Wow, just wow.
From TPM:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had received an ultimatum from the Trump administration. He was negotiating to sit for an interview with CNN host Fareed Zakaria. And Zelensky was prepared to do it: The President of Ukraine would go on international television and announce investigations into President Donald Trump’s domestic political opponent.
But the whistleblower intervened.
The President had placed a hold on a nearly $400 million aid package to Ukraine, and the Ukrainians were feeling the heat.
The date for the announcement was reportedly set for Sept. 13. But just before Zelensky went public, the security aid was released — and the public learned of a whistleblower’s complaint that would come to rock Washington and endanger Trump’s hold on the Oval Office.
The timing may have come down to a matter of hours.
The interview was “set,” Zakaria recalled, until it wasn’t. Looking back, he said, the release of the aid and the revelation of a whistleblower complaint appeared to have been responsible for the cancellation.
“The aid is released, so that’s the end of the quid, and then the interview is cancelled, that’s the end of the quo,” he said, adding later: “So it is possible to conclude that they realized this story was now public, the aid had been released, they didn’t need to do the interview.”
I would recommend anyone interested read the hour-by-hour account of this sordid affair, as compiled by Matt Shuham, from TalkingPointsMemo, in the link above.
No wonder Trump wanted to “out” the whistleblower.
Trump was that close to committing the perfect crime.
Note: The TPM story relies on reporting by the New York Times that Zelensky’s announcement and the CNN interview with Zakaria was scheduled for September 13. However, Zakaria in the Washington Post has indicated that the interview had not been finalized for that date and was expected to take place the following week. Regardless of when the interview was actually scheduled to take place, it did not occur.