Bugsy McGurk
President
Here’s a piece that neatly analyzes that question...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/giuliani-ukraine-associates-arrested-sdny-trump-corrupt-elections.html
The highlights:
“But more interesting than the details of the petty influence-peddling efforts are the allegations in the complaint that the purpose was to further the bigger political goals of the co-conspirators. According to the Wall Street Journal, the defendants funneled $325,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC. They then worked with the president’s personal attorney, Giuliani, to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. (They further allegedly sought to lobby an unnamed congressman to seek the ambassador’s removal.) The apparent goal was to move her out of the way so Giuliani, on Trump’s behalf, could pressure Ukraine prosecutors to dig up or fabricate dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter. All of this is at the center of Congress’ impeachment inquiry of the president, and House Democrats were reportedly due to seek to depose the two men as critical witnesses prior to their arrest.
It’s worth noting that the key portion of the Ukraine call transcript, which demonstrated the president’s efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden, is also the portion in which Trump brings up the removed ambassador....
We don’t yet know why the ambassador was removed, but we now know that Trump’s own Department of Justice alleges that there was a foreign influence effort to have her removed backed by a foreign national and undertaken by two people who Trump’s own former attorney has said were working on behalf of Giuliani and Trump. We also know that the president raised the ambassador’s removal directly before bringing up the Bidens with the Ukrainian president.
Again, all of this holds vast implications for the House’s impeachment probe and the picture is only starting to come together.”
Read the whole thing. Good stuff.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/giuliani-ukraine-associates-arrested-sdny-trump-corrupt-elections.html
The highlights:
“But more interesting than the details of the petty influence-peddling efforts are the allegations in the complaint that the purpose was to further the bigger political goals of the co-conspirators. According to the Wall Street Journal, the defendants funneled $325,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC. They then worked with the president’s personal attorney, Giuliani, to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. (They further allegedly sought to lobby an unnamed congressman to seek the ambassador’s removal.) The apparent goal was to move her out of the way so Giuliani, on Trump’s behalf, could pressure Ukraine prosecutors to dig up or fabricate dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter. All of this is at the center of Congress’ impeachment inquiry of the president, and House Democrats were reportedly due to seek to depose the two men as critical witnesses prior to their arrest.
It’s worth noting that the key portion of the Ukraine call transcript, which demonstrated the president’s efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden, is also the portion in which Trump brings up the removed ambassador....
We don’t yet know why the ambassador was removed, but we now know that Trump’s own Department of Justice alleges that there was a foreign influence effort to have her removed backed by a foreign national and undertaken by two people who Trump’s own former attorney has said were working on behalf of Giuliani and Trump. We also know that the president raised the ambassador’s removal directly before bringing up the Bidens with the Ukrainian president.
Again, all of this holds vast implications for the House’s impeachment probe and the picture is only starting to come together.”
Read the whole thing. Good stuff.