There is no doubt that we are in likely the gravest constitutional crisis of out lifetimes, and whether or not our democratic institutions hold remains to be seen.

Senate Republicans in Washington still have an opportunity to show some backbone and do the right thing, rather than blindly follow "Moscow Mitch" McConnell down the rabbit hole and render Congress the equivalent of the impotent Russian Duma under the Putin regime.

Of particular note was the downplaying of the role and his correspondence with Rob Hyde, the Connecticut landscaping contractor/government relations firm. Republican candidate for Congress and one of the boys at the DC Trump Hotel bar.

 Indeed, in response to Rachel Maddow's questions about Hyde's eery correspondence about surveillance of Ambassador Yovanovitch and getting someone to do something to her in exchange for money, was, to me, a chink in his otherwise seeming credibility. Hyde is a drinker, ignore it all. Just an old drunk is not a good defense.  And, if real, it would incriminate Lev in an even more serious way than where he finds himself at present.

Former Ambassador to Qatar, Dana Shell Smith,  has called for an investigation of the matter. Of course, there has been zilch from Pompeo or Barr. And, there is plenty reason to not let this go as the ravings of a drunk. Trump himself said in the perfect July 25 call notes, "She is going to go through some things."  Ambassador Yovanovich testified that she was told by the Director General of Foreign Service, Carol Perez, at 1:00am to get out on the next flight.  And, Ms. Perez indicated that her concerns from "down the street"  (i.e., White House). Ms. Perez should be subpoenaed.

Rob Hyde is also diminished as having been removed from Trump's Doral in Miami and involuntarily committed. So a drunk and a mental case. But, these are just the types that seem to be recruited for such jobs--they bring along deniability.  

More about the "surveillance" of the Ambassador.

The gist seems to be that Hyde had connected with a guy named Anthony de Caluwe either at Mar-a-Lago or the D.C. Trump hotel. De Caluwe seems to be another Trump superfan, though it's not clear to me whether he's actually American.

At that point de Caluwe stopped responding to NBC's queries. They were then contacted by another pro-Trump Youtube personality named Karyn Turk, who said she was now representing de Caluwe to the media. Turk is also an apparent associate of Roger Stone and just last week was sentenced to a month in federal prison and subsequent house arrest for stealing her mother's social security checks. Presumably she hasn't yet reported to prison to serve her sentence.