No Wonder They Need Him Quiet

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JULY 12 - New Ambassador of the United States to the European Union Gordon Sondland is talking to media prior an EU Energy Council, on July 12, 2018, in the Berlaymont, the EU Commission headquar... BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JULY 12 - New Ambassador of the United States to the European Union Gordon Sondland is talking to media prior an EU Energy Council, on July 12, 2018, in the Berlaymont, the EU Commission headquarter. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images) MORE LESS

By Josh Marshall

October 8, 2019 2:00 p.m.

THE BACKCHANNEL

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CNN is reporting that immediately after the President’s notorious July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, according to Shimon Prokupecz, “aides to Trump scrambled” to “alert lawyers of their concerns and to contain the damage. Unsettled aides also immediately began quizzing each other about whether they should alert senior officials.”

This is not terribly surprising. It’s basically in line with other reporting. But this tells us something important.

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