Whistleblower complaint released; these are its major elements
- Trump asked Ukrainian government to interfere in 2020 election
- Trump wanted Ukraine to say it, not Russia, interfered in 2016 election
- Trump used private channels to pursue these efforts, and White House officials engaged in a cover up
NBC News reports there’s now a House majority for impeachment, and some Republicans are saying the President’s actions were “not okay,” but the GOP’s dike protecting Trump isn’t cracking yet.
Yesterday, it appeared that Republicans would try to spin Trumps interchanges with President Zelensky of the Ukraine by asserting there was no quid pro quo linking the aid that Congress approved for Ukraine to fulfilling Trump’s demands of the newly-elected Ukrainian government.
But today we’ve learned those demands included more than cooperating with his efforts to discredit Joe Biden; he also wanted Ukraine to take the heat off Moscow for its interference in the 2016 election that put Trump in office. And the allegations in the whistleblower complaint strongly imply that a quid pro quo was there, even if unspoken or not explicitly referred to. The timeline of events confirms this. Linking release of this aid to compliance with Trump’s demands made it extortion.
The whistleblower complaint also makes clear White House officials knew what Trump was doing was deeply problematical. That’s why they tried to “lock down” and hide the official records of Trump’s “negotiations” with Ukranian officials.
The significance of Trump using Giuliani, instead of government diplomats, to act as a go-between and negotiate with them is that (1) going outside official channels shows Trump was trying to hide his activities, (2) Giuliani’s activities would generate no official government records, because he’s a private citizen who holds no government job or official position, and has no official status, and (3) as a further part of the intended coverup, Trump likely intended to claim attorney-client privilege to keep Giuliani’s activities secret.
The significance of Trump demanding that Ukraine take heat off Russia for the latter’s 2016 election interference is that it tends to confirm existing suspicions that Trump is somehow beholden to Russian (it’s generally believed in a financial way). Most likely this relates to the sanctions Congress imposed on Russia, over Trump’s objection, which are hurting the Russian economy. Trump has lobbied Congress, unsuccessfully, to remove or lighten those sanctions. Instead, Congress — with Republicans joining in — has strengthened them.
The whistleblower complaint specifically states that Trump’s actions have harmed U.S. interests in supporting the Ukraine against Russian aggression, and specifically states that the involvement of Giuliani, a private citizen without security clearances, poses a threat to U.S. national security.
This is intolerable. It’s the last straw. Trump must either resign or be removed from office. This is worse than Watergate. It represents overt misuse of the presidency for personal gain by enlisting a foreign government to subvert our elections. Like Watergate, it included an attempted coverup. It’s time for Republicans to stop protecting him and do their duty as Americans as required of them by the Constitution and their oaths of office.
This whole thing is absurd. Whenever the President speaks to any foreign leader it is potentially political. This type of phone call is rarely aired and there s no cover up.
Presidents have used personal go betweens all the time. This usually upsets members of the intelligence community and others in the government.
This may not be a legitimate whistleblower complaint as the call amounts to the CIA spying on the President rather than just supplying information to the President to support the call.
There is damage here, but it is the damage the Democrats are inflicting. Now if Nancy were playing fair at the minimum she would have told Joe you are not going to be our nominee.
Since Tulsi Gabbard is going to be on stage at the next debate unless the rules change yet again I very sure unlike other candidates who are hoping the House and Senate do their job for them, she is going after Joe Biden and what his son was doing in Ukraine.
The House is not going to draw up impeachment bills over this and put those bills on the floor to a vote, which is what should happen now that the Speaker has come out in support. Trump should say come on down in this world of wrestling world so we can get this bullshit over. The votes in the Senate do not exist if any of the bills of impeachment actually pass ad they might not, and the House just strengthens Trumps Presidential bid, and weakens any of the candidates calling for impeachment as it makes them look weak.