Recording of Donald Trump's big-donor dinner features a bit of low comedy
Documents and photos released by the House Judiciary Committee were provided by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani. Credit: AP/Jon Elswick
Sometimes the full flavor of political buffoonery gets lost in news reports.
A 2018 digital recording of President Donald Trump's private dinner with campaign donors drew big notice upon its release over the weekend.
One reason is that it contradicted Trump's claim that he didn't know Ukraine-born Lev Parnas and Belarus-born Igor Fruman, who have since been indicted by his Justice Department on charges related to campaign contributions.
Both businessmen were there. Fruman recorded it.
The video and audio that Fruman recorded on his personal device captured Trump demanding of an aide that then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch be removed from her post — another point underlying the scandal that spurred impeachment.
The dialogue could have come from a Marx Brothers script.
In the meeting, Parnas says, "We got to get rid of the ambassador. She's basically walking around telling everybody, ‘Wait, he's going to get impeached, just wait.’ ”
Trump asks for her name. Fruman replies that he doesn't remember.
So the president tells an aide: "Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it."
That's right. Without vetting, checking, pondering or even a name — just a bit of ginning up by a flattering backer — Trump blurts: "Get rid of her!"
But what followed is that nobody "got rid" of Yovanovitch, a seasoned diplomat, for an entire year.
One is left to guess why. Month after month, stories come out about Trump's blustering impulses. Sometimes aides are known to slow-walk or resist his most petulant orders. Sometimes they change his mind, other times they cannot.
Or was Trump just staging a little show for his guests with an on-the-spot mock firing? Was it that sense of humor his fans praise but others might not get?
The event as recorded gave the feel of one-stop shopping for big donors — where unfortunately the goods didn't get delivered so quickly. (Remember when Trump told everyone he was self-funded and therefore couldn't be bought?)
At one point in this powwow, Trump asked how long the Ukrainians could hold out against the Russian army. "I don't think very long," Parnas is heard to say. "Without us, not very long."
The ironic twist is that Trump asked Parnas, rather than the National Security Council, the CIA or the Pentagon.
Who he listens to, when and whyare a deeper enigma.
Trump evoked some grimly absurd imagery in a discussion of his multibillion-dollar coast-to-coast border-wall plan.
Trump says he'd wanted a “concrete wall, 30 feet high, very slick outside,” but then adds: “They actually said these drug dealers, it’s so dangerous to have a solid wall because they take the drugs, it weighs 100 pounds, approximately, you know a satchel, they call it a satchel, they throw it over the wall, it goes over the wall, and it will land on a guy’s head and it kills him."
He says “our border guys” are the victims.
“It can hit people,” Trump says. “Can you imagine, you get hit with a 100 pounds of drugs?”
Laughs are then audible. "Only in America," somebody says.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
