The Ukraine Denial:President Trump ordered his acting chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to hold back $400 million in military aid to Ukraine a week before his July 25^thtelephone call to the Ukrainian President, The Washington Postreports.

  The timing draws a closer connection between the withholding of aid and Trump’s demand to have Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. The chorus of House Democrats calling for impeachment is growing.  Speaker Nany Pelosi is calling private meetings today to seriously consider it.

  The chairs of the House committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight, wrote a joint letter to the secretary of state saying, “If press reports are accurate, such corrupt use of presidential power for the president’s personal political interest — and not for the national interest — is a betrayal of the president’s oath of office and cannot go unchecked.” 

  Trump yesterday defended asking the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on his potential presidential political rival while denying that he stalled military aid to pressure Ukraine to do his bidding.

  “I did not make a statement that you have to do this or I’m not going to give you aid,” Trump said in New York. “I put no pressure on them whatsoever. I could have. I think it could probably possibly be OK if I did.”

  He said he hopes the transcript of the July 25th conversation will be released soon, even though his administration is blocking the handover of a whistleblower complaint to congressional overseers as required by law. “And I hope you get to see it soon,” Trump said before then arguing that releasing the transcript of his conversation with the president of Ukraine would set a bad precedent.

  Several times Trump slimed Joe Biden, who he claims threatened to hold back American aid unless Ukraine killed an investigation of his son, Hunter. 

  “What Biden did is a disgrace. What his son did is a disgrace,” Trump said. He said angrily: “If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair right now.”

  There is no evidence as yet that Biden or his son did anything wrong, or that Hunter’s business had any influence on his father’s official actions.

From the Mouths of Babes:Teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg scolded international leaders at the United Nations climate summit yesterday. “The eyes of all future generations are upon you,” she said, quivering with anger. “If you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.”

  Not a lot happened. China made no new promises to fight climate change and the US did not participate. One highlight; 77 countries announced they will try to achieve net-zero emissions by the year 2050.

 Thunberg has Asperger’s syndrome and comes off a little serious. Trump mocked her on Twitter saying, “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”

The Brexit Disaster:Britain’s highest court smacked Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a ruling that his suspension of Parliament was an unlawful political maneuver to prevent the lawmakers from debating the exit from the European Union. The 11 judges ruled unanimously that Johnson had not acted lawfully in shuttering Parliament. 

The Bulletin Board:A record-low 6.9 million viewers watched Sunday night’s broadcast of the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, a 32 percent drop from last year’s low of 10.2 million. — Thieves broke into two apartments in New York’s Trump Tower, home of the President, and stole $350,000 worth of jewelry. Both residents were away for the summer and came home only recently. The cops suspect an inside job because it’s pretty tough to get in from the outside these days. — Declaring the deaths of 30 horses at Santa Anita over six months “unacceptable,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom told The NY Times, “I’ll tell you, talk about a sport whose time is up unless they reform. That’s horse racing.” 

Most Precious Resource: A Florida school “resource officer” has been fired after handcuffing, arresting, and charging two 6-year-olds with misdemeanor battery in separate incidents at their Orlando school.  Why do they call cops in schools “resource officers?” What are they a resource for? 

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