Ukrainian Drama

Tatiana was a western Ukrainian who was an only child. Her parents were divorced and her mother remarried. Although she liked her new stepdad, she lost him when she was in her late 20s. Since she was a nurse, she had a lot of flexibility with her schedule. She was at a crossroad in her life so decided she would go to Ukraine for a couple months. She was fluent in the language but that meant she had to stay on the western side as the eastern side not only spoke Russian but considered themselves Russians. Kiev, the capital separated the Ukrainian speaking Ukraine from the Russian speaking Ukraine. The Western side looked down upon the eastern side because they believed the Eastern side sold out Ukraine when Stalin starved them. The West, on the other hand, stuck with their nationalism and stood up to the communist Russians.

Tatiana was thin with brown hair and dark black bangs and stood around 5'6." She was attractive in a traditional way but not very political. She, however, walked into a political war in Ukraine. While she was at a bar drinking, she was having a conversation with a Ukrainian man. A woman came up to her and interrupted the conversation. The woman said, "I'm sorry, Ma'ame, but you look American but you seem to be speaking Ukrainian"

"I'm an American but my parents were Ukrainian so I grew up bilingual"

"Really, well do you know who Barack Obama is?"

Tatiana laughed. Yes, he's the President of the United States. At least for now, his second term is almost up so it's going to be Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. You did hear me tell you I was American right? Even if I wasn't, I think the whole world knows who Obama is"

The guy said in a thick accent, "Do you mind, i was talking to the lady"

The woman turned to the man and said, "I'm about to offer her a job. You can hit on her later. What do you do for a living?"

Tatiana told the guy in Ukrainian that she would catch up with him later. The guy snickered, got up and left. Tatiana realized they didn't exchange contact information but she was intrigued She said to the woman, "I'm a nurse"

"Perfect, your skills are always needed. Do you want to work for the President in Ukraine? We'll take care of all the paperwork but you need to do translations and given the medical care here isn't very good, you'll assist our doctor as needed."

Tatiana said, "Okay, so you're going to give me a work visa? Where am I going to live? When do I need to decide?"

"I can easily get you a place to stay and when you work for the President it's not hard getting a work visa on your passport."

"So I am living in Ukraine? What does Obama need in Ukraine?"

"You'll see if you say yes"

"Alright, yes"

The woman gave her the paperwork and just like that Tatiana was working in Ukraine for Barack Obama. The woman did everything she said she would. She got Tatiana a place to stay. Tatiana was set up with a wardrobe in her new apartment and told the next day she'd be meeting with Porchenko who was a nominee for President. Tatiana showed up for work a little nervous but she'd been speaking Ukrainian her whole life so it came easily to be a translator. She found out everything she knew about the rivalry with Porchenko's opponent Viktor Yuschenko. Yuschenko was pro-Russian so Tatiana naturally felt she was backing the right candidate. Her salary was much higher than what she made a nurse in Ukraine. She felt that was strange since it was a government job. The job was a dream come true at first but Tatiana was seeing a lot of money changing hands and since she looked like an American, people spoke Ukrainian around her thinking she didn't understand so she picked up a lot walking the halls of Yuschenko's headquarters.

Things turned from bad to worse when Yuschenko won the election but the people were disputing it. The country was in chaos. During the chaos, Tatiana found herself face to face with HIllary Clinton. She said, "Oh my God, Mrs, Clinton, hi I'm Tatiana, I'm a translator here"

Clinton took her hand weakly and sized her up. "You sound American"

"I am"

"Why are you here?"

"I work for Porchenko as a translator and a nurse. I'm kind of a liazon for President Obama"

"Who did you sleep with for that job?"

"Excuse me? Nobody, I was found speaking Ukrainian at a bar while looking American"

"Alright hunny, you don't have to admit it to me. But I know Ukraine, they don't let women hold jobs so close with the president"

"I work for President Obama not President Porchenko, and I would think as a woman you'd..."

"Save your 'me too' bullshit for someone who cares. We do what we need to survive. If you are ruthless you can get rich here. If not, you'll be eaten alive. Remember that little girl."

Hillary Clinton walked away after that and left Tatiana mouth open and shocked. She walked the opposite direction trying to compose herself. She exited and went to a bar. She needed to drink. An older man sat next to her and said, "Hello" in English

"Hi, I don't think I'll be good company right now."

"Yea, when American women meet Hillary, they have that reaction"

Tatiana turned to him, "How do you know that?"

"There's no secrets in Ukraine"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Paul Manafort. I'm the Hillary Clinton of the Yuschenko campaign"

Tatiana gave him a dirty look, "Oh, so you're the enemy"

"Now, that's not very nice. You know that Viktor has more money than Porchenko. We can pay you more to work for us."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you don't really know your value."

"What do you mean?"

"You look very American. Porchenko has you as a translator and a nurse but really you'd make a good spy. You can walk the halls and eavesdrop and nobody would be the wiser. Easy to pick up some dirt"

"Even if that were true, I hate Russians. they starved my great uncles and aunts. My family had to flee you pieces of shit."

"Not me, I'm American. You're talking about things that happened a long time ago. Before you were born. I'm just saying people will pay a lot of money for information in Ukraine. Here's my card. Let me know if you're interested in exchanging information for some cold hard cash."

Manafort got up and left. Tatiana couldn't believe she was contemplating it. She had a few more drinks and left. When Tatiana went to work the next day, she found Manafort wasn't wrong. She knew before that people spoke way too freely around her. She didn't really pay attention but she was confused I mean, shouldn't the employees know who the translators are? Maybe Hillary was right, nobody pays attention to you when you're a woman. She was sitting in the cafeteria when she saw people talking. Based on the conversation, she took out her phone and started recording. What she got was a conversation in Ukrainian laying out a plan to help Hillary and hurt Trump. They even discussed payment. Tatiana looked around and realized nobody else was there but she was shocked at the audacity of it. When she went home she was conflicted. She stared at Manafort's card reminding herself that she hated Russians. This wasn't pro-Russian though. It was anti-Hillary, It seemed that just how there were a lot of Americans in Ukraine meddling in the elections, Ukrainians were interested in the American election too. She didn't really like Trump but Hillary was mean to her so she was anti-Hillary. She finally called Manafort and said, "Ummm, is this Paul Manafort?"

"Yes it is"

"I met you at a bar. I'm the girl..."

"Not over the phone. I know who has this number and why. Do you have something for me?"

"How many people did you make this offer to?"

"A lot"

"So, you don't know exactly who this is?"

"I think I do but not entirely sure. Does it matter? If you have something I'll see you soon."

"I have something."

"Okay, come to my hotel..."

"No, it needs to be public and it's in Ukrainian so you need to bring a translator so you know I'm not lying"

"Just so you know, most people overestimate what they have."

"Well meet me at the bar you met me at and I'll show you."

"Okay, I'll bite. I'll come myself but if it's bullshit, you'll only deal with assistants. You got one chance."

"that's fine"

Tatiana gave Manafort the name of the bar. Manafort showed up and Tatiana showed him the video. The entire way to the bar, Tatiana was worried someone from the Porchenko's campaign was going to grab her but it didn't happen. When the translator was done with the video, he said to Manafort, "It's legit. You have a collusion scandal between Obama, and Hillary against Trump using Ukrainian officials."

Manafort said, "Do you know the names of the people speaking?"

"Yes, they're very big on the campaign"

"How much for the tape?"

Tatiana had no idea. She said, "I think you give me a price."

Manafort wrote a number on a napkin and handed it to Tatiana. it was much bigger than Tatiana ever imagined it would be. She knew not to take the first offer so she doubled it but her voice escaped her. She couldn't conceal the shock in her voice. Manafort laughed and said, "Tell you what, I'll give you 10% higher than I wrote"

"Done"

"Did you come here alone?"

Tatiana's body tensed up. She said, "no" without much conviction

Manafort smiled, "That's a lie. But now you know there's a lot of money in Ukrainian politics. I can get you a bodyguard if you want."

"When do I get the money"

Manafort made a phone call and then said, "Let's have a drink." He ordered two drinks and held up his glass to Tatiana, "to you being in the right place at the right time."

Tatiana clicked glasses with him and said, "You didn't answer my question."

"By the time you finish that drink, it'll be here."

Sure enough, a man brought in a briefcase and put it next to Tatiana. Manafort said, when it's time to leave, just pick it up, now send me the video."

Tatiana picked up the briefcase and opened it to see more money than she made in even a few years in America. She closed the briefase and took out her phone and sent the video to Manafort. She already decided she was quitting Porchenko's campaign if the money was legitimate. Manafort and his team left and Tatiana stayed later. Manafort offered her a bodyguard again but she declined. After all, she was more afraid of the people who gave her the money. She paid for a cab and went home afraid the whole way. She called in sick and then called her friend in London to ask about private protection. The friend worked fast as the bodyguard came the next day. Tatiana resigned saying she was home sick. She didn't go home though. She went with her bodyguard to spread the money around to various banks so she wouldn't violate US customs by carrying more than $10,000 cash. While at a bank, she recognized a third candidate in Ukrainian politics, Serihy Lescehnko talking to someone. She heard, 'Nellie' and recognized her as Nellie Ohr who worked for Fusion GPS that published a phony dossier about Trump. It was all on the recording she made. Now Leschenko was telling Nellie more information that Tatiana knew to be false. Later, Nellie would testify under oath the Leschenko was a source for her in putting together the Dossier. The conversation was in Russian but Tatiana could get the gist. With all the money deposited, Tatiana couldn't wait to get out of Ukraine. She landed in America and breathed a sigh of relief when she got to customs. She paid off her bodyguard before leaving. She realized she forgot she let her apartment go since she was living in Ukraine so she called a friend. It wouldn't be hard to find a place with her new found money. Manafort ended up being targeted by the Mueller probe but Tatiana didn't care. That recording was damaging but I guess the powers that be suppressed the release. She wondered if she was safe in America now.

Two years after working in Ukraine, Tatiana was back working as a nurse. She had moved to Arizona and enjoyed a large house with a swimming pool paid for by her Ukrainian work. She liked not having to worry about money but at 35, she wasn' t ready to retire. She liked being a nurse. One day at the hospital she worked at, John McCain was brought in. She was the nurse on call to cater to him. McCain liked her and they talked. Part of a nurse's job was to make patients comfortable and, sometimes, they just wanted someone to talk to. After visiting hours, McCain was in bad shape. He called in Tatiana and she came in and said, "Can I get you something Mr. McCain?"

"No, just need someone to sit and talk. And, it's John"

Tatiana didn't have any patients as it was a slow time so agreed to sit with him. McCain was weak and near death but Tatiana wasn't going to tell him that. McCain said, "I need to tell this to someone before I go"

"Umm, are you sure you don't want to tell your family."

"Yes, definately, you know this Steele dossier"

Tatiana looked around. She knew there were no recording devices. She wanted to unload too so said, "more than you know sir."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm Ukrainian, I was working for Porchenko when the dossier was being produced. I know all about Nellie Ohr and Chris Steele and how it was a political hit. All the information was fake. The media has it so wrong."

"Do you know my role?"

"I know that they accused you of Russian collusion in 2008, so I was surprised you weren't more sympathetic to Trump"

"I didn't like that he succeeded where I failed"

"That makes sense."

"I gave it to the FBI, I thought I was doing the right thing but that's what Steele wanted me to do. Still though, it was the FBI that was supposed to verify it, not me"

"Yea, you got nothing to feel guilty for"

"No, I do. My long time employee David Kramer. I should've controlled him better."

"What do you mean?"

"I let him meet with 12 reporters and give them the dossier. This was before I knew if it was verified"

"It was never verified because it was fake"

"Right, well I even let him give it to Victoria Nuland, who worked for Clinton and Obama's state department as national security advisors"

"You can't blame yourself for someone else's actions"

"Yea, the blame is always on top. Look at Trump, indictments of Manafort, Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Cohen all reflect on Trump"

"Also unfairly. everything they were charged with had nothing to do with Trump or collusion"

"But Kramer did."

"Yea, but you weren't running. You just wanted it to be true. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"I put Steele in touch with Kramer.to try to shield me from it. Steele told Kramer to meet with CNN's Eric Bernstein, who also was a Watergate reporter."

"Again, that's on Steele and Kramer"

"I should have stopped it."

"Yes, you should 've but hindsight is 20/20"

"I was the useful idiot"

"You mean the media, DOJ and FBI only ran with it because it came from a Republican and so didn't think it was opposition research anymore?"

"Precisely"

"They all knew you hated Trump. It was well documented. The R in front of your name shouldn't have changed that."

"How does my health look? Am I going to be okay?"

"Yes, I know your weak now but it's likely you'll make a full recovery"

"You're a good nurse. Always reassure the victim that's what you're doing with the Kramer talk too"

"Not really, the media will defend liberal Republicans over conservative Republicans, Democrats over Republicans and socialists over Democrats, that's why they called you a NAZI in 2008 against Obama but you're a hero when you're opposing Trump. Why Beto is a rock star against Cruz but now that he's running for president against Bernie Sanders, these scandals that the media, like Reuters, were holding on to got released. This whole Cult of the dead cow virus hack that Beto was involved in. Also releasing his violent storeies as a teenager. So, the media is biased in very predictable ways."

"You ever consider a job in politics? You know your stuff"

"I told you, I worked in Ukrainian politics but no, it's so dirty. Luckily I made enough money to set me for life in case this nurse thing doesn't work out."

"I think you're safe"

"I don't, Kiersten Gillibrand now wants social security for illegals. When America is bankrupt if any of the Democrats running beat Trump, the hospitals will need to close and ration care and layoffs will be great."

"Unfortunately you're right, JFK Democrats no longer exist. I'm kind of tired now, I'm going to sleep"

"Sleep well"

John McCain died within days of the conversation, Tatiana got into her car and pushed the button to start it. She drove home and as she got out she heard a gun shot. She dropped her keys and turned to see a man with a gun lying on the ground shot dead. She looked around and saw a bald man with light skin and green eyes. He looked very familiar. He walked up to her still holding a gun. He handed Tatiana a phone and she looked at it reading a piece from John Solomon of the Hill about a tape in existence of Ukrainian officials colluding with Hillary against Trump. Tatiana looked up and the bald man said, "Last time you saw me I was skinny with an afro"

Tatiana knew who he was. She had dated him in high school. She jumped back and said, "Whoa"

"Yea, be careful"

"How did you...."

"I'm a body guard for an art dealer in London. The bodyguard you hired talked. the UK is very anti-Trump. they know what you did. I'd move your money since the bodyguard knows which banks you went to"

"Okay, I will but am I safe?"

"No, you should come with me now. I have permission to help you for a week. We're moving your money to Cyprus and the Cayman Islands"

"Well you are Greek so that makes sense. Why not Switzerland?"

"Not as good to hide money anymore"

"Well, you kinda just saved my life so I guess I'll listen"

Tatiana and her old boyfriend went to the Caymen Islands and Cyprus and opened accounts. They then went to Ukraine and transferred the money out of Ukraine into the new accounts. With that, Tatiana went back to America and her old boyfriend went to England. She asked, "Am I safe now?"

"Yes, the tape is out, your money can't be touched even if you're dead. The guy who tried to kill you just wanted the money, which he could get in Ukraine. Now, there's no reason to kill you."

"Thank You" she said as she gave him a big hug and kiss on the cheek

"You're welcome"

Tatiana's Ukrainian past never caught up with her again.