Page 1130 - Leverage News Today

Northern syria. the u.s. lifting sanctions on turkey as the turkish and russian troops move into that area. fox news contributor dan hoffman former c.i.a. station chief. good morning to you. youve served all over the world. what is your take on what we learned from yesterday so far? >> well, weve learned a lot from the congress and their sentiment. totally understandable they want to sanction turkey for ethnic displacement of the kurds and the work theyre doing with russia, syria and iran. we al...

To donald trump to giuliani you see it was also donald trump to ambassador sondland. you have donald trump with these directives trying to use your taxpayer dollars to extort the ukrainians for his personal benefit. >> do you think -- what is your understanding of the argument your colleagues are making about this right now? they seem undecided between a quid pro quo, there was no quid pro quo or everything is fine. >> one, it should be noted that we passed in 2018 in congress aid for the ukrain...

That as soon as it is passed and signed into law by the president, the ukrainians are waiting for it and every second that ticks by that they dont have it, they know that they dont have it, to so that in and of itself is leverage. >> thats a good point. >> thats leverage. and we also are starting to learn about the human cost of not having that aid. weve heard now from witnesses describe that this is a matter of life and death for ukrainians, and if americans are, you know, really offended and r...

His chief of staff mick mulvaney. bilateral meetings and phone calls were dangled as leverage in pursuit of that so-called deliverable. and most alarming crucial military aid to ukraine was abruptly cut off to get the message across. even the presidents chief of staff brazenly admitted and worst yet it was made clear ambassador bill taylor it all paints a picture of the presidents abuse of power. im joined now by natasha bertrand, and david corn, washington bureau chief from mother jones. this i...

>> well do a phaseout of. and well continue to bring them home. its one part of the phase, the u b u the troops will come home. >> they are coming home. >> they will come home. >> that agreement, that agreement removes kurdish fighters along syrias border. it cements russia yas role as central power bloker. it shows the u.s. support is waning. this is a historic rebalancing of influence in this region. >> reporter: absolutely, christine. you see the shift in the power balance on the ground takin...

Using taxpayer dollars as leverage to try to get that dirt just shows how they were -- that they didnt fear investigations because it appeared they had survived rob irt mueller. >> really interesting, david. our friend dan balls sums it up. he says this closes one chapter and opens another. theres no longer a question ff this happened. if there was a quid pro quo. its now a question of how the white house will explain it and what republicans will do about it. >> you got a hint of it. sean duffys...

Obviously, theyre fighting a war. we have seen witness after witness deliver sworn testimony to congress, the presidents own people, many of them still work for him. yet theyve ignored the official policy of hiding behind privilege. and it is telling that only one, gordon sondland, rich hotel guy, trump political donor, he is the only one who tried to soften the blow. sondland himself now has to answer some other questions. but even his testimony showed that this is what it looks like. there can...

Obviously theyre fighting a war. we have seen witness after witness deliver sworn testimony to congress. the presidents own people. many of them still work for him. yet theyve ignored the official policy of hiding behind privilege. and it is telling that only one, gourd gordon sondland tried to soften the blow. even his testimony showed this is what it looks like. there can be no question whether there was a quid pro quo. my question is whether or not you are need one. were not checking off elem...

This sort of activity, if youen dovor to do so. you have to have the precise scomplj here is a quid pro quo, and the reason he felt pressured for the leverage we already spoke about. >> you bring up the whole point about high crimes and misdemeanors, what the president says he can and cant do abuse of power. ni nia, the bottom line for the president politically here is what david said, it doesnt take a genius. all of the facts are saying the same thing, and it is very clear. the question is how ...

>> david? >> this is kind of a torpedo to one of their many arguments here in the last 24 hours in reaction to ambassador taylors testimony, the argument has been really cant be a quid pro quo unless the ukrainians knew that, you know, that this -- this funding was being held up, if they knew, you know, and you know, whats very clear is they knew for a long time what the president wanted. they -- they were aware, as weve seen in other reporting that this aid was being held up, and it doesnt take...