November 07, 2019 "Information
Clearing House" -
Mark Zaid, one of the attorneys representing the
intelligence community whistleblower at the center
of the Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry,
tweeted conspicuously in January 2017 that a "coup
has started" and that "impeachment will follow
ultimately."
Then, in July 2017, Zaid
remarked, "I predict @CNN
will play a key role in @realDonaldTrump
not finishing out his full term as president." Also
that month, Zaid tweeted, "We will get rid of him,
and this country is strong enough to survive even
him and his supporters."
Amid a slew of impeachment-related posts, Zaid
assured his Twitter followers that "as one falls,
two more will take their place," apparently
referring to Trump administration employees who defy
the White House. Zaid promised that the "coup" would
occur in "many steps."
The tweets, which came shortly after President
Trump fired then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates
for failing to defend federal laws in court,
are likely to fuel Republican concerns that the
anonymous whistleblower's complaint is tainted with
partisanship. Trump's call with Ukraine's leader,
which is the subject of the complaint, occurred in
July 2019.
“The whistleblower’s lawyer gave away the game,"
the Trump campaign's communications director, Tim
Murtaugh, told Fox News. "It was always the
Democrats’ plan to stage a coup and impeach
President Trump and all they ever needed was the
right scheme. They whiffed on Mueller so now they’ve
settled on the perfectly fine Ukraine phone call.
This proves this was orchestrated from the
beginning.”
Trump has repeatedly accused Democrats and
partisans in the intelligence community of
effectively plotting a coup against him, through
selective leaks and lengthy investigations.
"45 years from now we might be recalling stories
regarding the impeachment of @realDonaldTrump.
I'll be old, but will be worth the wait," Zaid wrote
in June 2017.
He emphasized his interest in impeachment in a
variety of other posts.
"Johnson (1868), Nixon (1973), Clinton (1998)
impeachment hearings. Next up @realDonaldTrump
(2017)," he said in May.
Fox News has previously reported on social media
posts by Zaid that highlighted what appeared to be
open animus toward the president.
Although Zaid described Democratic House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
as a "mature
professional," and circulated articles that
touted the reliability of the largely
discredited Steele dossier used by the FBI to
surveil a former member of Trump's campaign, Zaid
has repeatedly unloaded on the president in no
uncertain terms.
"I'm not a Trump fan," Zaid said on
a podcast last year. "I go out of my way on
Twitter to say '#Resistance.' It's not a resistance
against the GOP or a Republican -- I don't think
[Trump] is a Republican, quite frankly." (Zaid also
boasted that he has sued "every" president since
1993, and pursues "them all," regardless of party
affiliation.)
Also in the podcast, Zaid acknowledged that he
had been fishing for plaintiffs to launch a lawsuit
concerning the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C.,
alleging unfair competition by the president and his
associates.
"The unfair competition becomes, when Donald
Trump became president, he has exploited his use of
the presidency, of the Oval Office. ... to send
business to the hotel. ... We identified this as a
cause of action, and we were looking for a
plaintiff, and we finally found this one restaurant
that was willing," Zaid admitted. A federal judge
dismissed the lawsuit last year.
Zaid also had something of an open casting call
for whistleblowers on Twitter as Trump took office,
writing that CIA employees should "come to" his law
firm "to lawfully challenge" the new president.
Zaid publicly requested that celebrities Debra
Messing, Nancy Sinatra, Cher and Rob Reiner
help promote his whistleblower law firm.
"@cher please check out our new whistleblower
page," Zaid wrote in one tweet, which garnered no
response from the famed singer.
In February, Zaid escalated his pitch to Reiner,
asserting that "we have a chance to depose" Trump in
court. At one point last year, Zaid even pitched his
services to Michael Avenatti, after the
now-embattled attorney mentioned that he was "now
representing whistleblowers within ICE."
Another of the whistleblower's attorneys, Andrew
Bakaj, tweeted in August 2017 that Trump should be
removed under the 25th Amendment, which applies to
incapacitated presidents.
|
Are You Tired Of
The Lies And
Non-Stop Propaganda?
|
The posts have surfaced as Republicans demand
that the anonymous whistleblower come forward and
testify. On Sunday, House Oversight Committee
Ranking Member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, rejected an offer
from Zaid for the whistleblower to
anonymously provide written answers to GOP
questions.
"Written answers will not provide a sufficient
opportunity to probe all the relevant facts and
cross-examine the so-called whistleblower," Jordan
said. "You don't get to ignite an impeachment effort
and never account for your actions and role in
orchestrating it."
Zaid acknowledged in a statement in
October that his client "has come into contact with
presidential candidates from both parties" -- but
insisted that the contact involved the politicians'
roles as "elected officials – not as candidates."
His abrupt disclosure came shortly after The Washington
Examiner reported that Intelligence Community
Inspector General Michael Atkinson told lawmakers
the whistleblower worked “or had some type of
professional relationship” with one of the
Democratic presidential candidates, citing three
sources familiar with Atkinson’s interview with
lawmakers last month.
Zaid and the other whistleblower attorneys did
assert that the whistleblower "has never worked for
or advised a political candidate, campaign or party"
-- leaving open the possibility that the
whistleblower did advise a current 2020 Democratic
presidential candidate prior to his or her run for
office.
"The whistleblower is not the story," the
attorneys said. "To date, virtually every
substantive allegation has been confirmed by other
sources. For that reason, the identity of the
whistleblower is irrelevant."
But Republicans have challenged that claim,
noting that various statements in the whistleblower
claim have seemingly proved inaccurate.
For example, the whistleblower complaint stated that
Trump made a “specific request that the Ukrainian
leader locate and turn over servers used by the
Democratic National Committee (DNC) and examined by
the U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike" -- a
request that does not appear in the declassified
transcript of the call released by the Trump
administration. Trump mentioned CrowdStrike, but
did not demand the server.
Meanwhile, Democrats on Wednesday released
a transcript of testimony from U.S. diplomat
Bill Taylor in which he claimed to have a “clear
understanding” that Trump wanted to leverage
military aid to Ukraine in return for investigations
that could benefit him politically -- while
acknowledging he didn't have firsthand knowledge of
"what was in the president's mind."
“That was my clear understanding, security
assistance money would not come until the President
[of Ukraine] committed to pursue the investigation,”
Taylor said.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT
Taylor is a top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine who has
emerged as a key figure of interest in the Trump
impeachment inquiry, having alleged a quid pro quo
was at play despite White House denials.
The transcript shows that Taylor testified he had
been told by other officials that the White House
was willing to hold up both military aid and a
prospective White House meeting with Ukraine's
president to extract a public announcement from Kiev
that probes related to election interference and a
company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden's
son were underway.
"That's what Ambassador Sondland said," Taylor
said, referring to E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland.
"He said that they were linked. They were linked."
But Republicans have countered that Taylor did
not have primary knowledge regarding the key events
in question, but rather based his testimony off
conversations with others.
In one exchange between GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin and
Taylor during his deposition, Taylor was asked
whether he had any firsthand knowledge of Trump
conditioning an investigation into the 2016 election
and the Bidens on military aid.
Taylor said he did not speak to the president, or
have any direct communication with the president
regarding the requests for investigations. Instead,
he said he was basing much of his testimony on what
former United States Special Representative for
Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker and Sondland
told him.
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this
report.
This article was originally published by "Fox
News" - -
Do you agree or disagree? Post
your comment here
==See Also==
“Coup Has Started”: Whistleblower’s Attorney
Vowed to “Get Rid of Trump” in 2017
‘Coup has started’: Whistleblower’s Attorney
said in 2017
Note To ICH Community
We ask that you assist us in
dissemination of the article published by
ICH to your social media accounts and post
links to the article from other websites.
Thank you for your support.
Peace and joy
