Fact Checker: The GOP theory that Ukraine ‘set up’ Trump

Washington Post logo“That’s the piece of the puzzle I’m here to report today, that unlike the narrative of the press, that President Trump wants to dig up dirt on his 2020 opponent, what he wants is he wants an accounting of what happened in 2016. Who set him up? Did things spring from Ukraine? There’s a good piece we got an Oversight [Committee] letter on from Politico in 2017. Let me quote the article. It says: ‘Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump.’ They did so by disseminating documents ‘implicating a top Trump aide in corruption,’ suggesting they were investigating the matter. Ukrainian officials also reportedly ‘helped Clinton allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers.’ There is potential interference in the 2016 election. That’s what Trump wants to get to the bottom of, but the press doesn’t want to.”

— Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Oct. 6, 2019

Never mind that the rough transcript released by the White House of the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows that Trump said, “There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.”

Johnson says that what Trump really wanted to find out from Ukrainian officials is what happened in 2016. “Who set him up?” he asked. “Did things spring from Ukraine?”

View the complete October 8 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.

CNN’s Tapper artfully exposes GOP rep’s hypocrisy for attacking Biden while supporting Trump: ‘Either there’s a principle — or there isn’t’

AlterNet logoCNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday cornered Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) over Donald Trump’s wild accusations about Joe Biden’s son, noting that the president’s own children are engaging in foreign business “all over the world” as their father sits in the Oval Office.

Jordan and Tapper were discussing the impeachment inquiry into Trump when Jordan launched a barrage of allegations about Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. The Republican congressman also accused Tapper of engaging in “mental gymnastics” to protect Biden.

“Sir, it’s not gymnastics, it’s facts,” Tapper replied. “And I would think somebody who’s been accused of things in the last year or two would be more sensitive about throwing out wild allegations against people.” (In July, Jordan was named in a lawsuit  on behalf of former Ohio State University athletes who claimed the former assistant wrestling coach failed to prevent sexual abuse carried out by a university doctor).

View the complete September 29 article by Elizabeth Prezo on the AlterNet website here.