The Illustrated Laptop From Hell - Part VIII

The Ukraine Cover-up

A dramatization of real events. Click here for Part I.

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September 9, 2019 - Washington, D.C.

Everything came to a head on September 9, 2019.

That morning, Bill Taylor sent a text message to Gordon Sondland that would become one of the most famous communications of the entire Ukraine affair:

“As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.”

It was a blunt, clear statement. The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine was saying in writing that military aid to an ally fighting Russian aggression was being withheld to pressure that ally to help Trump’s reelection campaign.

Sondland, apparently realizing the text created a damaging written record, didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he called Taylor and they spoke by phone. Then, hours later—after what Taylor would later testify appeared to be consultation with others—Sondland sent a carefully worded response:

“Bill, I believe you are incorrect about President Trump’s intentions. The President has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind. The President is trying to evaluate whether Ukraine is truly going to adopt the transparency and reforms that President Zelensky promised during his campaign.”

But Taylor’s text remained. A clear statement from a career Blob diplomat that the aid hold was “crazy” because it was being used for political purposes.

That same day, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson notified House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and ranking member Devin Nunes about anv “urgent concern”.

Schiff, who already knew about the complaint from Eric Ciaramella’s meeting with his staff in August, now had official notification. He could demand the complaint be turned over. He could threaten subpoenas. He could go public with the fact that the DNI was withholding a whistleblower complaint from Congress.

The pieces were all moving into position. The impeachment trap was springing shut.

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September 26, 2019 - Washington, D.C.

The day after the White House released the transcript of the Trump-Zelensky call, the declassified whistleblower complaint became public.

The nine-page document was extraordinary—not for what it revealed about Trump’s conduct (the transcript had already done that), but for how it was constructed.

The complaint was dated August 12, 2019. It described events from the July 25 phone call in detail, despite the whistleblower not being on the call. It characterized Trump’s requests to Zelensky as “soliciting interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” It claimed Trump was “using the power of his office to solicit interference” and that this posed “risks to U.S. national security and undermine[d] the U.S. Government’s efforts to deter and counter foreign interference in U.S. elections.”

It was a comprehensive legal brief for impeachment. It was perfect for Adam Schiff.

The complaint cited news articles from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other outlets. It connected dots that a CIA analyst sitting at Langley would have no way to connect—unless he was being fed information by people inside the White House, the State Department, and the National Security Council.

Reading the complaint, it became clear this was not the work of a lone whistleblower troubled by what he’d heard about a phone call. This was a coordinated operation involving multiple individuals with access to classified information, legal expertise, and media connections.

And it had been delivered to Congress by ICIG Michael Atkinson, who had changed the whistleblower forms to accept it. Atkinson, who had a direct connection to the anti-Trump operations at the DOJ-NSD through his former boss, Mary McCord.

The complaint’s release created exactly the media firestorm its authors intended. Cable news covered it wall-to-wall. Legal experts declared it damning. Democrats called it proof of impeachable offenses.

The narrative was set. Trump had abused his power. He’d solicited foreign interference. He’d withheld military aid to pressure an ally. He deserved to be impeached.

But the complaint itself was the product of a conspiracy—involving Ciaramella, Misko, Schiff’s staff, Atkinson, and others.

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September 17-26, 2019 - Washington, D.C.

On September 17, before the whistleblower complaint was made public, Adam Schiff appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“We have not spoken directly with the whistleblower,” Schiff said confidently. “We would like to.”

It was a lie. And Schiff knew it was a lie when he said it.