4339

Correct me if I am wrong but a formal impeachment inquiry is basically impeachment.

That is in the house, where it will likely stick like shit to a blanket. The senate is another matter.

4340

This strikes me as the problem:

Krugman is right, the media are teeing this up as something where we need to know all the facts to determine if it was a crime. E.g. was there a quid pro quo in the transcript, etc. But simply making the request was probably a crime (e.g. soliciting foreign government assistance for your political campaign), and it certainly qualifies as an impeachable offense when the President does it. So the media are already engaged in creating cover by conveying that the facts we already have aren’t enough.

4341

I agree - you can already see which way they are gonna try and spin this.

4342

Yesterday was only step 1. The house launched an impeachment inquiry. From Wiki:

At the federal level, the impeachment process is a three-step procedure.

  • First, the Congress investigates. This investigation typically begins in the House Judiciary Committee, but may begin elsewhere. For example, the Nixon impeachment inquiry began in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The facts that led to impeachment of Bill Clinton were first discovered in the course of an investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.
  • Second, the House of Representatives must pass, by a simple majority of those present and voting, articles of impeachment, which constitute the formal allegation or allegations. Upon passage, the defendant has been “impeached”.
  • Third, the Senate tries the accused. In the case of the impeachment of a president, the Chief Justice of the United States presides over the proceedings. For the impeachment of any other official, the Constitution is silent on who shall preside, suggesting that this role falls to the Senate’s usual presiding officer, the President of the Senate who is also the Vice President of the United States. Conviction in the Senate requires a two-thirds vote. The result of conviction is removal from office.
4343

The transcript is out and, as expected, Trump explicitly asks Ukraine to investigate the Bidens - that’s pretty much the totality of the content of the phone call.

Also as expected, because they were so willing to release the transcript, there is no mention of aid to Ukraine. That’s why the full whistleblower complaint is important - we already know the complaint was about multiple phone calls and possibly other facts.

edit:
And that’s exactly the headline on the Fox web site: “Ukraine call shows Trump pressed for Biden probe, asked about DNC server but no talk of military aid”

4344

I think the call itself contains explicit evidence of a crime. Asking a foreign entity to investigate political rivals alone is enough.

I don’t like the framing that this only matters if other evidence proves an explicit bargain. I think it’s false, and I think that’s how the GOP will try to spin things.

I do agree that the whole complain is important, though. It’s (highly) likely to contain evidence of additional wrongdoing.

4345

My god, the transcript reads like a fantasy version of a phone call with a foreign leader that high school Trump wrote himself. I feel dirty just reading it, with all the slurping noises that must be occurring just offscreen. OH MAN, Mr. President, you’re the best, I wish I had more elections so you would call me more often! I used so much of your wisdom and tactics to win! Drain the swamp! MUGA!

4346

The dictionary has an important reminder today for everyone in the media (not that that they’ll pay attention.)

The document that was just released was not a transcript, but a memo (or in foreign affairs jargon, a readout.)

It says this right on the thing itself:

CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation.· (TELCON) is not a verbatim transcript of a
discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty Officers and-NSC policy staff assigned to listen.and memorialize the conversation in written formas the conversation takes place. A number of factors can affect 'the accuracy of the record,
including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent and/or interpretation.
The word “inaudible” is used to indicate portions of a conversation that the notetaker was unable
to hear.

Calling it a “transcript” means accepting Trump’s inaccurate framing - which the media has been doing and is continuing to do.

4347
4348

Yeah, I wonder if they deliberately made it conversational to seem like an actual transcript or if that’s normal

4349

Fox is hanging onto a pretty weak argument there. While Trump might not have mentioned military aid, he was responding to Zelenskyy’s request for further aid when he asked for a favor and investigation into the Bidens.

4350

Some of the people commenting on the “transcript” at the Washington Post say that the phone conversation went at least 30 minutes but was easily read in 4 minutes. Where is the rest of it? There are several ellipses.

4351

Trump: Vla-

Putin: New phone, who dis?

4352

Well, in those phone calls the roles of sycophant and gloater are reversed.

4353

Case in point:
wut
It’s a transcript! It’s a memo! It’s unredacted! It’s a summary! Nobody reading this is going to have any idea what they’re looking at.

4354

Absolutely. But if this is what they want to release, the full whistleblower complaint becomes that much more important.

4355

Uh, what?

Anyone reading that is going to have a REALLY GOOD idea of what they’re looking at. In fact, for government-related memoranda, it’s remarkably clear and easy to read.

4356

You missed the earlier conversation. It’s not a transcript it’s a memo, meaning it doesn’t need to be complete and can be interpreted, not exact. @JoshL is saying that now news orgs are picking up and running with, “transcript,” when it is not that, which has a definition of being -exact-.

4357

Yep. The implication being if what they released was this bad, what’s the likelihood of there being much worse?

4358

I’ll less miffed about the misuse of “transcription” then I would have thought. It’s pretty damning whatever it is. Trump’s team should bethe ones doing the “well, that wasn’t his actual words” dance.