The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Chosen Daughter on September 27, 2019, 06:31:56 pm
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Pence advised Trump against releasing partial transcript of Ukraine call: report
By John Bowden - 09/27/19 07:21 AM EDT
Vice President Pence urged President Trump not to release a memo detailing his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week amid a scandal over Trump's efforts to persuade the Ukrainian leader to direct an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Pence fell in line and ultimately supported the report's public release, but privately counseled Trump against the matter when it was first raised. The White House eventually released the rough transcript, according to the Journal, because Trump felt that Republicans were losing the messaging battle in the press.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/463337-pence-advised-trump-against-releasing-partial-transcript-of-ukraine
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Pence advised Trump against releasing partial transcript of Ukraine call: report
By John Bowden - 09/27/19 07:21 AM EDT
Vice President Pence urged President Trump not to release a memo detailing his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week amid a scandal over Trump's efforts to persuade the Ukrainian leader to direct an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Pence fell in line and ultimately supported the report's public release, but privately counseled Trump against the matter when it was first raised. The White House eventually released the rough transcript, according to the Journal, because Trump felt that Republicans were losing the messaging battle in the press.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/463337-pence-advised-trump-against-releasing-partial-transcript-of-ukraine
The Republican will always lose the messaging battle in the press. So what else is new? Trump should have listened to Pence.
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Well, of course. Releasing the transcript could seriously impair Trump's ability to conduct diplomacy. And it could become a precedent for a flood of similar demands based on frivolous fauxny accusations. That's why I think the Dems made their demand, expecting Trump to decline, triggering their pre-planned follow-up howls of "Cover-UP!!!"
Pence likely knew all that, and also likely knew the contents of the transcript were innocuous (or was there). He just felt differently, if TWSJ and The Hill's annoymorously sourced claims are actually correct.
IOW, I think the decision was a very close call.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly encouraged President Trump to release the memorandum of his controversial call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Two people familiar with the conversation told The Washington Post that McConnell encouraged the White House to release the reconstituted transcript to reinforce Trump’s claim that nothing improper happened during the conversation, explaining that speculation about the call had escalated too far.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/463483-mcconnell-encouraged-trump-to-release-transcript-of-zelensky-call-report
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Annoymorously sourced, but whoever advised whatever, the key factors balanced in the decision were how future diplomacy might be impacted and showing the annoymorous "whistleblower" was parroting annoymorous lies.