looks like VP Mike Pence, and Energy secretary Rick Perry, have also been drawn into the Ukraine scandal, with the VP knowing all about it, and Perry meeting with the Ukraine president 3 time. Perry will testifying to Congress, and may be planning to resign by next month. Pence, on the other hand, recently said he saw nothing wrong with investigating Biden in Ukraine.

Regarding the "quid pro quo" in the Trump scandal, it seems that at least one US ambassador had that impression, along with a GOP senator, that the Trump administration was intentionally withholding aid (and dialoue with Trump) i to get Ukraine on the same page as them, which was to get rid of corruption and to investigate anything that might have connection to Democrats, and Biden, for political gain. And the people involved, in leading up to the Trump Ukraine call, according to the whistle-blower report was to make sure to "provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the request that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy"

One of the people in the middle of all this, Gordon Sondland, a Trump donor, who was given a government position to the EU by the Trump admin, told GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of a Senate subcommittee who oversaw the aid to Ukraine, that the aid would be held up prior to any meeting, or talks, between Trump and the Ukraine president, while seemingly contradicting what he said to William B. Taylor, Ambassador to Ukraine, when that ambassador questioned him by twitter that it was looking like some "quid pro quo", with Sondland admonishing him for even suggesting it was that and urging him not to talk about it in the open.

And, according to Kurt Volker, Special Envoy to Ukraine, Trump was obsessed in having the right people in power in Ukraine, telling him that there were "'terrible people' who 'tried to take me down'" there. Volker was often the go between the Trump admin and the Ukraine government, walking a tightrope between the two countries, while helping to set up meetings with Trump's personnel lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, with Ukraine officials. Volker cautioned Giuliani not to trust them, or put much stock in what they said. Volker claimed he was not aware that the Trump admin was trying to get the Ukraine government to investigate Biden, even though Giuliani told him that he wanted them to investigate Burusima, the company where Biden's son worked at. Volker resigned his post before giving testimony to Congress

Looks like there is a 2nd whistle blower over the Ukraine scandal, this one with first hand knowledge.

There is a growing number of Trump defenders who are channeling conspiracy theories, like deep state, in an effort to counter the Ukraine scandal. I think I am beginning to understand what deep state is: It's basically anything that is left over from previous administrations, or is anything that gets in the way of current policies in government because of some established view. In this case, it's being used to discredit whistle-blowers over the Ukraine scandal, and to argue that they were responsible over the Russian investigations, even though Trump is doing exactly what he was accused of with Russia by conspiring with another country to find dirt on his political opponents.

Trump, who has a history of throwing people under the bus to save his own ass, has now done the same to the Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, with last week's release of the phone call summary between them. The Ukraine president is now in hot water.

SNL’s Michael Che wonders if we should really be making fun of someone like Trump, after a week of pure incompetence and doing stupid shit that no person in their right mind would do.

Party over country Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, is fundraising off of stopping impeachment, after allowing it to be voted on in the Senate.

Looks like Trump is throwing his Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, under the bus, claiming he was the one who promoted the Ukraine call. Aids to Perry quickly pointed out that it was to get Trump to talk to the Ukraine President about energy, not anything else.

So, the Kurds may be the latest casualty of Trump throwing people under the bus, as he once again plans for a withdraw from Syria (2.0), leaving our Kurdish allies at the mercy of Turkey, and Syria - all so he can show something to his base for their continued support of him in times of impeachment.

So, I guess Trump's new defense is that he is a victim of the mean ol' US House Democrats who are unconstitutionally trying to impeach him over a "perfect call" of going after his political rival, and won't cooperate with them because it's all against him. Of course, all it does it make him look more guilty for lack of transparency.

Some GOP are towing this talking point by claiming the US House investigation led by Democrats is a Kangaroo court, led by Captain Kangaroo, Adam Schiff. Yeah, some GOP said that...

I think the GOP should be reminded of the Benghazi hearings they did under Obama that lasted around 4 year, longer than the original 9-11 investigation, but with no one quite sure what it was about other than an ever changing conspiracy of wrongdoing by the GOP against Clinton, and Obama.

A bipartisan report from the Republican controlled Senate reconfirms that Russia, not Ukraine, meddled in the 2016 election. In one instance, the report pointed to two Russia operatives celebrating and saying the following "We made America great" when they found out that Trump won.

Trump takes a page from the Mafia?

Patrick Cotter, a former federal prosecutor who was on the team that convicted the Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, said he's struck by the parallels between Trumpworld's handling of the impeachment controversy and the mafia's playbook on pushing back against charges leveled against it.

"When I prosecuted the mob, one of their go-to tactics whenever we indicted them was to spend a lot of time trying to show the government did something wrong," Cotter told Insider. "It had nothing to do with the substance of the allegations and everything to do with trying to detract from our case by attacking us. It's illogical and it's what we used to call half a confession."

The whistleblower who filed a complaint against him committed espionage. The congressman investigating him should be tried for treason. The lawmakers weighing whether to impeach him are attempting a coup. The witnesses who testify against him are rats. The prosecutors probing him are corrupt

It would certainly explain why he calls them 'Very Nice People,' 'Just Don't Want To Owe Them Money', and gives nicknames to everyone, like his former Lawyer, Michel Cohen, his "Fixer"

After Trump withdrew US troops from Syria, Turkey invaded and attacked our allies, the Kurds, who helped the US fight ISIS. Trump is now downplaying their help by saying they didn't fight with us in WW2....

I think this Trump is also trying to use this to distract from impeachment hearings, but it's definitely not helping him among his GOP allies.

A Trump advisor Bragged about asking China about Hunter Biden, and received information from them on him - though, he hasn't publicized it yet.

Trump's personnel lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has various business ties in Ukraine, and in other countries, which are being scrutinized due to the Ukraine scandal, with one which Trump tried to intervene on behalf of.

Two associates of Trump's Lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who helped him make contacts in Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, were arrested for allegedly funneling campaign money from foreigners to US candidates on the state and federal level. They were also subpoenaed by House Democrats in their Impeachment inquiry.

Trump goes berserk over a new Fox News poll that show over half of americans now support his impeachment, and removal from office.

And this week in Trump's fake news. And Mainstream media is having no part of Trump latest attempt to delegitimize the impeachment inquiry, and refusing to cooperate with it. WaPo lashes out at Trump, and NYT admonishes Trump's argument.

Trump is also trying to use the impeachment to energize his base.

So ISIS militants are breaking out and escaping now, because of Mr. 45's cowardice and inability to stand up to Turkey when they said they wanted to slaughter the Kurds (who, as luck would have it, were guarding many of the prisons that were holding ISIS militants).

So I guess we can add "Weak against ISIS" to Mr. 45's long list of deficiencies.

Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, and who is at the heart of the Ukraine scandal, is now being investigated by the Feds for allegedly breaking lobbyist laws. It also came out that one of Giuliani's associate, who helped him make contacts in Ukraine, also worked on the behalf of a Ukrainian oligarch, who is known for corruption.

Trump is doing his best to make it worse by distancing himself from Giuliani, while also railing against the charges against him with all sorts of nonsense - I suspect that Giuliani has enough on Trump that he'll squeal to save his own ass.

Loyal Trump stooge, Attorney General, William Barr, says Our Less Christian Society Is To Blame For Mental Illness And Drug Abuse. I'm sure that this arouses support from Trump's most loyal base, with their moral ineptitude, Christians (particularly evangelists), as they staunchly rally behind their anti-Christ during his recent troubles..

If they follow that logic, then repubs and the fox crowd should see old ronnie reagan as the devil incarnate.

Funny how all that old stuff is swept away and forgotten as they blame everything else. nothing new honestly.

As mental illness is currently being used as the one-and-only explanation for gun crime, it bothers me that the American government is pretty incompetent when it comes to tackling mental health. You can still view yourself a Christian and be subject to depression, feeling inadequate, anxiety, etc.

For depression, I can’t say these Bible quotes are the solution - why is the one-stop answer to life’s questions to put your faith in God? I would vouch for openness and encourage talking to people you trust, but that’s not exclusive to Christianity.

The Evangelical Right don't care whether or not Christianity is a solution to society's ails; they just want more power, and will take advantage of scapegoating guns/mental health/etc. in order to achieve this.

I don't think there was any real conviction behind it from Barr, and has more to do with insulating Trump from impeachment by keeping his biggest base happy and supportive - especially after Trump's Syria decision.

I'mma be straight up with you: Donald Trump fucking sucks at foreign policy and his betrayal of the Kurdish people is unspeakably FUCKING STUPID, WHAT THE FUCK.

Yeah, we've been watching, it was incredibly stupid... as honestly 99% of his other actions in office. Sycophants will defend it, though; plenty are already claiming it's a great move to pull out of endless war and that American lives should be priority over Kurdish lives (which all in all is a dumbass uneducated take).

Mr. 45 is simply an awful person, let alone president.

Daughter of infamous former VP Dick Cheney, and US House rep, Liz Cheney, blamed Democrats impeachment hearings as a reason why Turkey invaded Syria... because it weakened the presidency....?

You just can't make this stuff up.

Trump leaves trail of unpaid bills from his Campaign rallies

Somehow, I am not surprised by this: Trump-Ukraine: John Bolton 'sounded alarm about Giuliani's actions'

Bolton might be a fucking war hawk who would start a war if you looked at him wrong, but he does have certain standards - if perverse.

In other news, adding insult to injury, as a rat escaping a sinking ship and taking a life raft while leaving women and children to go down with the ship, Trump claimed that the Kurds are releasing ISIS prisoners to pull the US back into Syria - which I am sure is the last thing on their mind as they run for cover as the Turks bombard everything.

And Trump has decided to throw some sanctions at Turkey for invading Syria and killing our allies, the Kurds, which is like lightly slapping them on the wrist and saying "don't do that". By the time the sanctions have an effect, Turkey will most likely be done - unless they go to war with Syria.

Worst source this side of the Atlantic. See: the Hillsborough disaster.

The Majority of Evangelicals view impeachment on Trump as an attack their values.... So, it wasn't the multiple affairs and cheating on his wives, or "grab 'em by the pussy" comment, or the family separation policy, or his chronic lies, or belligerent manner of attacking people and groups, or the persecution of other groups with his policies and identity polics rhetoric, or his greed, or secretly paying off a porn star, or cursing in front of families, or bragging about himself, or his narcissism... So, what values do these Evangelicals have, outside of wanting Trump to pour honey into their ears, and stock the courts with conservatives Christians?

I am pretty sure there is some fancy word to describe this garbage from you, but I'll just settle for calling it demented deflecting, and false equivalencies, from a Trump supporting troll account.

Do you see EdyKel as a “grab ‘em by the pussy” type of guy?

Serious question, yes or no, partly concerned about your thinking, etc.

Oh, and where did you get the idea I was a male feminist? I don't participate in pro-feminist topics.

And the only thing you have won at is confusing a fart as being equal to an over flooded outhouse.

Bad week for Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who is at the heart of the Ukraine scandal. First, he is refusing a subpoena for documents by House Democrats for their impeachment inquiry, which is no surprise, since he will most likely will purger himself or Trump. Secondly, besides being investigated for various crimes by the feds, with two of his associates already in custody, a 3rd associate has been charged as well. And a client that he represents has connections to a bank in Turkey that skirts US sanctions on Iran to do business with them, and conflict of interest comes into play when Giuliani asked then secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, to ask the DOJ to drop charges against his client, which ultimately didn't go anywhere.

Trump had a meltdown and started calling House speaker names at a White House meeting over Syria, so she left since she didn't believe it was productive.

Trump also invited the parents of a British boy who was killed by an American woman with US diplomatic ties, who fled the country, to escape responsibility. Once there he asked them if they wanted to meet the person who killed their son, who was in the next room.... You know, Trump has no common sense, or decency.

Another thing Trump can celebrate, but probably won't, Polls show Americans have come to support Trump's impeachment much faster than Nixon's or Clinton’s

Trump has decided to outright profit off of his presidency in one of the most egregious ways possible, by holding the next G-7 summit at one of his resorts, which is expected to get millions of taxpayer dollars, along with foreign money.

Trump has really pissed off the GOP over his Syria withdraw decision, with party over country Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, planing to have a stronger resolution condemning Trump over it. And Trump's bizarre letter to Turkey's president, Tayyip Erdoğan, urging him to "not be a tough guy", is being roundly condoned by his allies and mocked by his critics.

McConnell also plans to start impeachment hearing in the Senate as early as December, and end them before the end of the year before the end of the Democrat primaries.

New ad by a GOP group who are using Mike Pence's own words about seeking foreign aid to interfere in US election being bad to tell GOP congressmen to speak out against Trump over it.

I’m confused why this guy is involved with anything at all in the White House.

Same as Donald Trump’s family.

Anytime they appear, I question why they’re there.

It’s a disarming photo opportunity to kill off the situation, so it’s fortunate that the parent’s didn’t fall into it.

I’ll be honest, I think the parents are going to be disappointed. Ultimately the US government has to damage control for allowing an official’s family member off the hook for a hit-and-run.