“Needless to say, the notion that American citizens and others were monitoring Ambassador Yovanovitch’s movements for unknown purposes is disturbing,” said Lawrence S. Robbins, Yovanovitch’s attorney, in a statement. “We trust that the appropriate authorities will conduct an investigation to determine what happened.”

…”The very idea that there were elements, possibly of the US government or connected to the US government, who were trying to do an end run around everything that we’ve established to keep our mission safe is just outrageous.”

…”It’s common that terrorists and former communists do this to us. It’s appalling and incomprehensible that somebody who is working for the President’s personal lawyer would have been doing this to our ambassador.”

…The texts released by the House Democrats Tuesday show Connecticut Republican congressional candidate Robert Hyde berating Yovanovitch and suggest he was monitoring her while she was in Kiev and relaying her movements to Parnas.

…McEldowney told CNN she believes Pompeo is “derelict in his duty for refusing to speak out about diplomats who are loyally and faithfully and professionally carrying out their responsibilities and who are being slandered by political attacks.”

Marie Yovanovitch calls for investigation into ‘disturbing’ surveillance as ex-diplomats outraged over her treatment – CNNPolitics

hmmm

Documents released by the House committee show repeated contact between Lev Parnas, who worked with Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, and Derek Harvey, an aide to Nunes on the committee, about meetings with Ukrainian prosecutors to get damaging information about Democrat Joe Biden, who is running for president, and about a debunked theory about Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election.

The messages between Parnas, who functioned as Giuliani’s emissary to Ukrainian officials, and Harvey indicate Nunes’ office was aware of the back-channel White House effort that has led to Trump’s impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

…The text messages appear to show that Parnas sought to set up Skype and FaceTime calls last spring between Harvey and Ukrainian officials who were assisting Giuliani in his efforts to gather negative information on Biden and to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was seen as an obstacle.

…Parnas told MSNBC in an interview aired this week that he was told to work with Harvey because Nunes “couldn’t be in a spotlight” because of an ethics investigation.

In 2017 the House Ethics Committee investigated whether Nunes had improperly disclosed classified information during the Republican-led investigation into what the Trump campaign knew about Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.

…Following that interview, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) announced on Twitter that Nunes had threatened him with a lawsuit in December unless he apologized for saying Nunes had conspired with Parnas. Lieu included both the original letter from Nunes’ lawyer and Lieu’s Jan. 16 letter in response.

“I welcome any lawsuit from your client and look forward to taking discovery of Congressman Nunes,” Lieu wrote. “Or, you can take your letter and shove it.”

Text messages point to Rep. Devin Nunes in Ukraine scheme at heart of Trump impeachment – Los Angeles Times

mmhmm

[Biden] told the audience that “Bernie’s people” had circulated a video that falsely suggested that he agreed in 2018 with the position of Paul Ryan, the House speaker at the time, to dismantle the benefits.

Biden demands apology from Sanders over ‘doctored’ video on Social Security

Sanders’ organization will lie and cheat to win. …Which is one of the reasons they need to lose.

Months after Flynn led chants of “lock her up” at the Republican national convention, in reference to Hillary Clinton, it was the three-star general who was then forced – without hesitation or excuses – to admit to his crimes.

…While Mueller’s prosecutors had argued Flynn’s decades of military service warranted a lenient sentence for the three-star general even after he had admitted lying to the FBI, it was Sullivan who, gesturing to the American flag beside him, accused Flynn of selling his country out. Minutes later, he ponderously asked the government’s lawyers whether they had ever considered charging Flynn with treason. (No, they later answered.)

“Arguably,” Sullivan said, describing how Flynn had secretly been working for the Turkish government before he joined the White House, “that undermines everything this flag over here stands for.”

It was [a long overdue] moment that seemed to capture – perhaps for the first time – the depth of the betrayals at the heart of special counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation.

…The scene of the crime – the West Wing of the White House – seemed to gnaw at Sullivan, who repeated it several times, all the while emphasizing how unusual it was that the government and Flynn were asking him to bless a plea agreement even though Flynn had not completed his cooperation with the government.

…Never in his decades on the bench, Sullivan said, had he accepted a guilty plea from a defendant who was not really guilty. “I don’t intend to start today,” Sullivan said, and then had Flynn sworn in. “Any false answers will get you in more trouble,” he added.

…“I am going to be frank with you, this crime is very serious,” the judge said. “I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain, at this criminal offence.”

‘I can’t hide my disgust, my disdain’: judge lambasts Michael Flynn | US news | The Guardian

hmmmm

White House ‘broke law’ by withholding Ukraine aid, says watchdog – BBC News

No shit, Sherlock?