Category: General

House GOP Demands Release Of Biden-Ukraine Transcript Following Reports Call ‘Did Not Go Well’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

House Republicans are demanding transcripts of a call between President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a possible Russian invasion of the country be released after disputed reports over the substance of the conversation.

CNN initially reported that a senior Ukrainian official described the talk between Biden and Zelensky as “long and frank” but that it “did not go well.”

CNN reporter Alexander Marquardt, late Thursday, tweeted alarming quotes provided by the Ukrainian official.

“A Russian invasion is now virtually certain once the ground freezes, Biden said to Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official told [CNN reporter Matthew Chance],” he wrote.

“Kyiv could be ‘sacked,’ Russian forces may attempt to occupy it, ‘prepare for impact’, Biden said, according to this official.”

RELATED: Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor: Border Should Be ‘Inviolate’ … Ukraine’s Border That Is

Release The Biden Transcript

The characterization of the phone call was immediately disputed by the White House and the Ukrainian government, according to Newsweek.

National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne described the CNN report based on a Ukrainian official’s comments as “completely false.”

Horne would later tell CNN that “anonymous sources are ‘leaking’ falsehoods.”

A spokesman for Zelensky also posted to Facebook that the accounts were “completely false.”

A readout of the call on the White House website makes no mention of any dire warnings to Ukraine, instead indicating that Biden “reaffirmed” to Zelensky that the United States would “respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”

House Republicans though, challenged the White House to clear the air by demanding they release the actual transcript of the call.

The official Twitter account of the Republican conference wrote, “Now it’s your turn @JoeBiden. #ReleaseTheTranscript.”

They added a video of Biden in 2019 calling on then-President Trump to “release the transcript of the call” between him and Zelensky, a call that led to the former president’s first impeachment in 2019.

RELATED: House Democrats Want Biden To Relinquish Sole Authority To Launch Nuclear Weapons

Experts Warn Of Nuclear War

The hashtag ‘#ReleaseTheTranscript’ began trending and was the number one leading topic on Twitter Friday morning.

Releasing the transcript of Biden’s call with Zelensky seems like a logical step. The last thing all parties involved need is reckless and possibly false comments by the President escalating tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.

The controversy comes as experts are warning of a nuclear exchange should Russia and the U.S. come to blows.

“As Russian troops bear down on Ukraine and the United States prepares its own military buildup in Eastern Europe, concerns are growing across the ideological spectrum that the standoff could inadvertently escalate into the unthinkable: nuclear war,” Politico reports.

The column cites “current and former officials and experts on both sides of the Atlantic” who worry about ‘miscalculations’ and ‘stumbling into nuclear confrontation.’

Is there anything at stake here that could justify even the remote chance of nuclear war? 

Shortly after Biden was sworn into office, dozens of House Democrats quietly called on President Biden to relinquish sole control over the country’s nuclear arsenal and the ability to launch a strike using those weapons.

The movement stalled.

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, assured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that in the waning days of the Trump presidency, a President couldn’t launch a nuclear attack alone.

The State Department in November said “all options are on the table and there’s a toolkit that includes a whole range of options” in how to respond to Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border.

The post House GOP Demands Release Of Biden-Ukraine Transcript Following Reports Call ‘Did Not Go Well’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Rand Paul: Biden ‘Caught Red-Handed’ Using Government Spying To Go After ‘Political Opponent’

Posted on by Guest Author

On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul responded to former Vice President Joe Biden being one of a number of high ranking Obama administration officials who may have received intelligence from unmasking requests targeting Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor.

This is all according to newly-declassified documents by acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, to which the senator said Biden was “caught red-handed” using U.S. spy powers to “go after a political opponent.”

RELATED: Rand Paul Says Obama Might Have Known About Biden, Ukraine Issues: ‘There Could Be A Smoking Gun’ 

Paul went into detail during a press conference on Wednesday.

Paul: ‘Almost everyone in President Obama’s top circle wanted to see this and wanted to listen to this conversation’

A reporter asked Paul, “If this happens to a current president, this would be an impeachable offense, if not a criminal offense.”

“Can you imagine? Yeah,” Paul responded.

Another reporter queried the senator, “Would you like there to be criminal charges brought against them?”

He replied, “I think we need to get to the bottom of this, and I think the first thing is to interview, under oath, [Acting] Director of National Intelligence [Grenell] and get to the bottom of what goes on with unmasking. How unusual is this that the entire upper echelon — individually it wasn’t just one request for this, there were dozens of requests. Almost everyone in President Obama’s top circle wanted to see this and wanted to listen to this conversation.”

President Trump: ‘The unmasking is a massive thing’

President Trump said later on Wednesday in the wake of this recent news, “The unmasking is a massive thing. I just got a list. Who can believe a thing like this?”

 

Paul had more thoughts at his press conference.

“But this is troubling,” Paul continued. “This isn’t about national security, this is about eavesdropping on your opponent and eavesdropping on the new president’s top advisor. This is very, very troubling. This was being led by at least by Vice President Biden, if not [President Obama], and we need to get to the bottom of it to make sure it never happens again.”

“For the average American, they’re worried that this could happen to a top general like Flynn, but could you imagine this power being unharnessed on an ordinary American? How would we defend ourselves?” Paul wondered.

 

After another reporter questioned what the timeline and larger context of the unmasking might have looked like, Paul made further comments.

“The way I read it, is it looks like each of these administration officials actually individually requested to listen to this conversation,” Paul said. “It was like, well, someone says, ‘why don’t we have someone go listen to this and send the transcript around.’ It sounds like each of these people individually did.”

The senator continued, “These rumors have been going around for years that President Obama’s administration was abusing this power of unmaking, and this sounds like these were abusing it to go after a political opponent, which I think is a very serious offense and should be investigated — and the fact that Vice President Biden is directly involved with unmasking a political opponent. Think about it.”

RELATED: New CNN Poll Shows Donald Trump Has Tied His Highest Approval Rating Ever

 

Paul: Biden caught ‘red-handed’

Then Sen. Paul reminded the press of recent history concerning accusations about corruption and coverups.

“Remember we went through this thing called impeachment? ” Paul said. “They said President Trump was using the government to go after a political opponent?”

“This is Vice President Biden using the spying powers of the United States to go after a political opponent,” Paul declared.

“He’s caught red-handed here,” he finished.

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