Dems release selective batch of text messages after hearing and swear they prove quid pro quo

(FILE PHOTO by White House Flickr/video screenshot)

House Democrats released a batch of Trump administration text messages late Thursday that they believe proves without a shadow of a doubt that President Donald Trump used a quid pro quo offer to try to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden.

“This is not normal or acceptable. It is unethical, unpatriotic, and wrong. American presidents should never press foreign powers to target their domestic political rivals. Engaging in these stunning abuses in broad daylight does not absolve President Trump of his wrongdoings—or his grave offenses against the Constitution,” top Democrats said in a joint statement.

But the evidence suggests that, as usual, this is all just political theatre.

According to Democrats and their media allies, one message in question purportedly shows that prior to Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky, U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker told one of Zelensky’s aides that a future meeting in Washington between Zelensky and Trump was contingent on the Ukrainian president agreeing to investigate Biden’s alleged corruption.

Messages such as these prove that Trump administration officials “tried to strike a deal on behalf of President Donald Trump for Ukraine’s leader to investigate discredited allegations of wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son in return for improving relations with the U.S.,” Bloomberg reported.

“Good lunch – thanks. Heard from White House – assuming President Z convinces trump he will investigate / ‘get to the bottom of what happened’ in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington. Good luck! See you tomorrow- kurt,” the actual text message from Volker reads.

The message didn’t reference Biden once — it referenced credible allegations that certain corrupt Ukrainian officials meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In fact, none of the text messages released Thursday mentioned Biden or his son Hunter by name. Not one.

Read the texts for yourself below:

 

Another allegedly concerning text message sent two weeks after the phone call shows Zelensky’s aide Andrey Yermak promising that the Ukrainian president would formally announce an investigation into 2016 election meddling and the corruption-linked firm Burisma only after a future meeting was confirmed.

“Once we have a date we will call for a press briefing, announcing upcoming visit and outlining vision for the reboot of US-UKRAINE relationship, including among other things Burisma and election meddling in investigations,” he wrote.

The Washington Post has suggested that the Trump administration’s interest in Burisma was rooted in the president’s desire to make Biden suffer politically.

“Again, an investigation into Burisma is, in essence, an investigation into Hunter Biden’s work and an effort to position Joe Biden as having acted unethically. Yermak is promising to uphold his end of the quid pro quo, once a date is set,” the Post reported Thursday.

That’s speculation based on the unproven conspiracy theory that the president has been pushing Zelensky to investigate Biden to hurt his chances in the 2020 election. In reality, he’s been pushing for an investigation into Biden as per the requirements of his job as president.

Both Democrats and their media allies believe that the smoking gun is a text message sent in early September by Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

The message concerns the president’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine.

I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” Taylor wrote to Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union.

Is that not proof of a quid pro quo?

Actually, it’s not …

Missing from all of the tweets above was Sondland’s telling reply.

Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions,” he wrote. “The President has been crystal clear: no quid pro quo’s of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign.”

The statement appears to debunk the Democrats’ entire narrative, as it offers stark proof that the president has been telling the truth about his desire to root out corruption, not affect the 2020 election.

So does what Volker himself reportedly said while testifying to Congress on Thursday.

“The facts we learned today from Ambassador Volker undercut the salacious narrative that @RepAdamSchiff is using to sell his impeachment ambitions,” House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted in a statement after the hearing.

Jordan was equally unimpressed by the allegedly smoking gun text messages:

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