That an atomic bomb is required to detonate a hydrogen bomb seems an apt metaphor for the incremental, shattering explosions taking place on the Hill.
First came the CIA whistleblower's complaint of sinister doings betwixt Trump and Ukraine's new government; then came former Ambassador Kurt Volker and his proffered text messages substantiating the whistleblower's tale; and then former Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified about her brutal removal for Rudy Giuliani-instigated talk of "disloyalty."
These were the atomic bombs aligned to detonate the hydrogen explosion of Fiona Hill's saga, related yesterday to House investigative committees. As Politico puts it, her "account underscores how the president's once-impenetrable barrier to meaningful testimony in Democrats’ impeachment inquiry has been blown apart."
A Russia expert formerly in the National Security Council's employ, which is to say, John Bolton's, Ms. Hill described to lawmakers the webs of shadow diplomacy spun between Giuliani and the president's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. This relationship, of course, ties White House operations to Trump's private attorney.
Hill also cast Bolton in an uncharacteristic light of official prudence. According to Hill, he compared Giuliani and Mulvaney's slithering "diplomacy" to a "drug deal," and Giuliani alone as "a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up." This common knowledge, or conventional wisdom, has, by definition, been known to 320 million Americans + the 1 of Bolton since Rudy escaped from whichever booby hatch he inhabited. Only the president of the United States was, and seemingly is, unaware of it.
Hill's powerfully explosive deposition is to be followed this week by testimony from Michael McKinley, a recently, precipitously resigned aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; from EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who, it is rumored, will save himself from his conveyance of Trump's "quid pro quo" lies; and from Laura Cooper, a defense department deputy assistant secretary who superintends, or is supposed to superintend, all things Russian-Ukrainian.
Meanwhile, a subpoena for documents hangs over Giuliani's head like the proverbial sword. Politico notes that "it's unclear if he intends to cooperate."
Though Rudy loves to play high-stake games, he's lousy at them — an epiphany I expect to dawn on Rudy himself once the indictments begin to fly. Flickers of truth will then illuminate his memory, which will instantly convert into the final thermonuclear explosion.