Politico has another story about the Air Force fueling in Prestwick near Trump’s golf course: “The frequency of the [fueling] stops and overnight stays has increased steadily each year, from 95 stops and 40 overnights in 2015; 145 and 75 in 2016; 180 and 116 in 2017; 257 and 208 in 2018; and 259 stops and 220 overnights through August 2019.” The reporters also found evidence of more stays at the Trump hotel, although the number is now unknown.
The New York Times reports on the Trump Organization’s partnership with the Prestwick airport going back to 2014. The Air Force is also saying their review will account for the number of times airmen were billited in Turnberry.
Politico continued to report news on the Turnberry scandal, including proof of four times military stayed the night at the Trump hotel from September 2018 to June 2019. At least 60 service members were involved.
By Thursday we learned: “The U.S. Air Force has lodged crews at President Donald Trump’s Scotland resort up to 40 times since 2015, a figure that is far higher than previously known.”
On Tuesday Trump tweeted that he was firing John Bolton. Bolton tweeted that he resigned. In any case he is out as national security advisor.
Frum on Bolton: “Speak! Speak! Tell the truth, all of it—not just adjectives and conclusions, but the actual details of the self-dealing by Trump, of the security risks he presents, of his inattention and ignorance. Speak so that people feel it, so that people understand it, so that people can do something about it while there is time. “History isn’t kind to the man who holds Mussolini’s jacket,” Ted Cruz reportedly told friends in 2016. Cruz was right.”
Here is the New York Times report on how the Taliban summit came to be: “Thus began an extraordinary few days of ad hoc diplomatic wrangling that upended the talks in a weekend Twitter storm. On display were all of the characteristic traits of the Trump presidency — the yearning ambition for the grand prize, the endless quest to achieve what no other president has achieved, the willingness to defy convention, the volatile mood swings and the tribal infighting.”
This week we learned that the Russian spy who offered intel on Putin’s order to hack the DNC and to support Trump was urged by the CIA to allow them to extract him from Russia. At first he refused but then in 2017 he consented: “The decision to extract the informant was driven “in part” because of concerns that Mr. Trump and his administration had mishandled delicate intelligence, CNN reported. But former intelligence officials said there was no public evidence that Mr. Trump directly endangered the source, and other current American officials insisted that media scrutiny of the agency’s sources alone was the impetus for the extraction.”
Trump directed Mulveny to have the NOAA reverse it’s contradiction of his Alabama weather forecast, and Wilbur Ross followed up by threatening jobs at NOAA.
Impeachment
According to the New York Times, House Democrats return to Congress this week with a plan to broaden their impeachment inquiry: “a robust four-month itinerary of hearings and court arguments that they hope will provide the evidence they need to credibly portray Mr. Trump as corrupt and abusing his power.”
Aid money for Ukraine which Trump held up for months was finally released on Thursday.
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Trump’s Job Approval: 41.6%