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In response to a Washington Post story reporting that--according to anonymous former and current officials--aides to President Donald Trump have been "genuinely horrified" by his calls with foreign leaders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday night that the concerns of White House officials are meaningless without accompanying action.
"With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn't matter much how these aides felt," the New York Democrat said. "History will judge them by what they did. And the answer is nothing."
Trump's phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the U.S. president pushed for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, has sparked national outrage and an impeachment inquiry by House Democrats.
But, according to the Post, Trump's conversation with Zelensky was no outlier.
"Starting long before revelations about Trump's interactions with Ukraine's president rocked Washington, Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders were an anxiety-ridden set of events for his aides and members of the administration," the Post reported Friday night. "They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldn't keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor."
One anonymous former security official told the Post that Trump was only "nice" to "people who could do things for him."
"Leaders with trade deficits, strong female leaders, members of NATO--those tended to go badly," the former official said.
According to the Post, "Trump's personal goals seeped into calls" with foreign leaders.
"He pestered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for help in recommending him for a Nobel Prize," the Post reported, citing an official familiar with the phone call.
In response to the Post story, Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted, "From the staffers hiding records of his calls to the Senators pretending he's fit for any office, so many are complicit in covering for the lunatic."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |

In response to a Washington Post story reporting that--according to anonymous former and current officials--aides to President Donald Trump have been "genuinely horrified" by his calls with foreign leaders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday night that the concerns of White House officials are meaningless without accompanying action.
"With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn't matter much how these aides felt," the New York Democrat said. "History will judge them by what they did. And the answer is nothing."
Trump's phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the U.S. president pushed for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, has sparked national outrage and an impeachment inquiry by House Democrats.
But, according to the Post, Trump's conversation with Zelensky was no outlier.
"Starting long before revelations about Trump's interactions with Ukraine's president rocked Washington, Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders were an anxiety-ridden set of events for his aides and members of the administration," the Post reported Friday night. "They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldn't keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor."
One anonymous former security official told the Post that Trump was only "nice" to "people who could do things for him."
"Leaders with trade deficits, strong female leaders, members of NATO--those tended to go badly," the former official said.
According to the Post, "Trump's personal goals seeped into calls" with foreign leaders.
"He pestered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for help in recommending him for a Nobel Prize," the Post reported, citing an official familiar with the phone call.
In response to the Post story, Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted, "From the staffers hiding records of his calls to the Senators pretending he's fit for any office, so many are complicit in covering for the lunatic."

In response to a Washington Post story reporting that--according to anonymous former and current officials--aides to President Donald Trump have been "genuinely horrified" by his calls with foreign leaders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday night that the concerns of White House officials are meaningless without accompanying action.
"With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn't matter much how these aides felt," the New York Democrat said. "History will judge them by what they did. And the answer is nothing."
Trump's phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the U.S. president pushed for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, has sparked national outrage and an impeachment inquiry by House Democrats.
But, according to the Post, Trump's conversation with Zelensky was no outlier.
"Starting long before revelations about Trump's interactions with Ukraine's president rocked Washington, Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders were an anxiety-ridden set of events for his aides and members of the administration," the Post reported Friday night. "They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldn't keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor."
One anonymous former security official told the Post that Trump was only "nice" to "people who could do things for him."
"Leaders with trade deficits, strong female leaders, members of NATO--those tended to go badly," the former official said.
According to the Post, "Trump's personal goals seeped into calls" with foreign leaders.
"He pestered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for help in recommending him for a Nobel Prize," the Post reported, citing an official familiar with the phone call.
In response to the Post story, Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted, "From the staffers hiding records of his calls to the Senators pretending he's fit for any office, so many are complicit in covering for the lunatic."