Upon his return to the United States after attending the new Ukrainian president’s inauguration, Energy Secretary Rick Perry urged President Trump to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Trump responded by ordering Perry to call his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to better understand why Trump didn’t trust the Ukrainian government, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In an exclusive interview with the WSJ, Perry said he obliged Trump’s directive in order to better orchestrate a meeting between Trump and Zelensky. He told the WSJ that Giuliani expressed several concerns he and Trump had about the Ukrainian government’s alleged pro-Hillary Clinton interference in the 2016 election, including the conservative conspiracy theory that a trove of Clinton’s deleted emails are hidden somewhere in Ukraine. None of these allegations have been substantiated.
Giuliani confirmed to the WSJ that the phone call between himself and Perry took place and said he expressed concerns that “I probably said on television 50 times,” he said.
According to Perry, the phone call took place after Perry and two other U.S. diplomats at the center of the impeachment inquiry met with Trump at the White House to urge him to meet with Zelensky. In that meeting Trump told the officials that they needed to work with Giuliani to address his concerns before he would agree to such a meeting.
“Visit with Rudy,” Perry said Trump told him.
“And as I recall the conversation, he said, ‘Look, the President is really concerned that there are people in Ukraine that tried to beat him during this presidential election,’” Mr. Perry told WSJ. “‘He thinks they’re corrupt and…that there are still people over there engaged that are absolutely corrupt.’”
So when do we read Trump’s goodbye Rick tweet?
Today?
In short, Trump told Perry that his lawyer Rudy Guiliani was running US policy in Ukraine, which we know is comprised of (1) trying to get nonexistent exculpatory evidence about Manafort; (2) boxing in Ukraine to keep them from effectively fighting Russian aggression; and (3) blackmailing Ukraine to get them to make up dirt on Biden to help Trump’s 2020 chances.
This is all completely insane and utterly corrupt and unpatriotic.
The US president is making normal diplomatic relations with the US contingent on the other country agreeing to help him to subvert the US’s democracy and national security.
Unbelievable but true.
As hard for me to wrap my head around this blatant abuse of power wrapped up in deceit, involving Rick Perry in the scheme with Rudy is like calling Gilligan in to help ensure the boat sails smoothly.
A little late to be trying to cover your ass on this one, former Gov. Good Hair, but completely in line with your usual lack of skill and insight. At least you have some sense of self-preservation that may override your sad devotion to Donnie.