What I’ve Been Reading
Turkish assault on the Kurds in Syria:
Trump had a call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and then announced the withdrawal of US troops from Syria, but Mike Pompeo says the US did not approve Turkey’s Syria offensive. Pompeo is either one of the few in government on the planet who doesn’t know that the only reason Turkey hasn’t been attacking the Kurds was the presence of US troops, or he’s lying. Given that we already went through this in 2018 with Trump finally being convinced to cancel the order to withdraw, I’ll vote for lying.
Ali Velshi notes that Turkey is the top patron of Trump properties globally. Who believes that Trump doesn’t factor that in when dealing with Erdogan?
Another Trump vetting failure:
Two Giuliani associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, have been arrested for campaign finance violations. They were laundering foreign money (Russian) into US political organizations. Digby has nice picture of them, the two guys between Pence and Trump.
Impeachment:
The 8-page White House letter is considered by most people who study such things to be an article of impeachment on its face for obstruction.
Fox News Poll: A record 51% say they want Trump not only impeached but removed from office. This is a Fox poll and the first to show that a majority want him removed from office. When the pictures of the dead and wounded from the Turkish assaults on the Kurds start showing up, it will probably get worse. Congressional Republicans are speaking out about the betrayal of the Kurds, and when ISIS fighters escape because of the Turkish action the volume will increase. Trump is 30 Republican Senators from being the first US President to be removed from office.
