Real Charachters Episode 26 Ukrainian past fight back

                Victor Pinchuk lives in Ukraine.  He has built up a steel company named “interpipe.”  Through this and other business ventures, Victor has amassed enough money to be considered a billionaire.  With this new found wealth, he does what many people in politically unstable regions do; he buys influence and political protection.  Through his businesses, he had met Hillary Clinton in 2010.  From there, they had business dealings in the United States, the Alps and Ukraine so became very familiar with each other. 

Victor has decided he’s going to sell his first company, interpipe as his heart is no longer in steel.  He finds Iranians that are willing to buy it for a sum over a million dollars.  He accepts the offer and the sale is made.  Shortly after this deal, Victor’s phone rings.  He answers it as the number is familiar to him.  “Hello Hillary”

“Hey Victor, we need to talk”

“Is something wrong?”

“Yes, there is.  You know that deal you just made with the Iranians?”

“Of course I do, it just happened”

“Well, it was done in violation of US Sanctions against Iran.  Due to the sanctions, our State Department compiles a list of all companies that do business with Iran for sums over a million dollars.  Interpipe, and by extension, you are now on the list.”

“Oh no, I had no idea.  Ms Clinton, you know I need America.  They are the world’s best customers.  I can’t have them put sanctions on me; it’ll cripple my other businesses.”

“That’s why you are getting this courtesy call.”

“I appreciate that but what can be done?”

“Well, as it so happens, I run the state department.  I’ll delete your name from the list but I’d like you to help out with our foundation in exchange for this favor”

“Certainly Ma’ame, thank you very much.  It’s no problem at all.  I cannot expect something for nothing”

                “I’m glad we could come to an agreement”

                Victor and Hillary hang up the phone and shortly after this phone call, Victor Pinchuk donates $ 25 Million to the Clinton Foundation and the state department’s list conveniently doesn’t include companies that Victor Pinchuk owns currently or has in the past. 

                With this contribution, Victor is now the largest single donor to the Clinton Foundation.  This isn’t too new for him as he’s also the largest single donor to the Tony Blair Foundation.  After all, Victor, like most wealthy people, play both sides and hedge their bets.  He can’t only help the Secretary of State but all her allies as well so that as powers shift, he has powerful friends in high places to lean on if things get bad.  As the years progress, Barack Obama’s presidency is coming to an end.  Pinchuk knows that Hillary Clinton is leading the polls and will probably beat Donald Trump.  Like any good businessman, however, he has to hedge his bet just in case.  He offers Donald Trump $150,000 to give a speech, which Trump agrees to.  It’s not a lot of money but in the unlikely event that Trump beats Hillary, then he can say that he helped him and hopefully a President Trump will be kind to him as he tries to conduct business in the United States.  Little did he know what would result from this donation that he felt was a drop in the bucket.

Around the time Victor is hedging his bets, in March 2016, Joe Biden is in the Ukraine.  President Barack Obama has just approved a billion dollars in aid to Ukraine.  Vice President Biden has been the point man in Ukraine for the last couple of years.  In order to curry favor with him, the largest energy company in Ukraine, Burisma, has given Joe Biden’s son Hunter a job on the board of their company where he will be paid $50,000 a month despite having no experience in the energy field.  The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Viktor Shokin, has recently opened an investigation for tax fraud and corruption into Burisma.  Part of that has to do with the money they’re paying Hunter Biden.  Joe Biden can’t stand for this so right before the conference, he tells the Ukrainian President Porchenko that he isn’t getting the money.

                Porchenko is shocked.  How could he do this now right before they are going on stage to announce it.  He replies, “You have no authority, you’re not the president.  The president said…”’

                “Call him” interrupts Biden, “The President and I are in agreement on this.  I’m telling you right now that I leave in six hours.  If your prosecutor general isn’t fired by the time I leave, you’re not getting the money.”

                They make the announcement and President Porchenko fires Viktor Shokin.  Shortly after this, Joe Biden is bragging in the American press that they ousted a corrupt prosecutor general and replaced him with someone honorable and decent.  As Burisma’s American lawyers read the press release, they sigh.  They are centered in Ukraine and any links between Ukraine and corruption is bad for business and bad for Ukraine.  Burisma’s American lawyers call Ukrainian officials and apologize for the dissemination of false information by US representatives and public figures about the Ukrainian prosecutors.”

                “We appreciate your apology but keep in mind that although you represent a Ukrainian company, you don’t live in Ukraine.  The American press went on TV and insinuated we were corrupt when we have done everything they have asked us to do.”

                “We are aware of that.  That is the nature of this phone call.  What can we do to make amends for this?”

                “I’d like to have our new Prosecutor General Lutsenko meet Barack Obama but I cannot go through Joe Biden.  He made me fire a good prosecutor and then he bragged about it and dragged us through the mud.  Please find another link.”

                “I can do that”

                The CEO of Burisma is on the Atlantic Council where Victor Pinchuk is a board member and the major funder of the organization.  Mr. Burisma calls Pinchuk and says, “Victor, I need a favor”

                “Sure, what do you need?”

                “I need you to arrange a meeting with the new Ukrainian prosecutors and Barack Obama”

                “You’re asking me because the government isn’t too pleased with Vice President Biden right now”

                “That is correct.”

                “I can arrange that.  I don’t see it being a problem”

                After a few phone calls, Victor does arrange this meeting and Burisma successfully makes amends for Biden’s big mouth. 

                Later that year, Donald Trump did win the presidency and all the Democrats are worried because all the shady things they have done over the last eight years, especially in the last year against Donald Trump may all become exposed because Hillary is not president so can’t protect them.  As Hillary and Barack have taught them to be Alinskyites, they know the rules.  They need to deny and project and that’s just what they do.  The Democrats call up their propaganda machines also known as the mainstream media and accuse Donald Trump of everything the Democrats are guilty of themselves.  The media prints it all and repeats over and over again to fool the American public.  President Trump puts up mild resistance and fires the FBI director James Comey.  In retaliation, the justice department sets up a special counsel headed by a man named Robert Mueller.  Although Mueller is a Republican, he hates Donald Trump and everyone he hires on his council is a Democrat that either worked for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.  Its primary focus is to shut up everyone and anyone that knows the truth that Hillary and Barack Obama colluded with Britain, Russia and Ukraine to take down Donald Trump. 

                Victor Pinchuk is in Ukraine.  The American election didn’t bother him too much as he is not on Donald Trump’s radar.  It would have been nice to have his friend Hillary as president but in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t hurt him too badly.  He receives a phone call from a number he doesn’t recognize but he answers it anyway.  The voice on the other line says, “Mr. Pinchuk, my name is Robert Mueller”

                “Oh, hi, I believe you’re heading a special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s Russian collusion”

                “Yes, I am.  I’m glad you are familiar”

                “What can I do for you?  I’m afraid I don’t know much about Donald Trump and the Russians”

                “But you did give him $150,000 to speak at an event you funded”

                “I did but I pay a lot of people to speak.  I’ve had other speakers at around that amount so it’s not out of the ordinary.”

                “That may be the case and I’ll be willing to look past that.  Or….I may just charge you for it.  Your being a Ukrainian and Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort spent a lot of time in Ukraine.  I just may tell the media things that put your two names in the same sentence.  I then call you a Trump donor….”

                “I gave much more to Hillary Clinton”

                “And it’s talk like that that will get you in trouble”

                “What do you mean?”

                “If you want your name out of the papers, I’d highly suggest that you forget that you know the Clintons”

                “Oh, so you just want me to keep my mouth shut?”

                “Yes, the Clintons are going to be distancing themselves from you.  You’d be wise not to refute them on this.”

                “You know, I’ve known the Clintons for almost a decade.  If they wanted a favor, all they had to do was ask.  They didn’t need to have you threaten me and try to strong arm me into silence.  We go way back, I’ll keep my mouth shut for the Clinton’s.  That’s not a problem.”

                “I’m glad we are in agreement.  I apologize for the strong words but you can understand that people are on edge right now.  We can’t let things get out.”

                “Completely understood.  I just want you to remember, we’re on the same side”

                “I will keep that in mind.  Thank you for your time”

                “Good night Sir”

                “Good Afternoon here.”

                They hang up and Bob Mueller calls Barack Obama.  “Sir, Victor Pinchuk isn’t going to be a problem”

                “Glad to hear it.”

                “Look, if I’m going to make sure nobody finds out about things you don’t want them to, I need to know what it is I’m silencing.”

                “Well, the Russian angle is that Christopher Steele used Russian sources to compile his dossier, which is really just a reprint of an article from 2007 in the Wall Street Journal entitled ‘How Lobbyist use Ex-Soviets to Woo Washington’, Also, anyone who knows about Skolkovo, Uraniam One and the DNC Server hack.”

                “Why did we make Pinchuk a priority?”
                “Because he heavily funds the Atlantic Council that has members linked to each of these things.  He can do the most damage if he talks.”

                “But he’s Ukrainian”

                “True, but a lot of Russians are on the Atlantic Council so there’s that connection.  The Ukrainian angle, he obviously would be a crucial part of.  He knows all about how the Ukrainians gave information to DNC surrogates and streamlined it into the FBI so they could act on it.”

                “So my responsibility is anyone that links you and Hillary to any of these scandals needs to be silenced and then when I’m sure they won’t talk, link them to Trump any small way I can.”

                “Correct”

                “Understood sir.”

                Three years after this, it is now September 2019.  There is a new Ukrainian president and Trump calls to congratulate him.  This phone calls opens up a lot of old wounds as President Trump is interested in what Joe and Hunter Biden were doing in Ukraine.  Since Victor is a Ukrainian, he is paying very close attention to see what’s going on.  He kept his deal with Bob Mueller and didn’t talk about his ties to Hillary and let her deny that they knew each other.  He hasn’t said a word to anyone but he does feel a little slighted that after nine years and millions of dollars, they tossed him to the curb the second the going got tough.  Joe Biden goes on TV and says “My getting Shokin fired had nothing to do with the investigation into Burisma.  That investigation was concluded by the time I got him fired.  I got him fired for being corrupt and that’s that.”

                Victor stares at the TV and fury enters his eyes.  He blurts out, “Lies!” He thinks back to that time three years ago in March and the favor he had to do for Burisma.  He asks to nobody in particular because he’s alone, “Why would Burisma need to make amends if it was just because he was corrupt?”

                Pinchuk is furious that Democrats once again are lying about Ukraine.  He decides to double check to see if he’s right about this.  He calls officials in the justice department and asks, “Shokin was fired for the Burisma investigation right?”

                “Victor, is this important?  We got a lot on our plate right now.  This conversation with President Zelensky and President Trump is blowing out of proportion.  We were on the call.  We weren’t pressured in any way.  It was a simple request.  No threat was made.  Working with President Trump is a lot friendlier than working with Hillary, Joe Biden or President Obama as they always incorporated threats when they speak”

                “I know President Obama and Hillary well. You don’t have to tell me their tactics.  Biden I’m not too familiar with but based on everything I know, he’s lying.  Can you just confirm that for me?

                “Of course he’s lying.  There were three investigations into Burisma; A British based one, a tax one and a corruption charge.  Only the British one was closed when Shokin was fired.”

                “The other two were still open”

                “Yes, they didn’t close into January 2017 but the new Prosecutor General Lutsenko knew to keep Hunter out of it.  Though, we probably didn’t need to since in January 2017 Donald Trump was president.  We closed it because he knew how we helped take down Manafort thinking Hillary would win.  We mistakenly thought that what the previous administration wanted, so did Donald Trump.  America wanted Burisma to go away so we closed it when Trump became president.  As you know by now, we were wrong since he asked us to do him a favor and open it again.”

                “It took you this long to figure out that President Trump doesn’t like Hillary and Barack Obama?” Victor inquired incredulously.

                “No, we’ve been trying to offer an olive branch to the Trump administration.  In the summer of 2018, we tried to get all this information to the US DOJ because it might be evidence of possible violations of US ethics but they weren’t interested.”

                “Yea, Hillary still owns the DOJ”

                “We found that out the hard way.  Then we tried to give it to the US attorney in New York but again he didn’t care”

                “New York is one of the most anti-Trump places in the United States.  That and California”

                “Again something we found out.”

                “Now, we are reaching out to Rudy Giuliani.  In fact, President Zelensky specifically asked President Trump if he would send Giuliani so that we can discuss this information.  Both Giuliani and Trump seemed interested so finally we are making some headway to move forward”

                “Well, it is a new administration”

                “That is true and we are happy because a good relationship with America is good for Ukraine.”

                “Alright, thank you for the information”

                “Any time”

                Victor Pinchuk hung up the phone and then called Viktor Shokin.  After pleasantries, he queried, “Viktor, how come you didn’t fight after you got fired?”

                “Fight what?  Hey President Porchenko, turn down the billion dollars that our country desperately needs because I want to keep my job?”

                “You could have documented it.  I guess there really was no way around firing you.”

                “I did document it.  I swore in an affidavit and testified that I was fired because Biden was unhappy about the Burisma probe and Hunter Biden’s hiring was one of the things we were looking at.”

                “Oh. I was unaware of that.  I think the current administration would love to know”

                “That’s what we’ve been trying to do but I think it’s finally going to happen.  Rudy Giuliani is supposed to come to Ukraine so I can finally tell my story and try to get back at Biden without angering America”

                “Good luck”

                “Thank you”

                As Pinchuk is trying to get to the bottom of Biden’s lies, Democrat Committee chairman Adam Schiff is reading a report made by someone in the government that has been working with Schiff and others to take town President Trump.  They’ve tried four strategies, the latest being that Trump obstructed justice but nothing is sticking.  The deep state has written a whistleblower report saying that Trump is colluding with Ukraine.  It is well written with multiple references to legal cases and footnotes referencing various things.  Schiff can’t contain his excitement and tweets out on August 28, “Trump is withholding vital military aid to Ukraine while his personal lawyer seeks help from the Ukrainian government to investigate his political opponent.”  As a retweet to Natasha Betrand’s tweet: “Breaking: Trump has asked his national security team to review funding for Ukraine to ensure that the money is being used ‘in the best interest’ of the United States.  The funding has been put on hold.”

                Bertrand and Schiff were front and center during the failed Russian collusion hoax and the obstruction case.  It doesn’t take long for other Democrats who are angry with their incompetence and making Trump look better with every victory he gets over them.  The Democrat asks, “How do you know any of this that you tweeted?”
                “We heard rumors”

                “Good.  Stick with that story.  We’ve waited a long time for this and we don’t want you messing it up”

                “I’m not sure I follow”

                “We know you got your hands on the Whistleblower report.  Don’t lie to me.”

                “I didn’t deny it.  I’m just curious why you’re upset with me.”

                “Look, the Russian collusion hoax was easier because Steele had credibility with the FBI and we have been doing it for 12 years.  We’ve become experts and calling anyone and everyone a Russian colluder.  Ukrainian collusion, on the other hand, we don’t have a blueprint for like we did for Russia.”
                “There’s no one we can get to write a dossier?”

                “Right.  For Russia it was already written in 2007.”

                “Alright, I’m with you so far”

                “Since there was no dossier, we had to wait for the Ukrainian election because then we know that Trump would call to congratulate the winner.  Trump doesn’t do many things that Presidents normally do but this would definitely be ready for him.  Now we can pretend Trump did everything we did in Ukraine.”

                “How many people know about this?”

                “Most of the Democrat Senators.  We called them because this is the moment we’ve been waiting for.  It’s finally here, he fell for our trap.  We finally got him”

                “This is similar to Mike Flynn.  We waited for him to go to the Dominican Republic where he’d be away from the strict security the US gives him so we could spy on him.  Then President Obama expels the Russians so that Mike Flynn would get a call from the ambassador and we could arrest him for a FARA violation”

                “Yes”

                “Do you think it’ll work?”

                “It worked for Flynn didn’t it?”

                “That’s true.”

                All the planning comes to fruition two months later at the end of September.  The Democrats successfully got President Trump to release the transcript of the call with President Zelensky.  On the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with the conversation but the Democrats are very good at spinning words and making up that words mean something different than they have for the entire existence of the language.  People believe them every time so they will do that with the transcript.  Adam Schiff calls a committee which he is the head of and calls the Director of National intelligence.  This is round three.  Schiff was beaten on Russian collusion and obstruction so this is the third try to take down the President.  Unfortunately, the whistleblower complaint is also released.  He clearly states that he had no firsthand knowledge of the event and doesn’t even know if anyone was in the room with President Trump.  Despite this, though, it looks really formal and professional with various footnotes and references to legal cases to provide precedent for his accusations.  Although this is good if you’re a lawyer, when you’re claiming to just be a whistleblower reporting on something you saw, the formality of it makes it scream that it is actually a professional hit job rather than a concerned employee or citizen.  What’s worse is that it lies and says Trump promised Ukraine something in a quid pro quo to take down Biden.  That never happened. 

                Adam Schiff is sitting in the highest chair and realizes that he didn’t prepare for this.  He didn’t coordinate with the mainstream media and other Democrats to get their story straight so they aren’t contradicting each other.  Schiff decides off the cuff to mock the president in the context of the phone call.  He even smirks during it as what he’s saying is so obviously ridiculous that it’s hard to say with a straight face.  His words are, “In essence, what the President Trump communicates is this: We’ve been very good to your country.  Very good.  No other country has done as much as we have.  But you know what I don’t see much reciprocity here.  You know what I mean?  I hear what you want.  I have a favor I want from you though.  And I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good.   I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand?”

                There is laughter in the Capitol as Schiff takes this hearing to be equivalent to a Saturday Night Live set.  From a parody stand point, it does hit on some classic Trumpisms as it boasts that nobody does it better and repeats itself.  Even a hint as to an accurate portrayal of what the transcript said, however, it is not.  Everything the media alleged about this phone call was false.  From the left, it didn’t contain any promises, there was no quid pro quo and President Zelensky brought up Giuliani first.  In fact, Zelensky invited Giuliani to Ukraine.  By no means did Trump pressure him or send Giuliani to get to the bottom of it.  President Zelensky asked Trump for a favor to send Giuliani to Ukraine.  From the right, President Trump did ask him to look into Biden and the 2016 election meddling.  The reports from conservative outlets were that Trump asked him for existing notes from before Shokin was fired to see his progress.  That was a lie as President Trump clearly asks for an investigation.”

                Dr. Wenstruf is a Republican on the committee that Schiff is chairing.  He uses his time to call out Schiff for making parody and joking when the hearing should be serious.  He calls it irresponsible and a cover up to the truth that nothing even remotely illegal happened.”

                As the backlash to Schiff’s comments escalates, Schiff is firm on one point that he didn’t see the Whistleblower complaint till that week.  This directly refutes his August texts but Hillary Clinton had trained all the democrats in the way of Alinsky; Deny deny deny.  That’s exactly what Schiff does.  He knows what he’s doing as it’s been his MO for three years.  He has opened Spygate Part II and so now his job would be to lie lie lie like all collusion hoaxers. 

                On the other side, the Republicans are meeting on their strategy to combat the new hoax to try to take down the president.  One suggests, “We need to call the Whistleblower up to testify under oath.  Grill him on who he spoke to and when.”

                Another responds, “I can’t believe they’re doing this again.  First they take a Wall Street Journal article and insert Trump’s name.  Now, they’re documenting all their corruption and changing their names with the preisdent’s.  It’s despicable”

                First responds “The virtue is the sin.  They pretend to be fighting the good fight but really they’re covering up their sins.”

                “Let’s see how other congressional committees are going”

                They go over to a monitor and watch a committee headed by Democrat chairman Jaypal.  Tom Homan is the witness they’ve called as he used to be an ICE agent at the border.  Homan starts his speech saying that we wonder why ICE agents are attacked and kids are bullied in schools.  It’s because of people like you that call me a racist and a bigot for enforcing laws you guys made.  If I’m a racist for enforcing the laws that you made, then what’s that make you?”

                The Republicans watching on TV are shocked but they like it.  Chairman Jaypal is not amused and scolds Homan for disrespecting the committee and the chair.  Homan interrupts her and bursts out, “this is a circus”

                Jaypal picks up her gavel and slams it in frustration several times.  Homan is unimpressed and just repeats a couple times, “You work for me, I’m a tax payer.”

                Chairwoman Jaypal is so appalled her mouth drapes but says nothing right away.  This Republicans fighting back thing has been happening more and more lately. A 26-year-old man in Iowa named Carson King went to a football game with a sign and an empty beer can of Busch Light saying that he was running low and needed more beer.   He couldn’t possibly have predicted what happened next as over a million dollars came to him through people donating to his fake beer fund.  He decided the right thing to do was to donate the money to charity.  Venmo and Busch light match his donation to the Stead Children’s hospital.   

                While any sane person would consider this a noble and commendable thing that King did, a journalist for the Des Moines Register named Aaron Calvin decides he wants to destroy this hero.  He looks into King’s social media history and finds tweets from 10 years ago when King was 16 that are considered hateful by today’s standards.  As the old saying goes, however, don’t throw stones if you’re in a glass house.  In retaliation, people look into Calvin’s social media feeds and find him when he was an adult and not a teenager, saying “Fuck the NYPD”

                If this wasn’t bad enough, they find another one saying “Too many of these n*ggers as b-made nowadays.  Don’t pardon my French”

                One has to take his advice and people don’t pardon his words at all.  He is ruthlessly attacked and then a third tweet is discovered from Calvin where he says, “I just got hit on by Tori Amos’ make up guy.  Never talk to strange gay men.”

                As gays are now the most protected group in America, it doesn’t take long for the Des Moines Register to fire Aaron Calvin.  Although Busch and Venmo have disavowed Carson King, they did make good on their donation to match him.  The country has no sympathy for Calvin and excuses King’s behavior.  Although this is a contradiction for how they treated Kavanaugh, the Republicans decide to just take the victory.  After this week with a new hoax to try to take down the President, Trump has increased 15 points from down 11 to up four on Biden according to Rasmussen.  Looks like these witch hunts are finally waning on the patience of the American people.