Pierce: Rudy Giuliani Isn't the 'Hand Grenade' That Blows Everything Up. John Bolton Is.

[mcar]

Rudy Giuliani Isn't the 'Hand Grenade' That Blows Everything Up. John Bolton Is.
I hold no brief for John Bolton, but he is continually exposing the weak case Senate Republicans are pushing to cover for Donald Trump.

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
JAN 31, 2020

Call it a Bolton from the blue.

Or don’t. It is kind of a bad joke. But not as bad a joke as The New York Times just pulled on the Republican senators who thought they were home free when Lamar! Alexander went in the tank late Thursday night. Sorry, gang. There were more entrails to be pulled out through your noses.

More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense.

....

This is a richly filled piñata of crimes and impeachable offenses, and not just on the part of the president*. Cipillone was inches from obtaining a clean getaway for his client—and, very likely, a considerable upgrade in his hourly rates. Now, he's is in the grinder as a possible witness to the fact that, as even Lamar! conceded, the president* is as guilty as John Wilkes Booth. This means that, throughout the Senate trial, Cipollone has been misrepresenting himself and the facts of the case right there in John Roberts’s grill for two weeks. Do that in muni court and you can feed your license to the pigeons in the plaza outside....

But politically, for Republican senators, this is both a bombshell on its own, and also an ominous look at their immediate political futures. Cory Gardner has to read this piece and know that he’s going to be explaining one new scandal after another all the way to next fall. (It is interesting that, apparently, Bolton’s publisher has moved the pub date for his book up to March from October, so it’s going to be out there for most of the campaign season.) ...

I hold no brief for John Bolton. He has had vital information about high crimes and misdemeanors for almost a year, and he’s held onto it so he can turn a buck on it. (Apparently, he gave a paid speech in Austin on Thursday night where he stood uncompromisingly, and lucratively, behind the career diplomats like Fiona Hill who have testified to what they knew.) In the annals of presidential impeachments, Bolton has proven himself to lack the essential courage of either Lev Parnas or Monica Lewinsky. Still, though, it turns out that it's John Bolton, not Rudy Giuliani, who is—to use Bolton’s own metaphor—the hand grenade that blows everything up.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a30731073/john-bolton-book-trump-ukraine-pressure-campaign/

[rzemanfl]

1. "Lacks the courage of...Monica Lewinsky."

[2naSalit]

2. I think the two of them are like

Doublemint gum!

They are just fighting for spoils of the crimes.

[MontanaMama]

3. Yup. Bolton is exactly the POS

we always thought he was. No surprises there.

[2naSalit]

4. So right now the Rs are having a fight on the floor!

And nobody can figure out what to do since they've been outed... and they know that we are paying attention!

There is a Moon/Uranus link late tonight so there will be a big surprise likely come morning... this is definitely mystery theater with the highest of stakes. The hair on the back of my neck has been standing up all week.

[MontanaMama]

5. I can always count on you

for the inside planetary scoop. Coincidentally...last night my kiddo and I were watching the skies on a rare clear night in Missoula...anyway, Uranus and the Moon were crazy bright in the western sky...not really related to your message but damn it was spectacular. If my calculations were correct...Neptune was in the mix too.

[2naSalit]

6. The bright one near the moon the past few nights

is Venus, can't see Neptune w/naked eye, once in a while you can make out Uranus but it's got to be really clear and dark. But the will meet up with Uranus tonight so you aren't far off. I like it when you can see the configurations.

Yes. with the events at the first of the month/year/season/decade, it set the tone for those time frames. It's definitely a "fasten your seatbelts" year at the very least. Just remember the important mantra, expect the unexpected" in all things.