TWGB: Makes You Wonder

President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani denied asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden moments before admitting that he had done just that

"So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?" CNN's Chris Cuomo pressed.

"Of course I did," Giuliani said.https://t.co/lCJ274WqzO

— CNN (@CNN) September 20, 2019

Signs do seem to point to the whistleblower complaint that the acting DNI and the DOJ is currently preventing from being heard by Congress has something to do with https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/us/politics/intelligence-whistle-blower-complaint-trump.html. The case is persuasive, no matter how relaxed Giuliani seems to appear about it (note: he does not appear relaxed).

But, c'mon, now. In order to think that Trump is definitely involved in this you'd have to believe that he would promise to abuse his office to a world leader in exchange for dirt he could use against a campaign oppon....

Oh.

UPDATE: FWIW: Ukraine seems to entirely understand the deal:

Geraschenko told The Daily Beast in an exclusive interview that “as soon as there is an official request from the Trump administration, we’ll look into it,” but “currently there is no open investigation.”

“Clearly,” said Geraschenko, “Trump is now looking for kompromat to discredit his opponent Biden, to take revenge for his friend Paul Manafort, who is serving seven years in prison.” Among the counts on which Manafort was convicted: tax evasion. “We do not investigate Biden in Ukraine, since we have not received a single official request to do so,” said Geraschenko.

I think it is useful to keep in mind that the other party's willingness to go along with a bribe attempt has little bearing on its appropriateness.

UPDATE:

Breaking: Trump pushed Ukraine's president at least eight times in one phone call to work with Rudy Giuliani, who was advocating for a probe of Joe Biden's son, sources say https://t.co/7Wm9VsB6Sz

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) September 20, 2019