Prosecutors had called Credico to the witness stand to explain how Stone repeatedly used a reference to a “Godfather” film in urging him to clam up in response to inquiries from congressional investigators.

…[Stone] bragged about having a “back channel” to the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange long before ever contacting Credico about the issue. 

…In dealings with the House Intelligence Committee, Stone …never disclosed that he had made earlier efforts to dispatch a right-wing journalist, Jerome Corsi, to gather damaging Hillary Clinton emails from Assange.

…Credico warned Stone that he could be prosecuted for perjury for giving incorrect testimony to lawmakers. Stone replied with several threats directed at Credico and his therapy dog, Bianca.

“I’m going to take that dog away from you. Not a fucking thing you can do about it either because you are a weak piece of shit,” he wrote in one. And in another, Stone said, “Let’s get it on. Prepare to die cocksucker.”

…Trump and Stone spoke on several occasions as the longtime conservative activist worked diligently to gain information about the stolen Democratic emails and prod WikiLeaks to release them.

…Stone testified he had no relevant records about that critical time period, and he denied having contact with the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks. But the government prosecutors argued that call logs, email exchanges and other communications showed [otherwise.] During the late summer of 2016, for example, Stone had two calls with Trump himself and nearly 30 calls with the deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates.

Stone was also in touch with Erik Prince, an informal Trump campaign adviser, in October 2016. They discussed the WikiLeaks document dumps, according to the documents.

…“You opened yourself up to six counts of perjury,” Credico wrote, more than a year before Stone was indicted on seven felony charges, including five for making false statements to Congress. “You should go back and amend your testimony and tell the truth….I’m sure you still have time.”

Insults, threats and ‘Godfather’ impressions: Feds parade Roger Stone witness-tampering evidence – POLITICO

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A top State Department aide questioned the legality of a U.S. president asking for an investigation into a political rival in his hours-long, closed-door deposition before congressional impeachment investigators.

“Politically related prosecutions are not the way of promoting the rule of law. They undermine the rule of law,” said George Kent, deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

…The policy, as Kent described it, pitted the traditional bipartisan foreign policy consensus over U.S. relations with Ukraine, a fledgling post-Soviet state that needs Western support, against a parallel policy being advocated by Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer.

…Mulvaney dismissed the concerns of many of those testifying in the impeachment inquiry as “career bureaucrats” who “don’t like President Trump’s politics.”

There’s no evidence for that, however. Taylor, …for example, was hand-picked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after Marie Yovanovitch was recalled from the post. Taylor served as Ukraine ambassador previously under Republican President George W. Bush.

…Taylor testified that he saw conflicting U.S. policies toward Ukraine being enacted at the same time. The “regular channel,” as he called it, was trying to support Ukraine in its fight with Russia by promising military funding.

But the “irregular channel,” led by Giuliani, was threatening to withhold funding and a meeting with Trump unless investigations into conspiracy theories that could help the president’s reelection in 2020 were carried out.

…”One might say national interest versus partisan interest,” Kent said.

There has been zero evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.

…Williams, a career foreign service officer assigned to Pence, was on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that helped spark the impeachment inquiry.

Trump, on that call, asked Zelenskiy to “do us a favor” and investigate the two conspiracy theories.

George Kent Impeachment Transcript: Ukraine Affair Undermined ‘Rule Of Law’ : NPR

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She said was told by an official in Ukraine that Mr Giuliani, and Yuriy Lutsenko, who at the time was Ukraine’s prosecutor general, were planning to “do things, including to me”.

In his deposition, Mr Kent said the campaign Mr Giuliani carried out against his fellow diplomat was based on untruths. 

…“Mr Giuliani, at that point, had been carrying on a campaign for several months full of lies and incorrect information about ambassador Yovanovitch, so this was a continuation of his campaign of lies,” he said.

Trump impeachment: State department official George Kent accuses Giuliani of ‘lies and deceit’ | The Independent

Hell of a headline.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is preparing to file paperwork to qualify for the Democratic presidential primary in Alabama, ahead of a Friday deadline. The move would be a first step toward a national campaign, though Bloomberg has not made a final decision to run.

…Bloomberg has engaged in a will-he-or-won’t-he routine for over a decade about running for president, but declined to jump in each time. Earlier this year he was exploring a bid, only to bow out after former Vice President Joe Biden made clear he would run.

Bloomberg makes preparations for 2020 run – POLITICO

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Pence aide said Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine was political and not a normal diplomatic call – CNNPolitics

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“I said that resumption of the U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anticorruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks,” Sondland says in his new testimony, referring to a conversation he had with Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelensky.

…Sondland later testified that his insistence to Taylor that no quid pro quo was in place came after a phone call with Trump, who relayed to the “no quid pro quo” messaging. It’s now clear he was only relaying the president’s messaging, not his own belief.

Gordon Sondland Testifies There Was Quid Pro Quo With Ukraine – Rolling Stone

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Pence Aide Jennifer Williams Arrives To Testify In Impeachment Inquiry : NPR

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“Look, Joe Biden is well known, widely respected, and frankly beloved by many in the Senate on both sides of the aisle,” said Coons. “The impeachment process is already disruptive enough. I think we should be approaching it with seriousness, not by entertaining conspiracy theories that are utterly unfounded.”

Trump Allies Want Joe Biden and Hunter Biden to Testify. Democrats Warn It Would Blow Up the Senate.

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FBI arrests Puerto Rico Sen. Abel Nazario on bribery charges

hmm