Whistleblower Blues

Zelensky and Trump

James Maguire

Acting Intel Director James Maguire's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee began a little over an hour ago. The man's excuses for going to the White House with the thus-far anonymous whistleblower's information about the nefarious doings of Donald Trump are pretty pathetic, but we're still early in to this. Anything can happen between now and when this thing is over in a few hours. It's quite possible, that by day's end, the trillion dollar shit-hammer may hit the fan. Last night on MSNBC's Rachel  Maddow program, Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California said that she had seen the still-classified "whistleblower memo" and called them "explosive". She went on to say that their content is much worst than the synopsis of the telephone call between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky released to the press a couple of days ago - which was bad enough. That other memo is being released this afternoon. We shall see. 

 

To say that the political climate of Washington has been turned on its head in the last twenty-four hours is an understatement. It would appear at first glance that the president of the United States was engaged in an extortion scheme against the president of the Ukraine, withholding military aid in an effort to get dirt on the man who may very well run against him next year - and his son. If this is true, it's all over for Trump. My feeling is that there is something coming that's going to shake America to its foundation between now and the end of the year. My suggestion to everyone would be to stand back and contemplate this extraordinary moment in American history. Forty-six years ago today, this country was wallowing in the depth of Watergate. I was fifteen at the time. On September 26, 2019 I thought that it would never get that weird again. I was wrong, of course. The Nixon Gang are starting to look like a loft of Cherubic choirboys by comparison. The Age of Trump is something else indeed.

Sean Maloney

In an exchange just now with Congressman Sean Maloney (who represents my home turf of the Hudson Valley, by the way) Maguire has refused to state weather or not he ever spoke to Trump regarding the Ukraine situation, he refused to answer the question, saying that his conversations with the president are "privileged". He could easily have answered the question without revealing the content of his conversation. He's trying to avoid a perjury trap. This guy is part of the cover-up - no doubt about it. He was not obliged to take his information to the White House or the Department of Justice. He was obligated to take it direct to Congress. He didn't. This is getting more interesting by the moment.

OBSERVATION: Deven Nunes is an asshole - but I repeat myself.

Chairman Adam Schiff just now adjourned the proceedings. It did not go well for poor old Jim Maguire. As of now I have more questions than answers. The rest of the day should be explosive indeed.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY