From ‘Urgent Concern’ to ‘Quid Pro Quo’: A Guide to the Trump-Ukraine Lexicon
From ‘Lock Down’ to ‘Play Ball’: A Trump-Ukraine Lexicon
(Bloomberg) -- Every presidential scandal comes with its own language.
From Watergate’s “plumbers” to the Monica Lewinsky scandal’s “talking points memo,” the controversies that have consumed the nation have coined new phrases and popularized old ones.
As the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine grows, there are already a few terms that are likely to become part of the public lexicon.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the breakout phrases:
1,000 percent
Eager to show his willingness to work with the Trump administration, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Trump in the July 25 phone call that he was “absolutely right” that the U.S. helps his country “not only 100% but actually 1,000%,” according to a summary of the call.
Appears Credible/Urgent Concern
In forwarding the whistle-blower’s complaint to the acting director of national intelligence, Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, said that it was an “urgent concern,” and “appears credible,” the legal standards for forwarding a complaint to Congress.
Do Us a Favor
These words, spoken by Trump to Zelenskiy, are at the center of the controversy. Zelenskiy had just mentioned buying anti-tank missiles when Trump segued into his request that Ukraine investigate the 2016 election and Biden’s son.
Lock Down
The whistle-blower’s complaint claims that senior White House officials tried to “lock down” all records of the phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy, storing it in “code word-level system” normally used for highly classified information, because they were concerned about the possible violations of campaign finance and other laws.
Nothingburger
Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham have argued that the scandal over Ukraine is a “nothingburger,” a phrase that dates back to the 1950s which is now often used in politics to describe an overhyped controversy.
Play Ball
The whistle-blower’s complaint claims that Ukrainian officials were led to believe that a phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy would depend on whether Zelenskiy was willing to “play ball” on the investigations into the 2016 election and Biden’s son.
Quid Pro Quo
Trump allies have argued that the summary of the call with Zelenskiy does not contain an explicit quid pro quo, a legal phrase used when someone offers something valuable expecting something in return. Critics say that these kinds of exchanges are not often spelled out clearly.
Road Map
During the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, the “road map” was a grand jury report that prosecutors sent to Congress that pointed the way to its own investigation. Some in Congress now are describing the whistle-blower’s complaint as a similar “road map” for a Trump impeachment.
TELCON
The official memorandum summarizing the (tel)ephone (con)versation between Trump and the Ukrainian president. It is not a transcript – so many people pointed this out Wednesday that the phrase, “It’s not a transcript” trended on Twitter – since the White House stopped doing those after tapes of presidential conversations drove Richard Nixon to resign the presidency before the House could vote on impeachment.
Ukraine/the Ukraine
The scandal has again brought to the forefront a pet peeve among Ukrainians: Some Americans, including Trump in his conversation with Zelenskiy, persist reference to “the Ukraine.” The country dropped “the” after it regained its independence from the Soviet Union and it rankles even more given their current conflict with Russia.
Whistle-Blower
The idea of blowing the whistle on scandalous information like a beat cop has deep roots in English, but columnist William Safire credits the popularization of the compound noun to Ralph Nader’s efforts to keep consumer products safe in the 1970s.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in New York at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Kevin Whitelaw
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