Late-Breaking Developments

Three important developments happened late yesterday. I won't go into a lot of detail here and will instead refer you to a further source for each one.

First, the Washington Post broke the story yesterday (link here or here) that Donald Trump's White House engaged in an aggressive coverup to fabricate justification after the Ukraine scandal broke. "A confidential White House review of Trump’s decision to place a hold on military aid to Ukraine has turned up hundreds of documents that reveal extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification for the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal," the article reveals.

If what the President was doing, then why was such a coverup necessary? Undoubtedly this will trigger further scrutiny by the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee as they conduct their impeachment inquiry.

Second, the Secretary of the Navy was forced out yesterday after battling with Trump over the latter's pardoning of three military personnel either accused of war crimes or convicted of murder (details here or here).

In one case, an Army major was due to go on trial for murder and was pardoned by Trump. In another case, an Army lieutenant was convicted of murdering three men and was pardoned. And in the third case, a Navy SEAL was acquitted of murder but convicted of posing for photos with the corpse of a murdered Islamic State prisoner, a conviction later pardoned by Trump.

Trump acted after one of the three men made a direct appeal to the President on the television program Fox and Friends and thus clashed with the traditional military hierarchy and tradition.

And in the third big development yesterday, ABC News broke the story (link here) that Trump's friend Lev Parnas — who was recently indicted and arrested and is also an associate of Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani — has turned over videos, audio recordings, and photographs to the House Intelligence Committee, which is currently conducting the impeachment inquiry.

Per the article: "The material submitted to the committee includes audio, video and photos that include Giuliani and Trump. It was unclear what the content depicts and the committees only began accessing the material last week."

Needless to say, with many people assuming the impeachment inquiry was wrapping up now that last week's public's hearings were over, proceedings may still have a way to go.

All three of these stories will lead to more revelations this week, so definitely stay tuned.