newscast; this summer, he deemed the president’s attacks on minority female lawmakers as “misleading and xenophobic.”

As long as Donald Trump is in the White House there are going to be many more weeks like this past one, and expect things to sink even further as the election nears.

#Trump #news #impeachment #Syria

By: Don Lam & Curated Content