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Trump Prioritizing His Political Interests Is “The Definition Of Corruption” | The Last Word | MSNBC - YouTube
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President Trump and president Solinsky
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discussed their now public phone call
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with reporters today at the United
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Nations we had I think good phone call
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it was normal we spoke about many things
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and I so I think and you are ready that
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nobody push it pushed me yes pressure is
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irrelevant
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the only legal point that matters is
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that Donald Trump very clearly asked
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president Solinsky for help in trying to
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harm a candidate running for president
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against Donald Trump that is now an
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irrefutable fact and it is a fact big
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enough to get Donald Trump impeached
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joining our discussion now is ambassador
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Wendy Sherman as Undersecretary of state
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in the Obama administration she was
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leading ago share and the Iran nuclear
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deal she's also on MSNBC global affairs
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contributor and Ben Rhodes the former
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deputy national security adviser to
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President Obama as well as he's an MSNBC
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political analyst but let me start with
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you I know you've been on these calls
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you've been one of the number of people
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listening when it was President Obama
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you've read these documents this is my
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first and I've never read one of these
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before it today it's my first yeah I
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imagine your hands shaking holding this
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in your hands today yeah I mean Lawrence
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I actually got the transcript every
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phone call President Obama made so I've
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read hundreds and hundreds of those and
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I've never ever seen anything like this
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I mean first of all you have to consider
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the the context of Ukraine and of course
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the president view crane is saying what
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present troubles here there his country
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is besieged you know Crimea has been
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annexed there are people being killed in
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eastern Ukraine he's dependent on this
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aid which is a lifeline for Ukraine and
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for the present nine states to
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essentially be leveraging aid that is a
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lifeline to a country that has been
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invaded by an adversary of the United
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States because all he cares about is not
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the national interest not the people of
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Ukraine all he cares about is his own
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political interests is the definition of
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corruption and I've tell you what it's
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the other thing I think we know about
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this because the whistleblower there's
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one little window open on to one phone
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call where else is this happening you
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know if this is you know everything we
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know about how Trump operates is this
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happening with Saudi Arabia is this
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happening with Russia right so to
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this is a peek at how Trump actually
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operates and what that shows you is the
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complete and utter corruption of
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American foreign policy when ensuring
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your reaction my reaction is quite
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similar I found that press conference so
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painful today
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zalinsky was trying so hard to walk this
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very difficult line flattering the
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president saying he didn't get pressured
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while the same time saying we're an
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independent country I can't ask a
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prosecutor to do a particular something
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he was trying to show he's not a corrupt
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leader which is essential in modern
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Ukraine given its history and at the
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same time he had to sit next to the
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president United States who said hey why
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don't you and Putin get together and
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sort of work this problem out
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Putin is killing his people just
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extraordinary
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yeah I've been the the underlying policy
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with Ukraine is one of the things that
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isn't getting focused on much here but I
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do want to show that moment of Donald
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Trump today here is the president
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Solinsky and what he calls a war he used
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the word war today repeatedly publicly
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about his situation with Russia and here
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is what Donald Trump said about that I
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really hope that Russia because I really
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believe that President Putin would like
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to do something I really hope that you
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and President Putin get together and can
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solve your problem that would be a
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tremendous achievement
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and I know you're trying to do that I've
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been this this is FDR telling wood you
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know and Winston Churchill I hope you
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can work this out with Hitler yeah I
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mean Putin has taken a piece of the
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territory of Ukraine Putin is back in
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people arming people who are killing
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people in eastern Ukraine this is a
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spent the last two and half years of the
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Obama administration and Wendy was front
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and center in this to mobilizing
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Europeans to impose sanctions on Russia
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figuring out what assistance packages
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could go to Ukraine to help them weather
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this incredible storm their own in
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Donald Trump sees this as nothing more
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than the kind of a mere sideshow what he
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cares about is on that call talk to Rudy
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Giuliani talk to Bill Barr talk to my
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kind of personal lawyers and it's first
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of all a bad thing that the Attorney
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General
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to be a personal lawyer under the
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presidency it's about this completely
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meaningless corruption investigation
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because the other thing I'd say money
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was there too
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the decision to recommend that they get
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rid of that prosecutor was an
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interagency process the interagency
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meaning the State Department comes
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together the NSC at the White House and
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others this person was at the heart of a
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lot of corruption had nothing to do with
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Hunter Baden so he's inventing
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conspiracy theories to suit his own
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politics and asking a man who just got
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elected to a country that has been
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invaded by its neighbor to facilitate
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the skin severity theories and on the
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issue that really matters that Russia
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invaded his country he's saying oh you
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know I hope you work it out I'm sure
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Putin's committed to doing that that's
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taking Putin's side just like he did in
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Helsinki when he said Putin didn't
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really interfere in our election and and
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Wendy the the Europeans were wanted this
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prosecutor out of the way in Ukraine
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because they felt that the just nothing
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serious was happening with this
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president absolutely the Europeans were
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very much in line with what we were
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trying to do to get rid of this corrupt
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prosecutor and the other thing here is
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the whole reason we're here is because
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that Ukraine needed military aid it
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wanted as he said today those javelins
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and the president knew that created
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leverage and you see how that comes up
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in the conversation the president says
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yes but there really hasn't been any
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reciprocity and I'd like to ask you a
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favor though and so we know that this is
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all connected and so when people say
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there's nothing direct here I think it's
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plain as day then how many people would
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have heard a phone call like this and
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would be aware of the contents of a
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phone call like this a pretty good
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number Lauren Simon you'd have several
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people in the Oval Office for that call
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the leadership of the NSC staff the
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relevant people who work on Ukraine and
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the NSC then people like your guest
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Larry Pfeifer who we worked with in the
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Situation Room listening and making a
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record of the call and then usually the
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transcript is disseminated and the
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report seemed to suggest that part of
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what got the attention of the
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whistleblower is that they were handling
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this call differently that they were
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trying to restrict access to the
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transcript of this call I think it's
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also very important for your viewers to
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understand it's not just this transcript
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what else was going on why was Rudy
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Giuliani flying out to Ukraine why was
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the State Department again if based on
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the reports we've read directing you
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know
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Rudy Guiliani to be involved in this at
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all he's a private citizen who
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represents the present state so we
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shouldn't see this transcript as the end
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of the story I think it's a again a
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window into a much broader corruption of
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our policy towards the Ukraine towards
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Russia and front-and-center and all
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these matters is not the American people
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and keep in mind that's our tax dollars
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that assistance going to Ukraine that's
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our tax dollars being used like a part
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of Trump's campaign war chest until
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leverage again a foreign leader to do
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his bidding
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and so I'd like to see us pull all these
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different threads on in terms of what
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was going on around not just a phone
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call but Ukraine policy general Wendy
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all these years on the call of one
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whistleblower only one yes I think we're
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in a time where people are terrified to
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become a whistleblower you have to be
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pretty sure of what you're doing and if
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you're an intelligence officer you know
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that your life is on the line and that
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intelligence officers work not to be
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known by people they work to be quietly
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doing the work to protect us and protect
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our national security so for this
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whistleblower knowing particularly this
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president and this administration which
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believes in punishing people after all
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the president talked about our then
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ambassador to Ukraine who he basically
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said was doing bad things and he was
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going to take care of her which he did
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which is to push her out of government
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this is a punitive administration and so
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this whistleblower must have really
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believed there was corruption here and
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we saw the president as he always does
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he talks about how everybody else is
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corrupt to deflect from his own deep
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corruption then I think the the
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disturbing thought of the night I think
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for the audience's this is just one
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phone call
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this is just one phone call one
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whistleblower ambassador Wendy Sherman
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Ben Rhodes thank you both for joining us
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Senate really appreciate it thanks for
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checking out our YouTube channel
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subscribe by clicking on the button
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