President Trump pressed the Australian prime minister to assist Attorney General William Barr obtain information about the Russia probe’s origins in a recent phone call, The New York Times reported on Monday.
The White House has limited access to the transcript of the call between the two world leaders to a small group of presidential aids, sources told the Times.
Echoing another call Trump had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which sparked an impeachment inquiry in the House last week, the conversation with Prime Minister Scott Morrison reportedly involves the president pressuring a foreign leader to look into domestic political matters. According to the Times, the president sought out Morrison’s help upon request from Barr.
Australian officials told the FBI that the Russian government and Trump campaign had been in communication about releasing information about Hillary Clinton, which provoked an FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Australian government passed along the tip once George Papadopoulos – Trump’s campaign foreign policy adviser – told an Australian official about Russia having access to damaging information on Clinton and “thousands” of her emails.
Trump is requesting Australia examine their tips to the FBI to see if they were sent for partisan or corrupt reasons, the Times reported.
………
- Discussion
-
Trump pressed Australian leader to help look into origins of Mueller investigation: report https://t.co/9N80DElF7e pic.twitter.com/UicSlmRzpQ
— The Hill (@thehill) October 1, 2019And now we have the President pressuring a U.S. ally (a treaty ally, not just a friend) to help undermine the Mueller investigation. One impeachable act after another. The articles of impeachment will take three days of reading in the House. https://t.co/rLspjTtRiF
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 30, 2019
We have now asked our allies – upon whom we rely for intelligence and defense cooperation to protect us all in the West against a world of threats – to help us investigate our own intelligence agencies in order to undermine a former FBI director and to help Trump's 2020 campaign.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 30, 2019Trumper counter-narrative already forming: "It's totally okay for Trump to ask Australia to help with a CI investigation about Russian interference."
Except what Trump really wanted is: "Work with Attorney General Renfield to undermine the Mueller Report."— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 30, 2019
Correct. This is routine, but what happened before this is the point. "We here in Australia have no idea WTF you guys are on about, but we're your friends, and if you ask us stuff, we'll do our best to answer you." The *ask* is what was wrong and impeachable to begin with. https://t.co/njcZdgwWmW
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 30, 2019
I used to say I missed Jeff Sessions. Starting to miss John Mitchell. https://t.co/lA2CuJTQfo
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 30, 2019
Unbelievable. Wow.
Trump will do, say, use ANYTHING to refute the Mueller report that he claims "exonerated" him.
He's out of control.— Melissa Jo Peltier (@MelissaJPeltier) September 30, 2019
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.