That's not what Mulvaney said. — Benkei
No, we should not tolerate the intolerant. — NOS4A2
Mulvaney is making the case that a quid pro quo in foreign policy isn't abnormal; and it isn't. — Benkei
He didn't say "get over it" with regard to the specific case of Trump asking for an investigation in the Democratic server in return for money — Benkei
What’s abnormal about it in this case it its motivation, which is personal benefit and political gain, not furtherance of the interests of the state. It’s plainly illegal, there’s no question about that. The only question is whether the machinery of government can actually rein in Trump’s aberrant behaviour. I'm hoping, and expecting, that it will. — Wayfarer
It seems clear to me that he did. From the same exchange:
Mulvaney: "Did he mention to me in past the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely, no question about that. But that's it. That's why we held up the money." — ChrisH
If you read the news reports and you believe them, what did McKinney say yesterday? Well, McKinney said yesterday that he was really upset with the political influence in foreign policy. That was one of the reasons he was so upset about this. And I have news for everybody. Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy. — Mulvaney
Mulvaney did admit quid pro quo with regard to the investigation of the Democratic server. I don't think that's the impeachable offence though; the impeachable one is asking them to investigate a possible opposing Presidential candidate (at least his son). — Benkei
Mick Mulvaney: (19:31)
Sure. Let’s deal with the second one first, which is, look, it should come as no surprise to anybody. The last time I was up here … I haven’t done this since I was chief of staff. Right? Last time I was up here, some of you folks remember it was for the budget briefings. Right? And one of the questions you all always ask me about the budget is what are you all doing to the foreign aid budget? Because we absolutely gutted it. President Trump is not a big fan of foreign aid. Never has been. Still isn’t. Doesn’t like spending money overseas, especially when it’s poorly spent. And that is exactly what drove this decision. I’ve been in the office a couple times with him talking about this and he said, “Look Mick, this is a corrupt place.” Everybody knows it’s a corrupt place.
Mick Mulvaney: (20:12)
By the way, put this in context. This is on the heels of what happened in Puerto Rico when we took a lot of heat for not wanting to give a bunch of aid to Puerto Rico because we thought that place was corrupt. And by the way it turns out we were right. All right. So put that as your context. He’s like, “Look, this is a corrupt place. I don’t want to send them a bunch of money and have them waste it, have them spend it, have them use it to line their own pockets.” Plus I’m not sure that the other European countries are helping them out either. So we actually looked at that during that time before. When we cut the money off, before the money actually flowed, because the money flowed by the end of the fiscal year, we actually did an analysis of what other countries were doing in terms of supporting Ukraine. And what we found out was that, and I can’t remember if it’s zero or near zero dollars from any European countries for lethal aid. You’ve heard the president say this, that we give them tanks and the other countries give them pillows. That’s absolutely right that as vocal as the Europeans are about supporting Ukraine, they are really, really stingy when it comes to lethal aid. And they weren’t helping Ukraine and still to this day are not.
Mick Mulvaney: (21:09)
And the president did not like that. I know [inaudible 00:21:11] long answer your question, but I’m still going. So those were the driving factors. Did he also mention to me in the past, the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely. No question about that. But that’s it. And that’s why we held up the money
AFAIK, Lindsey has been speaking out against Trump since the Erdogan call revelations) — VagabondSpectre
Tthe White House’s real new motto comes from Tacitus, a celebrated historian in ancient Rome: “Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.”
So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, — Old Brian
Are their any Trump actions, words, and/or policies that are clearly counter to Putin? There are plenty which could be construed and/or misconstrued as being directly out of the 'Putin playbook'.
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