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(CNN) - The nine-page complaint published Thursday morning amounts to pouring jet fuel over an already very strong fire: did President Donald Trump try or not use his position to promote his personal political agenda in a series of interactions between his administration and the Ukrainians?
MIRA: Director of Intelligence of the United States testified in Congress: The informant did the right thing
Much of what is in the complaint is somewhat subjective and not based on first-hand knowledge, facts that could allow Republicans to make holes in it as if it were nothing more than a job of political piracy.
Note, however, that I said that "much" of the complaint fits into this category. Not "all" of the complaint. And not a set of facts, or alleged facts, in particular.
Here it is, in the words of the complainant, which details the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky:
"In the days after the phone call, I learned from several US officials that senior White House officials had intervened to 'block' all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced, as usual, by the Situation Room of the White House. This set of actions stressed to me that White House officials understood the seriousness of what had happened in the call.
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“The White House officials told me that they were 'directed' by White House lawyers to eliminate the electronic transcription of the computer system in which such transcripts are normally stored for coordination, completion and distribution to officials at the cabinet level.
“Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used to store and handle classified information of a particularly sensitive nature. A White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective. ”
Wow.
Here's why that accusation of the complainant matters SO MUCH and has the potential to directly threaten Trump's presidency:
1) If true, make it clear that there was a concerted effort by the Trump White House to cover up the conversation because they knew that what Trump had said and done was very problematic. That is far from Trump's description of the call as "perfect" and totally normal.
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2) Either the transcript of the call is in the "computer system in which these transcripts are normally stored" or is not. The same goes for the claim that the transcript was placed in a separate electronic system reserved for classified information. The place where the transcript was placed is not a subjective judgment. And it is something that should be discovered.
Now, I suppose that if it turns out that the transcript was put into the electronic system for classified information, Trump's rejection will be that it was made because there was classified information on it. But that goes against the transcript of the call released by the White House on Wednesday and Trump's repeated claims that the call was irrelevant. ("You will see that it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call," he tweeted about it earlier this week.)
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In summary: the accusation in the report of denunciation of a cover-up on the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky is so incredible not only because it claims that the forces inside the White House knew how bad it was and acted to try to avoid Let it out. But also, and this is the really important part, there seems to be a high probability that there is a trace of electronic paper that can confirm (or not) the complainant's claim.
If it is shown that the transcript of the call was put on purpose, and the categorized categorization was used incorrectly to prevent the conversation from reaching the public, Trump's presidency could really be in danger. When it comes to an investigation by political trial in the Senate, the political weight of the chamber is on Trump's side, for now. But could this change that? We are not there yet, but that cover-up claim in the complainant's report provides a roadmap of how we could end there.
Political judgment
