Trump's Impeachment Will Implicate Pence (re-up from 9/27/19)
(Trump and Pence at the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016, via JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images.)
Below is an article I wrote back in September of 2019 after Vice President Pence was sent to Poland for the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, the meeting Trump decided he could not attend at the last minute. Trump had decided that he had to “monitor hurricane Dorian” from Camp David because it was set to hit his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. It was an odd switch at the time, but still in step with Trump’s selfish and lazy nature, so no one really questioned it in terms of the possibility that it was actually a plot to send Pence to do his dirty work and keep his hands clean from implications that he was threatening President Zelensky.
But he was, we know that now. We also know that Pence was sent to Poland and met with Zelensky at this very crucial time and Pence admitted to the press that he was kept in the loop on everything concerning Ukraine. Now that Lev Parnas has now publicly disclosed that Mike Pence was a key player in issuing Trump’s threats to President Zelensky, which means the stakes on impeachment and removal have just been upped significantly. If Lev Parnas is to be believed and his evidence is supported by what we already know that I detail in the story below, this is big. If Parnas is able to testify as a witness in Trump’s impeachment trial and this evidence (and possibly more) is introduced to corroborate what he says, we would have the proof and justification for removing both Trump and Pence from office. This would give us President Pelosi.
Read on, my friends, it’s about to get VERY interesting.
From a previous Shero post on Sept. 27, 2019:
With impeachment looming for Donald Trump after the swirl of activity from the release of a condensed “transcript” by the White House and the release of the whistleblower complaint from Congress, new takes on Vice President Mike Pence’s involvement are starting to surface. The whistleblower complaint, released Thursday, denoted that Pence had planned a trip to Ukraine, at the request of Zelensky for his inauguration, and then canceled it at Trump’s direction. Given what we now know about Trump’s attempts to pressure the President of Ukraine into helping him politically and the subsequent effort to cover it up, certain actions by Pence may indicate his involvement.
Vice President Mike Pence went to Poland earlier this month to fill in for President Trump at the last minute when Trump decided he needed to stay at Camp David to monitor Hurricane Dorian, which was headed directly for his Mar-a-Lago property. On Sept. 1, Pence gave remarks at the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Outbreak of World War IIin Warsaw, Poland. Later that day, Pence also met with President Zelensky of Ukraine with former National Security Advisor John Bolton in attendance. The Washington Post has reported that Pence made sweeping promises at that time to the Ukrainian president that included the U.S. “[continuing] to stand with the people of Ukraine on [security], on territorial integrity, including Ukraine’s rightful claim to Crimea.”
On Sept. 2, Pence gave a joint press conference with President Duda of Poland, where he was asked directly by a reporter: “…number one, did you discuss Joe Biden at all during that meeting yesterday with the Ukrainian President? And number two, can you assure Ukraine that the hold-up of that money has absolutely nothing to do with efforts, including by Rudy Giuliani, to try to dig up dirt on the Biden family?”
Here is Pence’s answer directly from the transcript released by the White House, and seen in the video above:
VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: Well, on the first question, the answer is no. But we — with President Zelensky yesterday, we discussed — we discussed America’s support for Ukraine and the upcoming decision the President will make on the latest tranche of financial support in great detail.
The President asked me to meet with President Zelensky and to talk about the progress that he’s making on a broad range of areas. And we did that.
We, as I said yesterday, especially since Russian aggression — the illegal occupation of Crimea and Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine — the United States has stood strong with Ukraine and we will continue to stand strong with Ukraine for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
But as President Trump had me make clear, we have great concerns about issues of corruption. And, fortunately, President Zelensky was elected decisively on an anti-corruption message. And he and I discussed yesterday that as he’s assembled his cabinet, and as his parliament has convened, that even in the early days, he informed me that there have been more than 250 bills filed for — that address the issue of public corruption and really restoring integrity to the public process.
I mean, to invest additional taxpayer in Ukraine, the President wants to be assured that those resources are truly making their way to the kind of investments that will contribute to security and stability in Ukraine. And that’s an expectation the American people have and the President has expressed very clearly.
We also talked in some detail about what other European nations are doing for Ukraine. The simple fact is that the United States has carried the load on most of the security investments in Ukraine. And we have been proud to do that, but we believe it’s time for our European partners to step forward and make additional investments to stand with the people of Ukraine as they assert their territorial integrity and sovereignty.
President Zelensky and I talked in great detail about ongoing discussions about resolving the ongoing violence and occupation of Ukraine. And those were the issues that we covered.
But I assured him that the people of the United States stand with Ukraine for their sovereignty and territorial integrity. But I called on him to work with us to engage our European partners to participate at a greater level in Ukraine, and also told him that I would carry back to President Trump the progress that he and his administration in Ukraine are making on dealing with corruption in their country.
At the time of the Press Conference, this answer did not draw much speculation. But now that the whistleblower complaint has been released with some of the context surrounding Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine, this answer puts Pence right in the middle of the controversy. The whistleblower complaint, released on Thursday, contains a critical passage in the Appendix about the reasoning behind Pence’s canceled trip to Ukraine as it was relayed to the whistleblower by U.S. officials:
“I learned from U.S. officials that, on or around May 14, the President instructed Vice President Mike Pence to cancel his planned travel to Ukraine to attend President Zelensky[y]’s inauguration on 20 May; Secretary of Energy Rick Perry led the delegation instead. According to these officials, it was also “made clear” to them that the President with Mr. Zelensky[y] until he saw how Zelensky[y] “chose to act” in office. I do not know how this guidance was communicated, or by whom. I also do not know whether this action was connected with the broader understanding, described in the unclassified letter, that a meeting or phone call between the President and President Zelensky[y] would depend on whether Zelensky[y] showed willingness to “play ball” on the issues that had been publicly aired by Mr. Lutsenko and Mr. Giuliani.” — Account of whistleblower Appendix of complaint
Although the above account by the whistleblower is not first hand, the complaint was deemed to be credible by IG Atkinson, who also found that the whistleblower complaint rose to the level of “urgent concern.” In yesterday’s testimony before Congress, acting D.N.I. Joseph Maguire said he found no reason to dispute that the complaint was not properly deemed credible by Atkinson. This passage does not specifically say that Pence knew the reason for the cancelation of his trip was contingent upon Zelensky “playing ball” with Trump, but it is highly unlikely that he did not, given the enormity of this kind of cancelation. Pence has also reiterated that he is working closely with Trump on all of the Ukraine matters — surely that would include understanding the President’s true intention for canceling such a critical trip.
First, by saying that he had spoken with Zelensky “in great detail about ongoing discussions” he is confirming that he was well entrenched in the negotiations from both sides. Next, he uses the buzz-word, “corruption,” which has come to signal a code of sorts for Trump not only discussing the investigation on Biden and his son, but for justifying withholding the aid from Ukraine in order to apply pressure to President Zelensky.
Now that the White House has released a portion of the phone call between Trump and Ukraine, you can see how Trump uses the issue of Ukrainian corruption as a justification for applying pressure to Zelensky to actually comply with Trump’s demands to investigate Biden. Keep in mind that we don’t even have a full copy of the actual transcript at this time, but once that is released, further discussions about “corruption” in conjunction with the military aid will not only implicate Trump, it will implicate Pence. The behavior of Pence becomes even more suspicious when you factor in the abrupt departure of John Bolton, who was present at the private meeting between Pence and Zelensky, just days earlier.
By telling the reporter, “we have great concerns about issues of corruption,” Pence has effectively made himself a partner with Trump in the entire process and by telling the press that he is not only fully aware of Trump’s plan, but that he completely supports it, he is making himself an accomplice to everything Trump will later be charged with. Pence concludes by saying that he will, “carry back to President Trump the progress that he and his administration in Ukraine are making on dealing with corruption in their country.” In other words, he will deliver a message to the boss on whether or not Ukraine is doing what was really asked of them.
On Sept. 18, Pence followed up with Zelensky in a phone call six days after the military aid package was actually released to Ukraine following intense bi-partisan pressure. The readout of the call states that, “The Vice President commended President Zelenskyy’s administration for its bold action to tackle corruption through legislative reforms, and offered full U.S. support for those efforts.” Given the new details of Trump’s July 25 call to Ukraine, where Trump repeatedly asks Zelensky to investigate “corruption” involving the former vice president and his son Hunter Biden, this could easily be seen as more pressure from Pence to follow orders. In that call Trump also points out how much the U.S. helps Ukraine as he goes back and forth between reminding Zelensky how much the U.S. does for him and making demands.
This second phone call just reinforces that Pence is continuing to do Trump’s bidding to secure the action he wants from Ukraine. The fact that Pence told the press that he was fully briefed on the president’s intentions and on board with the plan only lends credence to the argument that Pence fully understood that he was complicit in participating in a shake-down. As more details emerge about the actions of critical players including Giuliani, Barr, Volker, White House counsel and officials and other heads of Intelligence Agencies, we might find more details on this issue that reinforce the extent of Pence’s participation in pressuring Ukraine on Trump’s behalf.
Corruption has been an ongoing issue for Ukraine and the U.S. has worked for many years with the European Union to make this issue central to U.S. foreign policy. But, given the latest details about the ongoing attempt by Trump to use Ukraine to get dirt on his political opponent, the concept has taken on an entirely new meaning. It’s an age old tale that’s easily likened to a dirty cop, who forces someone trying to go straight, with a criminal record to do his bidding because no one will believe the convict if the cop gets caught. Given how many times Trump has employed tactics reminiscent of the Mafia, the scenario of a second in command, conspiring to assist his Don by putting the screws to Ukraine, I mean the convict, would hardly be surprising.
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Amee Vanderpool writes the “Shero” Newsletter and is an attorney, contributor to Playboy Magazine, analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
Amee, I love your writing and clarity on intense, fast moving stories where certain aspects and angles are often unseen or unexplored. However, in your preface for elevating last September’s piece, you ignore this simple truth (still such a thing): #MoscowMitch is still Sen. Majority Leader and he will ram through whatever he wants with his hapless GOP minyan because a President Pelosi will simply NOT occur on his watch. Would that it were otherwise.
Your post is in one word: Thrilling! Thank you!