A transcript released by the January 6th Select Committee details a conference call indicating that the invasion of Ukraine originated with Donald Trump and his associates Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Paul Manafort (ie. the usual suspects). Rep. Bennie Thompson (D, Miss.) said that the transcript was found by the FBI on a laptop purported to be owned by Hunter Biden, according to former Trump attorney Rudy Juliani. When asked about the validity of the report, Thompson responded “It was found on Hunter Biden’s laptop. What more needs to be said?”
Excerpts of a phone conversation between Bannon, Manafort and Stone indicate that the idea was initiated by then President Donald Trump in 2019 after being snubbed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after what Trump described as "a perfect phone call."
Manafort : "The Big Guy wants revenge. Zelenskyy refuses to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden."
Bannon: "We're already holding up $400 million in military aid to Ukraine, what more does he want?"
Stone: "He wants to invade Ukraine. Well, actually, it was my idea, but you should have seen his face light up! Within twenty minutes he had convinced himself that it was his idea all along."
Bannon: "You're nuts! We can't invade Ukraine.
Manafort: "Maybe we can get Russia to invade Ukraine for us"
Stone: "Perfect! And, that would give us plausible deniability!"
Bannon: "I gotta tell you guys, the Russians won't be able to pull it off."
Stone: "What do you mean? They have a massive army."
Bannon: "True. But you wouldn't believe the stuff I saw when I was on the National Security Council. The Russian armed forces are as much of a gong show today as they were during the cold war. Their training sucks and their equipment is poorly maintained. Why do you think they limit their involvement to proxy wars in places like Syria, bombing civilians into submission?"
Stone: "Doesn't matter. They don't have to win. We just want them to bloody Zelenskyy's nose a little. If they get into a quagmire so much the better."
Manafort: "Look, Putin's going to have to have the Russian people on board. I can sell him a complete propaganda campaign. Tell them that the Ukrainian government is a bunch of perverted drug-addled nazis.
Bannon: "Nazis! Nobody of any intelligence will swallow that. Christ, Zelenskyy's family is Jewish!"
Manafort: "In my line of work, intelligence has nothing to do with anything. (Pause). You know, I'll bet we can get Tucker Carlson to shill for Russia on Fox News."
The Bugle reached out to a number of sources for comment.
"It would explain a lot" quoted one Pentagon source requesting anonymity.
Journalist Gwynne Dyer, who writes frequently on military subjects, elaborated "We've been racking our brains trying to figure out why the invasion has been going so spectacularly badly for the Russians. Think of it, kilometers long lines of vehicles stalled in transit, mounting Russian casualties including two ranking generals, failure of communication channels, jets shot down by 30-year old Ukrainian Migs and stinger missiles... the list goes on and on. The entire operation is amateurish to a degree not to be believed. And this after more than 2 years of preparation by Russia. It's almost as if someone completely devoid of any knowledge of geopolitical and military strategy had planned the operation".
Bob Woodward, who has written three books on the Trump presidency, gave an animated response. “I knew it! This thing had Roger Stone’s fingerprints all over it. Opening a refugee corridor directly into Belarus? That’s just the kind of thing that bastard would dream up.”
In an interview, Mary Trump explained that her brother's Tweet stating that Putin's invasion of Ukraine was "a stroke of genius" was actually Trump bragging about his own plan.
Finally, The Economist this week theorizes that the Ukraine war works to Trump's advantage. “He owes Russia hundreds of millions of dollars. But under sanctions, he would be prohibited by law from making good on those debts. In a single stroke, Donald Trump's debts could be written off.”
In another excerpt, even as the plan was being devised, Bannon was already looking ahead to the end of the Ukraine invasion. In anticipation of the withdrawal of Russian forces, Bannon outlined a scheme to build a wall between Ukraine and Russia, and make the Russians pay for it.
exclusive to the Badger Bugle, Gibipowac, WI
