Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to the defenders of Ukraine and the entire modern civilization!
- News and information. Are they always the same?
- Democratic Senator Cory Booker: Republicans are doing Trump’s will. They put Trump above the truth, and corruption and crimes above the Constitution.
▶ In America, it seems there have been no new events in recent days that could seriously affect what is happening in the world.
The 47th president stated on Monday on another TV show in the Oval Office that he resolved all issues with China, that he has excellent relations with Xi, and that the US accordingly has excellent relations with China. He did not specify exactly what issues he resolved or what the excellence of relations with China entails. However, even he cannot create something out of nothing. In reality, when a state visit by the leader of one country to another occurs and no even entirely formal joint communiqué is signed as a result, it means no agreements on anything were reached.
The 47th president added during the same TV show that “Canada is one of the most terrible countries in the world.” And that he will not deal with Canada until Canada comes to him and says, “Sir, we apologize, we were wrong.”
We’ve heard all this many times before. There is no new information in this. Just shame and disgrace for the country and sensible Americans.
Cole, the 47th envoy for hostage release, proposed a new idea to his boss – the release of political prisoners in Russia in exchange for easing sanctions against Russia. This is also news that probably doesn’t make much sense to discuss. Trump and Cole should have read Graham’s law, which came into effect (the 47th likely didn’t read it before signing). This law does not allow the president to lift sanctions against Russia imposed since April 15, 2021, without Congress’s consent for five years. Congress certainly won’t give this consent. It won’t give it even if we assume the impossible, that Putin agrees to stop the war. At a minimum, Congress will require not only the cessation of the war for considering this issue, but also the evil empire’s agreement to pay reparations to Ukraine and hold war criminals accountable. Until then, Congress won’t even consider any administration request to lift sanctions. Especially if it’s a new Congress, after the elections on November 3. Therefore, even this news holds no real information worth discussing.
▶ Here’s the real information.
The Senate is working the last week before long vacation related to the elections. The Republican majority decided to stage a pre-election show by summoning former special prosecutor Jack Smith to the legal committee session. Smith had brought a series of charges against Trump following his investigation of the January 6, 2021, coup attempt and theft of classified documents from the White House and unlawful possession of these documents by former President Trump at the time.
When Trump was elected president in 2024, Smith’s investigation was halted, and the federal prosecution dropped the charges against Trump, but with the theoretical possibility of reopening the investigations and bringing charges again when he becomes a private citizen once more.
With Trump’s return to the White House, there began a real witch hunt against Smith, all prosecutors, investigators, and FBI agents who worked on his team. They were all expelled from their jobs. All of them, especially Smith, are receiving constant threats. Republican legislators, including many Republican senators, are actively participating in the harassment. At the judiciary committee meeting on Tuesday, they competed over who could insult Smith with the most offensive and harsh words, who could ask him the most absurd question, who could accuse him of pursuing the best and most innocent president of all time at Biden’s behest, who could concoct a conspiracy theory that Smith conspired to “take down” the best and greatest.
Senators were given 10 minutes during which they could ask Smith questions or make statements. Democratic Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey delivered a very strong statement, which I present for your attention.
Senator Cory Booker:
“Let me return to the reality in which Americans live, and to what they are witnessing right now. This is an attempt to manipulate the consciousness of the American people – gaslighting.
This has been going on for eight years.
Thirty days before the election, when people demand lower gas prices, all we hear is idle talk and attempts to impose the ‘big lie’ on Americans that Donald Trump was allegedly deprived of victory in the 2020 election. We are wasting the precious time of one of the most authoritative committees in U.S. history – the judiciary committee – pushing one of the largest manipulations of public opinion in the 250-year history of our country: the assertion that Donald Trump somehow won the 2020 election.
And when he didn’t want to accept defeat, he tried to cheat. We all know this. There are no new, sensational, shocking pieces of evidence here.
He called Republicans in Georgia demanding, ‘Find me more than 11,000 votes.’ He openly appealed to members of Congress, demanding they find a way to influence the peaceful transfer of power. And then Donald Trump incited people to attack this Capitol.
During the impeachment process, seven Republicans admitted that he really did this.
And here we are again: Americans suffer from high prices for gas, food, and fuel, and we drag in a prosecutor – not a partisan functionary, but a prosecutor – to try to impose lies on people. And I want to say the following to my colleague, the senior member of the committee from the Republicans.
Every candidate presented for appointment dodges answering the question of whether Donald Trump won the 2020 election, and refuses to tell the truth. This has been an going eight-year attempt to deceive the American people. And this is their main argument in the end, ladies and gentlemen.
Right before the elections, they want to spend time precisely on this – lying. Republicans in this committee care more about Trump than truth; covering up Trump’s crime concerns them more than the Constitution. And today I hear people saying, ‘Oh, this is an unprecedented investigation.’”
This person undertook unprecedented actions. Yes, undoubtedly, he undertook unprecedented actions. When else have the United States of America seen people storming the Capitol, trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, and beating Capitol police officers nearly to death? Officer Brian Sicknick died a few days after being brutally beaten.
It’s simply absurd that we’re wasting the American people’s time on this, while everyone is concerned about Donald Trump depriving them of health insurance, his war in the Middle East, and his chaotic tariff policy; yet you (Booker addresses Jack Smith – IA) have to sit here and hire security for your family because you’re being dragged into conspiracy theories and demands for Americans to focus on this. It’s sheer absurdity. I am deeply outraged that they are loyal to Donald Trump rather than the Constitution.
I am very sorry that they are trying to judge those conducting the investigation while ignoring the flagrant events they are obliged to investigate by duty. We, who were here on January 6, all remember. There were both Republicans and Democrats here.
We were evacuated. I saw some of my colleagues running for their lives. The crowd was demanding the death of the Vice President of the United States.
Gallows were being set up. Officers died. All to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and now this committee is not doing what it should—investigating the crimes—but instead, we are judging those conducting this investigation.
Well, I want to state this once and for all. Donald Trump lost the 2020 election—everyone knows this—and he was criminally charged (as confirmed by two grand juries) with attempting to obstruct the certification of these election results. This should not be shocking news.
This is a historical fact. His own Department of Justice told him there was no evidence of widespread fraud that could change the election outcome. His campaign repeatedly lost court cases, but he continued to act.
He pressured state officials. He demanded that the Secretary of State of Georgia—a Republican—find those over 11,000 votes. His supporters organized groups of fake electoral college delegates in seven states.
He pressured his own Department of Justice. He pressured the Vice President, and on January 6, he committed one of the gravest crimes ever committed by an American against their own country: he incited people to storm the Capitol. And just minutes after the Capitol was under attack, while Republicans and Democrats were fleeing for their lives, Donald Trump was trying to call senators, seeking to delay the certification process. This is part of a criminal investigation that undoubtedly requires thorough examination.
Think about it. The Capitol is under attack. Lawmakers are fleeing for their lives.
The Vice President is urgently evacuated to a safe location, while the President of the United States continues to call everyone in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. You all know what happened with Kevin McCarthy. The Republican leader in the House of Representatives calls the President and pleads, “Stop the mob, please stop the mob.” And, according to your findings, Donald Trump’s response was, “Well, Kevin, it looks like the people are more upset about the election than you are.”
Hours pass, and even after all this, Rudy Giuliani continues to call senators, urging them to slow down the certification process.
I apologize, Mr. Smith. I want to make everything absolutely clear here.
What you are investigating is not some trivial matter. It is not a simple robbery. It is the largest assault on our democratic traditions in over a century. And the danger it created… people call it election interference or obstruction of justice.
They use legal terms, but people were in real danger. There were human casualties. The Vice President narrowly escaped.
Members of Congress were nearly physically attacked, and your report concludes that this violence was a predictable consequence of Donald Trump’s actions; it was the result of his interference in the certification process. He incited this violence. He consciously chose not to stop it and instead tried to use the situation to further delay the process.
This is an accurate description of the conclusions of your investigation, correct?”
Response from Jack Smith: “We determined that he indeed incited this violence, that he foresaw the possibility and tried to profit from it.”
Cory Booker continues: “Oh my God. The investigator, who relied heavily on Republicans in his work – he testified to this committee – worked precisely with Republicans.
Oh my God, this statement should horrify every American: the then Commander-in-Chief did everything possible to undermine the lawful transfer of power and incited riots – for which he was accused by Republicans themselves. And now we are persecuting prosecutors who followed the facts, and we are being convinced that this is political bias. My personal data was also seized (by investigators). This included my text messages.
Karen Bass’s text messages were also seized. And, good heavens, it was one of the largest attempts to undermine our democracy since the Civil War, when the Confederates betrayed the country and started this conflict. And the noble police officers who stood in the path of the enraged mob and were brutally beaten…
Those who beat them were pardoned.
The people who brutally beat police officers were pardoned.
And what happened to the career prosecutors and FBI agents who were just doing their job and following the evidence? Mr. Smith, what happened to them?”
Response from Jack Smith: “They were unlawfully dismissed, publicly maligned, and subjected to all sorts of attacks. I find it incomprehensible how one can pardon people who attacked law enforcement officers and at the same time vilify those officers who are trying to uphold the rule of law.”
Cory Booker continues: “Sir, thank you. They were thrown into the fire. Americans, prosecutors and FBI agents who investigated the brutal assault on the police officers, were fired.
They were fired. Their testimonies are shocking. But for people like you, who decide to speak out, the consequences don’t end there – it’s not just about losing your job.
You are thrown into the grinder of a hate machine, making it impossible for you and your families to even go to the grocery store in peace. And all this is happening right now, while hearings are underway here, advancing the false narrative that Donald Trump is supposedly a victim. That he’s the poor President of the United States, profiting from his position, amassing billions; that his entire family has become fabulously wealthy through dishonest means while Americans become poorer, lose their health insurance, and face skyrocketing gas prices. The President and his family are richer than ever, yet they claim to be victims – victims of you and the other prosecutors and investigators, who were fired and subjected to such harassment that they need to hire security for their families. This monstrous lie has to stop.
This lie is repeated by people holding high government positions. Republican candidates are not even capable of telling the truth. And today’s farce, these attempts to manipulate perception, this hypocrisy, treachery, and blatant lies cannot overshadow the mountain of evidence that every American has seen with their own eyes.
Members of Donald Trump’s national security team from his first administration – people who worked with him, members of his cabinet – have repeatedly stated: he poses a threat to the country and its national security. And now he is back in power, using his authority to persecute worthy Americans – many of whom, by the way, are Republicans – for daring to tell the truth, investigate crimes, and declare: violence to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power is not the norm for the greatest democracy in the world. No, sir, I cannot sit idly by and allow your reputation to be further sullied, listening to the false accusations and insults against you, backed by fake evidence right before our eyes.
This is unjust to you. It’s unjust to your family. But you know what? You (and we) are not the main focus.
The main focus is that this situation is unjust to the American people. All across America, there are families struggling and suffering; they’re hoping that there is someone in Congress who will stand up for them. They say: ‘I’m tired of this politics.’
‘I’m tired of the lies. Is there possibly someone in America who will stand up for me and help address the issues of gas prices, lack of insurance, exorbitant childcare costs, and the elusive American dream?’ But no – what are the Republicans, controlling Congress, doing in their final words before the elections? They are advancing ‘the big lie.’
They are persecuting prosecutors. They are doing Trump’s bidding. They place Trump above the truth, and corruption and crime above the Constitution. I’m fed up.
These hearings are a farce, and I am genuinely sorry that you and your family have to go through this. Thank you.”
There are 844 days left until the end of the story called “Fear: Trump in the White House” © (the title of Bob Woodward’s book, published in 2018).
Thank you to everyone who read. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Take care of each other, help each other. Health to everyone.
Ultimately, what happens in the world depends on us. Whether we fight evil, do good, remain mere observers, wait passively, and believe that someone somewhere will decide something for us, or we fight evil and do everything possible for Good to prevail.
We must not allow evil to win. The victory of evil would mean the end of the world in which we live. We cannot allow this. Especially now.
Ukrainian Friends, I embrace and love you all. Please take care of each other, I urge you strongly.
Ukraine is and will always be.
And evil will be defeated and punished. And this is certain.
