Trump's Such Important Day

On February 28, 2019, Trump is angered that Dems are "having a fake hearing [the Cohen hearing] like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is a really terrible thing". It was the occasion when Trump blew a chance of striking a deal with Kim Jong-un on denuclearization and in all likelihood also blew his very own talking point about 'his' imminent Nobel Prize award, if only the Norwegian Committee were to be fair dealers.

Such an important day in the life of Trump ruined. On September 24, 2019, it happened again:

Trump is angered that Dems have the audacity to announce his impeachment procedure the very day he intended to steal the show at the UN in yet another nationalist, populist speech dedicated his voter base and a photo-op with his impeccably looking wife. A day in the life of making America great again gone lost. No matter how the impeachment procedure concludes, Trump will forever stay the fourth president in American history noted by an asterisk for impeachment procedure launched. If Trump joins Nixon's club to escape prosecution or the club of those acquitted is still to be seen. Trump may also find himself in a brand new club of his own as the only American president ousted as the result of impeachment. Some will say, the 45th president that spends his entire term fighting off accusations for undermining the democracy he is supposed to preside over.

Trump devotees now have to weigh the possibility of Trump going down history as a national traitor and election conspirator against the North Korean deal he never made, the trade war with China he may never win, the collapse of the Iranian and Venezuelan regimes not accomplished, a maximum pressure strategy causing ominous attacks on Saudi oil-facilities and an inherited strong economy in reverse for the same geopolitical reasons. Some will say, the 45th president upending a stable geopolitical balance and a good-looking progressive global economy only to replace it with a Trumpian policy contagion causing oil markets to catch a cold, investors to go precarious not to conceive the illness and traders to go lost in a puzzle of broken supply-chains.

'So much success', did he really Tweet that?

Between the clash in Hanoi with Kim Jong-un and the UN making the international platform of the impeachment announcement Trump appears to have concocted yet another scandal aided by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Trump is accused of using the power of his office to solicit foreign help by Ukraine to discredit Biden, his worse opponent in the 2020 election running for president of the United States. Easy to believe that the Cohen hearing dashed up to Trump's mounting animosity against everything Democrat including the very idea of democracy and transparent governance. 

However, is it to take the vendetta too far for democracy to have a personal lawyer act on behalf of the nation in the personal interest of the president? The whistleblower complaint accents this key information about Giuliani's effort citing an interview with The New York Times on May 9, 2019:

the President 'basically knows what I'm doing, sure, as his lawyer.'

(...) 'We're not meddling in an election, we're meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do... There's nothing illegal about it... somebody could say it's improper. And this isn't foreign policy - I'm asking them to do an investigation that they're doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. And I'm going to give them reasons why they shouldn't stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government.'

On August 12, 2019, an intelligence whistleblower files a complaint with Senator Richard Burr, Select Committee on Intelligence, and Representative Adam Schiff, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in accordance with the procedures outlined in 50 U.S.C. The whistleblower complains that 'Trump used the power of his office to solicit foreign help to discredit Biden'.

The whistleblower is 'deeply concerned that the actions described below constitute 'a serious or flagrant problem, abuse, or violation of law or Executive order'. 

Giuliani really does say that 'information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government'. Investigations carried out by Ukrainian authorities will be 'very very helpful' to Trump, and such endeavour 'may turn out to be helpful to my government'. In that order. 

This is an attempt to make Trump great again and then maybe America.

So Much Lawlessness

“The president has tried to make lawlessness a virtue in America and now is exporting it abroad,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, according to The New York Times on September 25, 2019. 

What could possibly justify this assumption? Trump's habitual declarations of national emergencies to extend his executive powers, say, to relocate money for his wall that Congress would not finance? Or his vetoes of Congress decisions, to keep selling arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE committing genocide in Yemen because of the urgency of their situation? Trump's close relationship with his Attorney General William Barr is yet another example of Trump thumbing his nose at the democratic constitutional framework. Trump's relation with both the present and his sacked former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, spells that Trump considers the US Attorney General a guardian of his personal agenda rather than of the constitution. Attorney General, William Barr, did, indeed, support Trump's agenda by issuing an interpretation of the Muller report conclusion that was quickly denounced by the special counsel himself. The report did not 'fully exonerate' Trump, especially not on the issue of obstruction of justice. If obstruction of justice explains why Mueller never, in Trump parlance, got to the bottom of the case of Trump's possible collusion, there is ample reason for Congress to continue investigating open ends in the Mueller report as suggested by the special counsel. Mueller could not indict a sitting president. However, Congress can impeach. Ever since the release of Mueller's report, Trump has lawlessly stonewalled each and any oversight request from Congress to halt Congress, to postpone democratic insight and to divert attention from the insight issues such as possible violation of the emulation clause; in other words corruption. William Barr has indeed pleased Trump by opening investigations into favourites of Trump's such as on which grounds FBI began surveillance of Trump's campaign on suspicion of improper involvement with Russia. Barr opens that probe on May 13, 2019. Barr now has at his hands a suspicion of improper involvement with Ukraine. We are still to see, which way Barr will see himself forced to probe into this incident.

Trump appears to be of the opinion that attorney generals can be called upon by politicians to run their political errands. The day upon special counsel Mueller testifying to Congress we have yet another case at hand. Trump reaches out to the office of the attorney general in Sweden through the prime minister of the country.

Pelosi is right in saying that Trump is trying to export his lawless attitude to attorney generals to Sweden. It is no rocket-science deduction to say that the way Trump attempts to manipulate offices of attorney generals and their independent judicial systems in other democracies will mirror the way he handles his own. 

A Reciprocity And the Much We Do For Sweden

On July 25, 2019, the absence of reciprocity in expected Swedish favours and the 'much we do for Sweden' surfaces. Trump wants the favour of PM L?fven to release rapper A$AP Rocky in custody for violent assault, which is to say held in custody by the independent Swedish judiciary:

Trump called the Swedish PM to talk him into interfering with the independent Swedish judicial system i.e. to have him acquitted of charges. Trump soured on L?fven being unable to act and tweeted that 'Sweden has let our African American Community down in the United States'. A$AP Rocky is no longer only charged for street violence; he is found guilty.

There is no national interest explaining Trump's plea to release an American offender of Swedish criminal code, but there is a campaign interest involved in pleading the 'African American Community' to be let down by somebody, not Trump. In a posture of the day, Trump tries to balance the white supremacists, those otherwise attracted by Trump's aggressive populist rhetoric. Trump needs the voters and the talking points he can capture to win the 2020 election. But it is a misuse of his power in office to reach that end by pressuring the Swedish PM to corrupt the Swedish constitutional division of power.

PM L?fven could and would not push anyone, he didn't call anyone, he didn't ask his attorney general a favour, neither did he push him to see mildly on an American citizen. This sequence of non-happenings is to repeat itself in the case of Ukraine.

We are still to see if there is a price to be paid by the Swedish PM or his country, like cancelling a state visit well underway as Trump did when he turned his wrath on the Danish PM for finding his proposal of buying 57,000 citizens in Greenland and their island absurd. 

A Reciprocity And the Much We Do For Ukraine

By June 2019, Trump is on abcNews talking to News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office. This is some of the exchange on the possibility of accepting dirt on a political opponent:

Asked by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office on Wednesday whether his campaign would accept such information from foreigners -- such as China or Russia -- or hand it over the FBI, Trump said, "I think maybe you do both."

"I think you might want to listen, there isn't anything wrong with listening," Trump continued. "If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent' -- oh, I think I'd want to hear it."

abcNews, June 13, 2019

There is nothing wrong with listening, says Trump. But how about spending political leverage to inquire into the whereabouts of an attorney general's office in a foreign country to force the office to dig up dirt on a political opponent in the obvious interest to stay put with a foreign relation aiding that same country at war militarily? That would be some leverage, indeed. 

The Situational Logic on July 25, 2019

To exercise political leverage is slightly more than listening, and it appears to be the situational logic of the day upon Mueller's testimony to Congress. Trump is on the phone with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, who is in a daily existential fight against Russian troops in the Donbas region to the east of his country. By July 25, 2019, $391 million in funding appropriated by Congress for Ukraine's defence against Russia is at stake. On Trump's order, the aid is on hold until news about Trump's July 25, 2019, telephone conversation breaks in the whistleblower's complaint by August 12, 2019, and comes to a disclose. September 11, 2019, the funds are finally released. Inquiries by both senators and government officials are left unanswered by the White House. The whistleblower says:

On 18 July, an Office of management and Budget (OMB) official informed Departments and Agencies that the President 'earlier that month' had issued instructions to suspend all U.S. security assistance to Ukraine. Neither OMB nor the NSC staff knew why this instruction had been issued. During interagency meetings on 23 July and 26 July, OMB officials again stated explicitly that the instruction to suspend this assistance had come directly from the President, but they were unaware of a policy rationale.

As of early August, I heard from U.S. officials that some Ukrainian officials were aware that U.S. aid might be in jeopardy, but I do not know how or when they learned of it.

Whistleblower's complaint, August 12, 2019

Is it that appropriated foreign military aid and exchange of intelligence are held dependent by Trump on the attorney general in a foreign office in Ukraine to dig dirt about Trump's worse opponent running for office in 2020 namely Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden? This question is now in the fray of investigations scrutinising if Trump identifies his personal interests with the national. Trump will need to explain on what grounds he personally interfered and ordered appropriated funds retained.

Trump is quick to discredit the whistleblower for trading second and third-hand information. Well, his summary of Trump's phone call appears to accord very well with the memorandum released by the White House. However, House oversight procedures will check if the complainant's outline of other happenings is consistent with information available in Trump's administration.

September 27, 2019, we learn that leaders of top House committees, the Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), Oversight Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) and Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents related to the issue of Ukraine including a list of staffers who worked on Ukraine relations. They also scheduled depositions for the following week with former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, recalled from her position by Trump, resigned State Department's Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who worked closely with Trump's personal lawyer Giuliani, State Department Counselor Ulrich Brechbuhl known to have overheard Trump's call, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland who has worked with Giuliani and others. 

The Committees are investigating the extent to which President Trump jeopardized national security by pressing Ukraine to interfere with our 2020 election and by withholding security assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression.

Letter from Congress of the United States, House Committees on Foreign Affairs, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and on Oversight and Reform, September 27, 2019

The same day the Committees on the Budget and Appropriations address acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and acting Director of Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought to request a full explanation on delayed payments and a host of related documents:

As we stated in our September 18th letter, we have serious concerns that recent apportionment actions by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to withhold military aid for Ukraine and other foreign assistance constitute unlawful impoundments in violation of the ICA and are an abuse of the authority provided to the President to apportion appropriations. In the short time since we sent that letter, additional reports have emerged detailing the circumstances surrounding the withholding of funding for Ukraine and OMB's involvement in that withholding.

Letter from Congress of the United States, House Committees of the Budget and Appropriations, September 27, 2019

The subject, however, of this post is Trump's understanding of the attorney general's office as an independent institution.

September 25, 2019, we learn about yet another precondition from an, according to the whistleblower, trustworthy ex-Zelenskyy adviser namely Serhiy Leshchenko. Serhiy Leshchenko says the Biden case was a precondition to Trump's phone call:

"Ukrainian officials were asking for a meeting with Trump for a long time. As I remember, it was a clear fact that Trump wants to meet only if Biden case will be included,” said Serhiy Leshchenko, an anti-corruption advocate and former member of Ukraine's Parliament, who had been a former adviser to Zelenskiy but has recently been distanced from the administration. "This issue was raised many times. I know that Ukrainian officials understood."

Asked if it had been understood as a condition, Leshchenko said, "Yes."

abcNews, September 25, 2019

Leshchenko's comment is consistent with statements gathered by the August 12 whistleblower writing this in his complaint quoting U.S. officials:

During this same timeframe [mid-May 2019], multiple U.S. officials told me that the Ukrainian leadership was led to believe that a meeting or phone call between the President and President Zelenskyy would depend on whether Zelenskyy showed willingness to 'play ball' on the issues that had been publicly aired by Mr. Lutsenko and Mr. Giuliani. (Note: This was the general understanding of the state of affairs as conveyed to me by U.S. officials from late May into early July. I do not know who delivered this message to the Ukrainian leadership, or when.)

Leshchenko became an ex-advisor to the incoming president following Giuliani's announcement on Fox News on May 10, 2019, to cancel a trip to Ukraine, allegedly because of a 'group of people that are enemies of the President in some cases enemies of the United States', one of which is Leshchenko. On May 14, 2019, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko publishes an apology to Giuliani in Interfax-Ukraine:

"I think that the statements of a single citizen Leshchenko are his personal attitude and cannot influence our interstate relations. I would like to apologize to Mr. Giuliani for the assessments that Leshchenko allows himself publicly, and especially not publicly, in respect of Mr. Giuliani ... I very much hope that Mr. Giuliani will soon come to Ukraine and will meet with those officials he deems necessary. If necessary, he will meet with me," Lutsenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

According to Lutsenko, Giuliani called him the next morning after the cancellation of his visit to Ukraine, was emotional and stressed that it was not a question of Giuliani-Leshchenko, but a question of Ukraine-U.S.

Procecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko, Interfax-Ukraine, May 14, 2019

Lutsenko's apology is possible on May 14, 2019. President Zelenskyy is not inaugurated till May 20, 2019. By July 25, 2019, when Trump is on the phone with Zelenskyy, Lutsenko is about to be replaced. Zelenskyy's landslide victory and the following reshuffle of officials seriously endanger Giuliani to be at a loss with his case against the Democrats, based as it is on Lutsenko's accusations. Lutsenko himself walks back a number of key-accusations; others are overruled in court.

A meeting with the American President is of utmost importance to the incoming President Zelenskyy. If having Leshchenko as an advisor deters Trump's envoy from cultivating the relationship with Ukraine, Leshchenko needs to step aside Washington Post, September 21, 2019.

According to Leshchenko, the real reason Giuliani cancelled his trip to Ukraine early May 2019 was that the incoming president Zelenskyy 'refused... to intervene in an American election on the side of Trump' - Washington Post, September 21, 2019. Zelenskyy did not prove a willingness to 'play ball' as described by U.S. officials; he refused the Biden precondition of a phone call as conveyed to him and officials by Trump's envoy Giuliani and maybe others.

According to the whistleblower, Trump adds pressure on the incoming President Zelenskyy in a diplomatic manoeuvre as follows:

I learned from U.S. officials that, on or around 14 May, the President instructed Vice President Pence to cancel his planned travel to Ukraine to attend President Zelenskyy's inauguration on 20 May; Secretary of Energy Rick Perry led the delegation instead. According to these officials, it was also 'made clear' to them that the President did not want to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy until he saw how Zelenskyy 'chose to act' in office. I do not know how this guidance was communicated, or by whom. I also do not know whether this action was connected with the broader understanding, described in the unclassified letter, that a meeting or phone call between the President and President Zelenskyy would depend on whether Zelenskyy showed willingness to 'play ball' on the issues that had been publicly aired by Mr. Lutsenko and Mr. Giuliani.

On June 21, 2019, Giuliani is concerned that 'New Pres of Ukraine' is 'still silent on investigation':

June 21, 2019, Giuliani is urging Zelenskyy to engage in the purging of an Obama abuse. He appears to hope that Ukrainian officials follow his Twitter account. In any case, Trump voters are kept up to speed with the scandal Giuliani claims to help unfold.

Trump and Giuliani travel a conspiracy theory. Ukrainian - not or at least not only Russian - actors have tried to 'interfere' in the 2016 U.S. election in collaboration with DNC (Democratic National Committee), Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration. Trump and Giuliani travel the accusation that Democrat 'servers' are situated in Ukraine. Giuliani is eye to eye with Prosecutor General Mr Lutsenko, whose political patron is President Poroshenko (2014 - 2019). Lutsenko is the one to accuse former MP Leshchenko and Mr Sytny for 'interfering' in the 2016 U.S. election by 'publicizing a document detailing corrupt payments made by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych before his ouster in 2014' (former president 2010-14 twice ousted following popular uprising). The disclosure on August 19, 2016, of the 'black ledger of the Party of Regions' (Yanukovych's headquarters) led to Manafort's conviction; Manafort was on the list of those involved in 'illegal transactions' - Leshchenko's op-ed in Washington Post, September 21, 2019. The court history of the 'black ledger' is as follows, according to Leshchenko:

The administrative court — which has long had a reputation as the most corrupt in Ukraine — ruled in December 2018 that I had acted illegally by disclosing the payments to Manafort. We appealed, and the verdict was suspended. And in the summer of this year, we won the appeal (see Ukrainian News on July 16, 2019) and the court’s decision was completely annulled. The court concluded that all the charges against me were unfounded, and even obliged my opponents to reimburse me for $100 in legal costs.

Leshchenko's op-ed in Washington Post, September 21, 2019

Mid-July Giuliani is somewhat at a loss with the conspiracy theory twice litigated in court. The 'the black ledger' issue appears out of the hands of any Attorney General in Ukraine. There is no exculpation of Paul Manafort in sight. Leshchenko, however, is vindicated. Giuliani is somewhat at a loss with his choice of co-workers too; the incoming President Zelenskyy beats Poroshenko by a landslide, and he wants to replace Prosecutor General Lutsenko who is now without a political patron. Lutsenko (who has no legal training) is 'widely criticized in Ukraine for politicizing criminal probes and using his tenure as Prosecutor General to protect corrupt Ukrainian officials'. He is also known to have 'publicly feuded with Mr. Sytnyk, who heads Ukraine's only competent anti-corruption body, and with Mr. Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist who has repeatedly criticized Mr. Lutsenko's record' - whistleblower's complaint by August 12, 2019. Leshchenko's statements are consistent with the whistleblower. Trump appears to be involved with a segment of Ukrainian establishment later referred to as 'the swamp' by President Zelenskyy in the infamous telephone conversation of July 25, 2019.

The Perfect Conversation

The very same day Trump's laments in a tweet that doing so much for Sweden does 'not work the other way around' with the Swedish attorney general, Trump is on the phone with the newly elected President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Swedes do not return Trump's favours. He proves to have a go with Ukraine on reciprocity.

We are only to know because of the whistleblower's complaint. On August 12, 2019, it is following law sent to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community (ICIG), Michael K. Atkinson. On August 26, 2019, the Inspector General determines 'that the Complainant has reported an 'urgent concern' that 'appears credible' and he conveys this message to Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. Atkinson 'respectfully request that Maguire provide the ICIG with notice of your transmittal to the congressional intelligence committees not later than 3 days after the transmittal is made to them'. Trump's administration tries to block the complaint from being forwarded to Congress as required by law. However, Congress is informed about its existence. The outcry is not to be ignored, and by September 26, 2019, the complaint is released.

The day before, on September 25, 2019, Trump gives in to long-time pressure for transparency and releases 'memorandum of a telephone conversation', not a 'verbatim transcript' of his exchange with Ukraine's incoming president. It is not that which the whistleblower refers to as a 'word-for-word' transcript. In short, it is not the 'fully declassified and unredacted transcript' promised by Trump when the situation got heated.

There is a trade of pleasantries, and Mr Zelenskyy's flattering of Trump is perhaps somewhat over the top:

We worked a lot but I would like to confess to you that I had an opportunity to learn from you. We used quite a few of your skills and knowledge and were able to use it as an example to our elections - and yes it is true that these were unique elections.

Recalling the Mueller report, clearly stating that the American 2016 election was influenced by Russia in favour of Trump, Zelenskyy might have chosen a different flatter for Trump. His administration has had about a month to pour over the release.

However, Zelenskyy, who invested much time and effort to have a phone-call without getting twisted in too many bindings, likes to bond with Trump and goes on to speak about draining the swamp - a campaign theme the two hold in common:

Well yes, to tell you the truth, we are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp here in our country. We brought in many many new people. Not the old politicians, not the typical politicians, because we want to have a new format and a new type of government. You are a great teacher for us and in that.

Trump, if any, knows the importance of personal relations, and 'loyalty' is his trademark. Is Trump taken aback by Zelenskyy telling him that Giuliani's network is likely gone with the wind? A true zealot of the draining the swamp crusades combating corruption might have picked up on the virtues of the common cause. 

Trump appears shortcut by the complete reshuffle in Ukraine. All he can think of is 'well, it is very nice of you to say that'. 'The great teacher' then tries to move on with his true interest in Ukraine and fires up the framework of the reciprocity to fertilize the political soil:

Well, it is very nice of you to say that. I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries...

(...) A lot of the European countries are the same way so I think it's something you want to look at but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine. I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.

In what sense, is to be 'very very good to Ukraine' 'reciprocal necessarily'? Is this the language of a sugar-Daddy, a mobster or an American national interest in balancing Russia in the region?

Zelenskyy falls in the trap of discrediting his European counterparts for not 'enforcing the sanctions' against Russia. Perhaps feeling that he is getting the wind at something, Zelenskyy then says that 'though logically, the European Union should be our biggest partner... technically the United States is a much bigger partner... and I'm very grateful to you for that...' The bating of the regional balance of power appears not to be in Trump's focus. Zelenskyy then wraps up by saying that 'we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes'. A sale is known to please Trump. However, this time, a sale cannot even pause Trump. He is fired up to pursue his much-wanted favour:

I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike. .. I guess you have one of your wealthy people... The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I think you are surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it if that's possible.

The poor performance refers to Robert Mueller testifying to Congress on July 24, 2019, and his newly released report on Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election and Trump's possible collusion. The 'poor performance', however, clearly stated that neither Mueller's investigation nor his report conclusion 'fully exonerated' Trump. Mueller turned down the misrepresenting conclusion as paraphrased by Attorney General William Barr. The paraphrasing can be an incompetent performance, but it can also be a biased one. As this case is unfolding the question is what the performance of AG Barr in the Ukrainian case will look like.

Trump is inquiring into the whereabouts of DNC's servers. The whistleblower makes note, that he does 'not know why the President associates these servers with Ukraine' and cites Trump for saying on Fox News on July 20, 2019, 'and Ukraine... Take a look at Ukraine. How come the FBI didn't take this server? Podesta told them to get out. He said, get out. So, how come the FBI didn't take the server from the DNC?' - Whistleblower's complaint by August 12, 2019. There is no doubt that Trump is building a narrative about Dem's suspicious servers hidden in Ukraine, but he does so without substantiation. Trump is obsessed with Hilary Clinton's server and that which 'started with Ukraine' leading to the fall of his campaign manager Paul Manafort and others.

Zelenskyy bursts into more praise of a 'new page on cooperation in relations' based on 'trust' and 'confidence' and 'personal relations' with Trump. Assuring the Mr President that he is among friends:

I also plan to surround myself with great people and in addition to that investigation, I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that all the investigations will be done openly and candidly. That I can assure you.

Are the new 'great people' to surround Zelenskyy making Trump uncomfortable? The incoming president has vowed to dismiss the Prosecutor General Lutsenko who has gotten along so well with Giuliani and sourced him with dirt on Leshchenko and Sytnyk. Trump papers over the fact that on July 16, 2019, an appeal court acquitted Leshchenko and Sytnyk of Lutsenko's unsupportable charges about the authenticity of the 'black ledger' and the right to reveal it. Rather, he hangs on to the 'servers' and a 'very good man' 'shut down' 'by some very bad people':

Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that's really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great.

Trump asks President Zelenskyy to work with his personal lawyer and to look into the 'unfairness' of the 'very good prosecutor' taken down unfairly by 'some very bad people'. The prosecutor in question is Victor Shokin, who not only Biden but several European countries and the IMF wanted to be removed from his post for corruption. In Trump's narrative, however, the true motive, to sack the prosecutor, was to 'quash a purported criminal probe into Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company on whose board the former Vice President's son, Hunter, sat'. Trump now narrows down the focus of the favour he is seeking:

There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.

Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.

Trump fails to tell Zelenskyy that on May 16, 2019, Mr Lutsenko told Bloomberg 'that former Vice President Biden and his son were not subject to any current Ukrainian investigations, and that he had no evidence against them. Other senior Ukrainian officials also contested his original allegations; one former senior Ukrainian prosecutor told Bloomberg on 7 May that Mr. Shokin in fact was not investigating Burisma at the time of his removal in 2016' - Whistleblower's complaint.

Trump and Giuliani are two of a kind. On May 9, 2019, Giuliani misleads the American people saying, 'I'm asking them to do an investigation that they're doing already, and that other people are telling them to stop'. Are we to believe that Giuliani and the White House do not know as much as do Bloomberg and Bloomberg readers? It appears to be the case that Trump and Giuliani are trading in genuine popular disinformation and is trying to take the incoming President Zelenskyy for a ride. 

Giuliani on May 9, 2019, however, is very much right in saying to The New York Times that 'this isn't foreign policy' but 'that information', if Zelenskyy can produce it, 'will be very, very helpful to my client'. The client is Trump.

President Zelenskyy avoids promises to reinstall the 'very good prosecutor' ousted by Biden and others to have the 'very good prosecutor' investigate Biden over in good faith that is of course:

I wanted to tell you about the prosecutor. First of all I understand and I'm knowledgeable about the situation. Since we have won the absolute majority in our Parliament; the next prosecutor general will be 100% my person, my candidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and will start as a new prosecutor in September. He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue. The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and will work on the investigation of the case. On top of that, I would kindly ask you if you have any additional information that you can provide to us...

Trump reverts to his suggestion that he 'will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call, and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call, and we will get to the bottom of it', as if his personal lawyer and the U.S. Attorney General is to be part of a team working from the office of the Ukrainian attorney general. A highly unusual suggestion urging a newly elected president to influence an independently working judicial institution to reopen cases already found baseless or litigated twice and lost. No wonder Zelenskyy asks for 'additional information'.

Repeatedly drawing on the U.S. attorney general's office, saying that 'I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it', 'I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General', I 'will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call, and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call, and we will get to the bottom of it' could have been a courtesy firsthand information from Trump to his Ukrainian counterpart that the U.S. Attorney General was to file an official request with officials in Ukraine. A statement released by the DOJ Department of Justice on September 27, 2019, tells us this is far from the case:

Trump and Giuliani appear to have misled the incoming president to believe, that Giuliani's hunt for dirt on Biden was legitimized as a national matter by the U.S. Attorney General.

In Ukraine's readout from the infamous call it reads:

Donald Trump expressed his conviction that the new Ukrainian government will be able to quickly improve Ukraine's image and complete the investigation of corruption cases that have held back cooperation between Ukraine and the United States. (emphasis by Complainant)

Whistleblower's complaint, August 12, 2019

We are still to find out exactly which corruption cases Ukraine's 'image' needs to 'investigate', those that 'held back cooperation between Ukraine and the United States', and why Trump to reach that end wanted to reinstall people already dismissed because of corruption.

September 20, 2019, The Daily Beast brings about an interview with senior adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, Anton Geraschenko saying that '“as soon as there is an official request" Ukraine will look into the case, but “currently there is no open investigation”':

“Clearly,” said Geraschenko, “Trump is now looking for kompromat to discredit his opponent Biden, to take revenge for his friend Paul Manafort, who is serving seven years in prison.” Among the counts on which Manafort was convicted: tax evasion.

“We do not investigate Biden in Ukraine, since we have not received a single official request to do so,” said Geraschenko.

The Daily Beast, September 20, 2019

Chernenko's statement is consistent with Lutsenko's reported on May 16, 2019, by Bloomberg and a former prosecutor quoted by Bloomberg on May 7, 2019. Trump and Giuliani deceive the American people about a non-existent investigation, a 'black ledger' fully vindicated on authenticity and a court ruling that is overturned. In Leshchenko's op-ed in The Washington Post on September 21, 2019, it reads:

Giuliani's entire approach is built on disinformation and the manipulation of facts. Giuliani has developed a conspiracy theory in which he depicts my revelations about Manafort as an intervention in the 2016 U.S. election in favor of the Democratic Party. In his May interview on Fox, Giuliani even claimed that I was convicted of a corresponding crime.

(...) Giuliani continues to quote this court decision [overturned ruling of December 2018] even though it never attained legal force.

Giuliani also persists in claiming that the “black ledger” is a fake. He stated this most recently just a few days ago in an interview with CNN. In fact, the book is a genuine document. Expert examinations have confirmed the authenticity of the signatures shown in it.

Leshchenko's op-ed in Washington Post, September 21, 2019

What Became of the Reciprocity?

Trump and President Zelenskyy meet on the sideline of the UN summit in New York. Zelenskyy clears Trump of accusations of having 'pushed him' in the infamous telephone conversation. Zelenskyy says to have had a 'normal' conversations with Trump:

“We had, I think, a good phone call,” Mr. Zelensky said. “It was normal; we spoke about many things. So, I think, and you read it, that nobody pushed — pushed me.”

“In other words, no pressure,” Mr. Trump chimed in. “And by the way,” he added, addressing a reporter, “you know there was no pressure.”

The New York Times on September 25, 2019

In line with the Swedish PM, President Zelenskyy, however, also said:

“We have independent country and independent general security, and I can’t push anyone... So I didn’t call somebody or the new general security. I didn’t ask him; I didn’t push him.”

The New York Times on September 25, 2019

By September 25, 2019, when Trump meets Zelenskyy on the sideline at the UN Trump knows that Zelenskyy knows that Trump's encounter with Ukraine has landed him in impeachment procedures because an American president cannot use 'the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election' by 'pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals'.

It is no longer a question of how quickly Ukraine can improve its image. How quickly will the U.S. be able to improve the image of American corruption created by Trump?

Trump learns in the meeting with the press that Zelenskyy 'can't push anyone' that he 'didn't call somebody or the new general security' that he 'didn't ask him'. For a starter, it is a first-hand lesson in democracy, the division of power and independent judiciaries. Strange that the President of the United States need to take lessons from Ukraine and Sweden on the issue of what independent attorney generals can and cannot be asked to do in democracies.

To clear a telephone conversation of verbal 'push' or 'pressure' is not to say that Trump's choreography of the foreign relation with Ukraine, largely delegated to his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, has not unduly involved pressure. Neither is it to say that the whole business is not a case of Trump misusing the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.

Trump's precondition for meetings and phone calls is made understood in Ukraine. Trump may have been on a diplomatic note, when he cancelled his Vice President's participation in Zelenskyy's inauguration on May 20, 2019. Nothing happens and Giuliani tweets about it in late June 2019. Trump may then have taken Zelenskyy's accept of his topic of conversation as a firsthand indication that the incoming president is ready to 'play ball'. He may also have chanced on swaying an incoming president beyond Giuliani's power of persuasion. Funds are still frozen, and by August Ukraine officials worry that they are in outright jeopardy. What will an incoming president at war with his mighty Russian neighbour do to stay close to his American ally? The strategy that springs from the situational logic as we know it resembles the maximum pressure strategy used against Iran and Venezuela.

A whistleblower blows the plot on August 12, 2019, forcing Trump to release his memorandum of the telephone call, the complaint itself and the funds appropriated Ukraine by Congress.

We are still to see if AG Barr will issue a probe into the Biden case and Democrat's servers in Ukraine. It is hard to believe that Ukraine will dig dirt for Trump's campaign in 2020 without an official request. President Zelenskyy is between a rock and a hard place. Will Trump get reelected, will Biden or some other Democrat be the next American president? The whistleblower definitely blew Trump's leverage to have Ukraine do personal political favours.

I accomplished my mission, says Giuliani:

The open question is if his mission really will lead to the revelation of Ukraine corruption of national interest or if it landed Trump in an impeachment case, he cannot win. 

Why Cover-Up a Perfect Conversation?

The Complainant is not only 'deeply disturbed by what had transpired in the phone call'. Officials told him 'that there was already a discussion ongoing' with the 'White House lawyers about how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials retelling, that they had witnessed the President abuse his office for personal gain' - Whistleblower's complaint. Multiple U.S. officials are said to 'intervene to 'lock down' all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced - as is customary - by the White House Situation Room'.

White House officials told me that they were 'directed' by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the computer system in which such transcripts are typically stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to Cabinet-level officials.

Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. One White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.

Whistleblower's complaint, August 12, 2019

Trump's administration tried to hold back the whistleblower's complaint. Trump's White House lawyers 'directed' a cover-up of the transcripts of the telephone call. Why holding back and do cover-up if Trump is responsible for nothing but a 'perfect call'. We are still to see if the memorandum can be replaced by the 'word-for-word' transcript of the call and most especially the audio material used. The New York Times says on September 25, 2019, in a note that the document was 'developed with assistance from voice recognition software along with experts and note takers listening'.

Trump's Such Important Day

On Trump's such important day on September 24, 2019, Trump learns of impeachment procedures to be invoked:

Trump will need to explain circumstances, to verify his explanations not least clarify how a personal lawyer can be charged with the Ukraine case and behave on behalf of the U.S. in Ukraine. 

Moreover, the scandal revealed yet another scandal that the White House abuses an electronic system designed to handle sensitive security issues. A system designed to secure information sensitive to national security, not to store away a president's acts of misconduct. 

The Ukraine case has interrupted Trump's unbroken chain of oversight requests stonewalled.

The impeachment avalanche is likely to absorb the oxygen of the White House for months to come. It will toll on Trump's capacity to act on presidential issues, and it will paint his campaign running for reelection.