Mick Mulvaney's role in the latest Trump scandal just deepened

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/16/mick-mulvaneys-role-latest-trump-scandal-just-deepened/

By Greg Sargent Opinion writer

Oct. 16, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

At the Tuesday night debate, the Democratic presidential candidates made their highest-profile cases yet on why President Trump deserves impeachment, with many focused on the Ukraine scandal. But Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) may have put the matter most bluntly by saying this:

The idea that we have a president of the United States who is prepared to hold back national security money to one of our allies in order to get dirt on a presidential candidate is beyond comprehension.

New revelations reported by the New York Times and The Post provide strong grounds for believing that this is exactly what happened. Those revelations deepen our understanding of acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s role in this whole scandal.

To be sure, there have long been grounds for suspecting Trump froze $391 million in military aid to leverage Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into carrying out Trump’s political bidding. But the new reporting gets closer to confirming it.

The key revelation is that Mulvaney was the official who carried out Trump’s directive to freeze the funds. This came a week before Trump’s July 25 call, in which he pressured Zelensky to carry out “investigations” designed to undercut the fact of Russian sabotage of the 2016 election, and to manufacture smears of potential 2020 opponent Joe Biden.

As the Times puts it, Trump “directed” Mulvaney “days ahead of the call to place a hold on the aid.”

But did Mulvaney know why Trump had done this? The Times answers that question as follows:

Mr. Mulvaney has told associates that the administration paused the aid to try to push Ukraine to more robustly fight corruption, not in connection with pressuring Ukraine to uncover dirt on of Mr. Trump’s political rivals.

This is supposed to be exonerating, but it’s an important concession. If true, Mulvaney has privately acknowledged a direct link between the freeze of the military aid and Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to fight “corruption.”

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[Mike 03]

1. Why it's hard to accept Trump could keep his true motive a secret

One characteristic of Trump that is laid bare by Bob Woodward, among other reporters, is that when Trump runs his mouth he doesn't conceal the reason why he wants something done or not done. He's not someone who holds his cards close to his chest. He tends to spew it all out. Somebody knew and maybe that person told him to shut up. That doesn't help him either, because then his silence is "consciousness of guilt." But I don't believe motive was a secret. Trump doesn't do secrets.

[Cracklin Charlie]

2. Didn't Mulvaney serve in Congress at some point?

He knew the stakes.

Down goes Mulvaney.