"The US uses withholding favors and aid often to get foreign governments to agree to US foreign objectives; Mulvaney: just get over it"
Numerous testifiers in both the deposition and public testimony..in fact, all, testified that Trump had never made fighting corruption in general in Ukraine as a mention in regard to the "quid pro quo" as being a legitimate use of his powers. What all reported was that only corruption mentioned had to do with Bidens and Burisma. As Ambassador Sondland reported after an overheard conversation with Trump while on his unsecured cell phone in a Kyiv restaurant, and verified by at least two first-hand witnesses and to some extent by Sondland himself, was that the President did not give a s....t about Ukraine; it was the big stuff..Bidens". Laura Cooper of the Pentagon testified that the stipulations placed on the release of the military aid to Ukraine, including acting on corruption, had been satisfied as of May and the aid could have been released after going through some administrative hoops could have been released in mid-June. July 18 the President via Mulvaney froze the disbursement with no reason given. There were indeed inquiries to her staff around mid-July from Ukraine embassy wondering where their money for Javelins was. They were aware of the freeze. It was not until later in summer that the weapon's freeze was connected to the pressure on Zelensky in addition to the Oval Office meeting and was verified by Sondland by August 31.
"The Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 elections; they have the DNC server"
Fiona Hill open testimony 11/21/19: One of the favors Donald Trump asked of Ukraine President Zelensky as a condition of receiving military aid and an Oval Office visit was to look into Ukraine's role in the 2016 elections and the rumor that Ukraine had the hacked DNC server. Fiona Hill, the NSC Russian expert, testified November 21, which was a Russian disinformation action and the GOP was spreading it. “[S]ome of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country — and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.”
11/24/19 Testimony by State Department and the US ambassador Bill Taylor to Ukraine November 13 confirmed Trump used withholding military aid as a threat to force the Ukraine president to go before microphones and announce he would re-open investigations into the Bidens and find evidence that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for the 2016 US presidential election interference. In fact. Amb. Sondland, one of the schemers, testified that Trump did not require Zelensky to go through with the investigation, just to announce it. That was the purpose. The dead end investigations into Hillary Clinton's emails and Ben Ghazi hurt her badly. It should work against Biden, too...right? That latter issue, that Ukraine, not Russia, hacked the DNC server is a conspiracy theory that contradicts the findings of Mueller,'s investigation, all of the US intelligence services, and a bi-partisan Senate committee findings, not to mention they found it was a propaganda initiative of Russian intelligence services. . NSC expert on Russia matters, Fiona Hill, calls the claim that Ukraine, not Russia,(Cloudstrike) invented and advanced by Russia." It is fiction", she testified in open hearings..
https://www.axios.com/impeachment-hearing-fiona-hill-trump-ukraine-testimony-49fbce41-bf1c-4b02-964c-701196d30d5c.html
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sondland-trump-only-wanted-ukraine-to-announce-investigation-into-biden-not-a-real-inquiry
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4832768/adam-schiff-closing-statement about sums it up to date end of 11/21/19 Democrat's case.
11/21/19 Update
Testimony by State Department and the US ambassador Bill Taylor to Ukraine November 13 confirmed Trump used withholding military aid as a threat to force the Ukraine president to go before microphones and announce he would re-open investigations into the Bidens and find evidence that Ukraine, not Russia, was to blame for the 2016 US presidential election interference. That latter issue is a conspiracy theory that contradicts the findings of Mueller,'s investigation, all of the US intelligence services, and a bi-partisan Senate committee findings. Taylor was the successor to Ambassador Maria Yovanovitch who Trump had removed in May..Ambassador Yovanovitch testified November 15 she had known Rudy Guiliani had been active in Ukraine seeking her removal. Yovanovitch's testimony revealed she was recalled and smeared for her efforts to rein in corruption in Ukraine that targeted a corrupt prosecutor who was a pal of Rudy Guiliani's circle of Ukraine contacts.
Furthermore, Russia NSC expert, Fiona Hill, calls the conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election, was invented and advanced by Russia. It is fiction.
https://www.axios.com/impeachment-hearing-fiona-hill-trump-ukraine-testimony-49fbce41-bf1c-4b02-964c-701196d30d5c.html
Furthermore, Russia NSC expert, Fiona Hill, calls the conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election, was invented and advanced by Russia. It is fiction.
https://www.axios.com/impeachment-hearing-fiona-hill-trump-ukraine-testimony-49fbce41-bf1c-4b02-964c-701196d30d5c.html
Zelensky had been reluctant to interfere in US domestic politics, fearing he would jeopardize bi-partisan support in the US Congress. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland in Wednesday, November 20 open hearing confirmed the quid pro quo, using exactly those words: Trump would give the Oval Office meeting Zelensky wanted to have for Trump to confirm continued America’s support of Ukraine, but only if Zelensky would commit to the investigations. Sondland's significance: first had knowledge as a participant in the scheme. This was no hearsay or circumstantial evidence. This was from the participant's horse's mouth. However, Sondland was slow to realize the military aid/Javelin release also was dependent on Zelensky’s agreement to investigate the two conspiracy theories and announce it publicly. He did understand that at the end of August. He was also slow to grasp that every time Burisma investigations re-opening meant Hunter and Joe Biden's activities. Under questioning, Sondland agreed opening the Biden investigation would benefit Trump in 2020. The issue that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 elections, contradicts the findings of Mueller,'s investigation, all of the US intelligence services, and bi-partisan Senate committee findings. Sondland also said all of the president's men, Pence, Pompeo, Mulvaney, etc. were in on the scheme. It was not just Rudy Guiliani going rogue; it was the mainstream of Trump and his closest advisors who were part of it. Laura Cooper, the point person in the Department of Defense, also testified that her staff had received inquiries from the Ukraine embassy on July 25 asking about the money for the javelins, indicating that Ukraine knew about the July 18 freeze on javelin money far earlier than the GOP charged. The
significance is that it shuts holes in the GOP argument that there was no quo there, i.e.how could
Ukraine knows that the release of the military aid was being used as the extortion hammer. They did know.
_______________________________________________________________________________
There was also evidence Guiliani had been trying to get evidence against the Bidens since late 2018, before the election of Zelensky in April 2019.
Trump released the aid within 48 hours of the Whistleblower's complaint reaching Congress with public exposure of Trump's July 25 call. In that call in he asked Zelensky for "favors though "in response to Zelensky saying he was ready to buy Javelins, anti-tank missiles, critical to Ukraine's defense against Russian tanks. Trump referred Zelensky to Guiliani for followup.
GOP defense seems to be no harm no foul since Ukraine got the aid, but an attempted crime is subject to prosecution, as well, respond Democrats. The harm done was to throw doubt into Trump's commitment to Ukraine and emboldening Putin's power and attempt to control eastern Europe's former USSR's satellites. The GOP is claiming all evidence has been supplied by second-hand knowledge and hearsay, while Trump has attempted to keep anyone with direct knowledge from testifying. He has failed. First-hand witnesses have emerged and his own words are the best evidence against him.
Another GOP defense is that Trump may have done wrong, but not wrong enough to warrant impeachment or removal from office. Prior impeachment attempts involved coverup and lying of a break-in to Democratic National Committee (Watergate/Nixon) and Clinton's lying about a sex affair with an intern. This impeachment process and inquiry hearings concern national security and defense in the face of Russian aggression that could result in future hotter conflicts. If this is not enough to justify impeachment/trial what is or ever will be?
Nov. 15 update: For an in-depth discussion of Why Ukraine Matters, see the 11/11/19 blog posting of that title. In that posting, Trump's Russian Connection, Ambassador Taylor, George Kent and Ambassador Yovanovitch's public testimonies are referenced, as well as right wing conspiracy theories and evidence that Guiliani's schemes were in the works since early 2019. That posting was updated Nov. 15..
In that posting, as well are rebuttals to most current GOP talking points:
GOP defense seems to be no harm no foul since Ukraine got the aid, but an attempted crime is subject to prosecution, as well, respond Democrats. The harm done was to throw doubt into Trump's commitment to Ukraine and emboldening Putin's power and attempt to control eastern Europe. The GOP is claiming all evidence has been supplied by second-hand knowledge and hearsay, while Trump has attempted to keep anyone with direct knowledge from testifying. He has failed. First-hand witnesses have emerged and his own words are the best evidence against him.
Another GOP defense is that Trump may have done wrong, but not wrong enough to warrant impeachment or removal from office. Prior impeachment attempts involved coverup and lying of a break-in to Democratic National Committee (Watergate/Nixon) and Clinton's lying about a sex affair with an intern. This impeachment process and inquiry hearings concern national security and defense in the face of Russian aggression that could result in future hotter conflicts. If this is not enough to justify impeachment/trial what is or ever will be?
Nov. 13-14, 2019
More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/14/fact-checking-opening-day-trump-impeachment-hearings
No case unless the Whistleblower is revealed and testifies; everything else is based on hearsay.
First, it is illegal to unmask a Whistleblower. Second, while the Whistleblower kicked off the impeachment process, what he/she complained is proving to be factual per witnesses The readout of the July 25 call was identical to the one the White House itself released.
Hearsay? Cute. All of those close to the President who have first-hand knowledge, the GOP thought, have refused to respond to Congressional subpoenas. Therefore only hearsay is left. That strategy is overt contempt of Congress. and first-hand witnesses are emerging:. Even if there was no quid pro quo, just the President asking the Ukraine President to help him for his re-election in 2020 breaks a criminal statute forbidding such requests from foreigners. However, what is clear the Guiliani and three amigos running the "drug deal" is that the quo were two quos, using a White House visit and later release of military aid as the quo. The quid was dirt on Bidens and 2016 Ukraine activities. This makes it dirt on Bidens for weapons kind of a deal. Where the GOP did not count on were indeed first hand witnesses who have emerged: the army colonel in on the July 25 call and testified that the readout left out some vital details and now an embassy staffer who heard the conversation between Trump and Ambassador Sondland on a followup to the July 25 call on July 26 who confirmed to the staffer that Trump was primarily concerned with getting dirt on the Bidens, more so than Ukraine. Another first hand witness of that July 26 call is emerging: https://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-2nd-us-official-165120774.html
Nov. 14, 2019
What the President did was wrong but not rise to justify impeachment/removal
This defense is opposed by Trump who insisted he did nothing wrong...so it has not gained traction yet.
The spin: Some GOP defenders are claiming that what he did was wrong, but the serious does not rise to justify House impeachment and/or removal by Senate trial. Recent prior impeachment processes involved Richard Nixon who lied about his role in breaking into the Democratic National Committee officed in Watergate and Bill Clinton lying about having sex with an intern.. Nixon resigned before votes; Clinton was impeached but was acquitted in the Senate. One can argue that neither of those rose to justify removal from office, but the attempt now involving Donald Trump concerns a back door betrayal of established, bipartisan supported foreign policy., the breaking of federal election laws against asking aid from a foreign government for election gain, and bribery/extortion of a foreign ally deemed important to US security. If that does not rise to an impeachable offense, what does or ever will.
Nancy Pelosi summarizes the Democratic case: ""The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That's bribery."
Nov. 14, 2019
Opening day of public impeachment hearings was November 13 and Trump's newest defense became his apologists talking point.:
"No harm; no foul. The Ukraine president got his military aid and the investigation into the Bidens did not happen."
Democrats quickly responded
Attempted burglaries and attempted extortion are as much crimes as those crimes fully executed.
The first day of the open impeachment inquiry hearings was the recounting of how the acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor slowly discovered that there was another channel outside of the official diplomatic ones at work at cross purposes of the official one. Two outcomes of the public hearing were 1) It was not until September 1 that the EU US Ambassador Gordon Sondland confirmed that it was not only the quid pro quo involved a dangling reward for the President of Ukraine to reinvestigate Hunter Biden's activities to help Trump's 2020 re-election prospects, but it was also the answer to the puzzle of why critical military aid had been frozen by the Trump administration: it was a tool to force a reluctant Ukraine president to investigate the Bidens. 2) while the outside channel was being conducted by a cadre composed of Sondland, Energy secretary Rick Perry, Trump's chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and the president's personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani, one of Taylor's staffers, per Taylor, overheard Sondland and Trump's conversation July 26, following up on the infamous telephone conversation between the president and Zelensky, in which Sondland confirmed Trump's main concern was the investigation into Biden, not Ukraine's security. That was a direct witness to further pin the scheme on Trump himself: It was not general corruption motivating Trump's withholding aid and a White House visit it was he desire to get dirt on the Bidens. 3) military aid was restored but the White House visit did not happen because the Whistleblower blew the scheme open to the public in mid-September, his complaint was sent to the House and Senate September, and within 48 hours, the aid was released. Had it not been for the Whistleblower, the scheme would have succeeded because Zelensky had been prepared to announce publicly on CNN that he had agreed to investigate the Bidens and Ukraine activity in the 2016 US elections.
Nov. 12, 2019
Trump maybe should not have done what it did, it was wrong, but it does not justify impeachment or removal
Some GOP defenders are claiming that what he did was wrong, but the serious does not rise to justify House impeachment and/or removal by Senate trial. Recent prior impeachment processes involved Richard Nixon who lied about his role in breaking into the Democratic National Committee officed in Watergate and Bill Clinton lying about having sex with an intern.. Nixon resigned before votes; Clinton was impeached but was acquitted in the Senate. One can argue that neither of those rose to justify removal from office, but the attempt now involving Donald Trump concerns a back door betrayal of established, bipartisan supported foreign policy., the breaking of federal election laws against asking aid from a foreign government for election gain, and bribery/extortion of a foreign ally deemed important to US security. If that does not rise to an impeachable offense, what does or ever will.
Update Nov. 11 and 12, 2019
There was no quid pro quo because Ukraine did not know military aid had been frozen when t
Per Laura Cooper's deposition, not true. Ukraine knew earlier in the summer before it was known publicly. Cooper is the Pentagon person in charge of Ukraine's military policy. Such was revealed in her deposition and he will be asked to verify it in committee testimony.
Update Nov 10 and 11 2019
Read the transcript; it was perfect
Perfectly incriminating to those whose reading comprehension skills exceed Trump's followers: it kicked off the entire impeachment inquiry. If Trump thought there was nothing wrong with it, he has no concept of right from wrong or that he believes his personal political interests are more important than Ukraine or confuses his personal interests as being in US interests. ...
and then, if that fails...try this Presidential defense:
Update November 10, 2019 Others were freelancing; In so many words, a defense, Trump has floated, is to say he had no idea what they were doing..., ( Mick Mulvaney, Rudy Guiliani, Ambassador Gordon Sondland did it)
1. Guiliani, under FBI investigation for not registering as representing a foreign government, has said he was working in Ukraine on behalf of his client, President Trump https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/15/trump-lawyer-rudy-giuliani-ukraine-businessinvestigation/3986079002/
2. Ambassador Taylor's deposition draws the scheme directly to Trump with his updated report of a staffer who overheard heard Amb. Sondland in a conversation with Trump July 26 that indicated that Trump was more concerned about whether Ukraine would investigate the Bidens than he was concerned about Ukraine.https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/taylor-says-staffer-overheard-trump-ask-sondland-about-investigations-n1081456
;3. In May Putin and Viktor Orban of Hungary had a conversation with Trump that the new Ukraine president was corrupt per State Department official https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/diplomat-testified-putin-orban-poisoned-trump-s-views-ukraine-n1078551
4. Pentagon spokesperson Laura Cooper deposition traced stop of aid to Trump as part of his quid pro quo and testified to Ukraine's critical need for the aid to ward off a Russian takeover..in a conversation with Kurt Volker, in August. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/23/laura-cooper-ukraine-military-aid-056015 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/pentagon-official-testifies-trump-directed-freeze-aid-ukraine-n1080256 Volker was the special envoy to Ukraine and said he was trying to get Zelensky to release a statement re-investigation of Bidens and 2016 election activities by Ukraine in order to get the aid released before the Sept. 30 deadline when the aid would be withdrawn. Since Spring Senators had been concerned about the slow release of aid, but it was certified as having met with the corruption concerns in May. Congress' concern resulted in many contacts with the White House. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/politics/ukraine-military-aid-congress/index.html.Per CNN, Zelensky was planning to make that statement on a Faria Zakaria program. However, two days after the Whistleblower blew up the scheme, the aid released to Ukraine, and Zelensky canceled the CNN interview. https://www.axios.com/kurt-volker-closed-door-interview-giuliani-fc9b670b-0b05-4e5c-932c-a39f03fad356.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/world/europe/ukraine-trump-zelensky.html
5. Trump pulled the trigger on the smoking gun. Read the July 25 rough transcript where Trump's own mouth not only asks favors of the Ukraine president but refers him to his personal attorney Rudy /Guilliani and Attorney General Bill Barr to follow up near the end of the call. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf It was straight out of his own mouth, where the buck stops, even if others, Guilliani, the conspiracy theory blogosphere came up with the "bright/stupid" idea. Tump owned it on July 25, but the scheme was months in the making from the time the new Ukraine President Zelensky was elected. First, dangled as a reward for good behavior, helping Trump build a case against Joe Biden for 2020, he would get a visit to the White House. Zelensky was reluctant to get involved in US politics because he had bipartisan support in Congress, his funders. He needed to keep goodwill from both Democrats and Republicans. The week before the July 25 calls, the shakedown ante was upped to freeze the military aid he needed to fight off Russian grabs of their territory, a hot war. Zelensky may have been wondering where the money was to buy anti-tank weapons since it had been approved in January and was ready to go by May, but there was no question he got the message on July 25. Even then, the ante was upped. He was to say he was investigating Hunter Biden and 2016 Ukraine active measures in the US 2016 campaign, in public. In fact, he had agreed to do so and had scheduled an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN, but the Whistleblower's complaint became public before then and he canceled the interview. Also, transcripts of depositions from at least three testifying indicate that the scheme was long in making before the telephone call and after it until the Whistleblower blew it up. One, Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman was a first-hand witness to the July call and said references to Hunter Biden and the company with which he was associated, Burisma, were left out in the "transcript" which we saw was only a memo, a summary with dots filling up some spaces. Either Trump fell for conspiracy theorists or the GOP and he has repeated familiar techniques: keep investigations against political rivals, such as Hillary Clinton, going on though they have been investigated in seven Ben Gazi hearings and an FBI investigation just concluded and found nothing that she intentionally broke laws. Just saying they are investigating gives them credibility even if nothing is ever found and, like a good mob boss, let those under you take the fall if they are caught, as it did with Michael Cohen his personal attorney and fixer before Guilliani. Michael Cohen is in prison because he lied about the payoff to Stormy Daniels worked at the direction of Person l 1, the president who could not be prosecuted per Department of Justice rules. In Cohen's case, he had a paper trail and a tape recording. In the Mueller report, others have gone to jail for lying about contacts with Russians, but the only charge, obstruction of justice could be traced to Trump himself, but he escaped prosecution for the same reason, DOJ rules. Hunter Biden's dealings with a Ukraine energy company had already been investigated in Ukraine and found no Ukraine laws were broken. During that period, his father Joe Biden had been working to encourage the Ukraine government to prosecute corruption, not to let wrongdoers off the hook.
Why would Trump et al also want to investigate Ukraine's role in the 2016 campaign?l It is about Russia. One of Trump's stated goals was to get the economic sanctions imposed on friends of Putin because of the evidence between the Mueller indictments and the bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee findings were overwhelming that "Russia done it". If the blame could be shifted to Ukraine, then perhaps the sanctions could be rolled back. Why Donald Trump is constantly licking Putin's boots is a question, the answer which may someday come into the public light. Until then, we should just accept the fact that Trump loves Putin's style and nationalist goals and still hopes someday the Moscow tower will be built.
Update: 10/30/19
In the House impeachment inquiry, facts are emerging that the administration has not found ways to refute. While the texts of the depositions have not yet been made public, witnesses have released their opening statements that support the Whistleblower’s complaint. There is already credible evidence that Trump’s drive on behalf of his political interests trumped national security interests, misusing US bi-partisan supported foreign military aid programs and the prestige of his office for his personal political gain. He did not use that pressure to advance national security interests. In fact, he worked contrary to the established national security policy. His responses were classic Trump: deny, divert, define, defame, deride, deceive, and deplore disloyalty to the Donald.
The impeachment inquiry and even administration members’ admissions so far confirm Donald Trump had tried to pressure the new Ukraine president to help his 2020 campaign. Unable to dispute the facts and substance, his defense has evolved to a classical Trump operating procedure and diversions. 1. When his loyal supporters and he do not have the facts on their side, attack the process as unfair to divert attention from the substance and facts. 2. When the process argument was partially answered by Pelosi’s rules changes, testimony now moves to the public arena from behind closed doors where it has been held..... Both parties have equal time to cross-examine and call witnesses. when it moves to the Judiciary Committee and the full-blown trial will take place in the Senate if the House votes for impeachment. As the process issue fades, the GOP will try to destroy the credibility of the witnesses by defaming and attributing to witnesses’ unproven motivations. 3. Define patriotism as being loyal to him. FYI, Donald Trump. Pledging allegiance to the Republic is not the same as pledging allegiance to the Trump. 3. Deride his critics and witnesses as “Never-Trumpers”, “scum” “traitor” “a spy” and claim any investigation into his suspected misdeeds is a witch hunt. 5. Piously claim his intentions were honorable and he had the right to deny aid in order.to battle corruption. That is deception. The corruption to which he referred and what he witnesses heard was only about Biden and his family in connection with the company Burisma. However, Opening an investigation into a debunked conspiracy theory would give it undeserved credibility. The military aid at issue had no “clean up corruption first” strings attached.
Lt Colonel Alexander Vindman provided the most damning testimony to date. Col. Vindman, the National Security Council military member on active duty, was assigned to the White House because of his command of Ukrainian and Russian and experience as a military attache in Russia and Ukraine. In his written public opening remarks, Col.Vindman was alarmed at a scheme he personally observed to undermine established US policy of providing foreign military aid to Ukraine to benefit Trump’s political purposes. No longer could the White House charge evidence was hearsay because Vindman was a first-hand witness, a party to a July 10 meeting and the July 25 telephone call between Trump and Ukraine President Zelensky. Col.
Aha , Trump media decried. The Colonel was an immigrant. So what he came to the US when he was three years old and so what he had served his country with such distinction. He owed his allegiance to Ukraine due to birth ” Someone might call that espionage” a FOX Trumpster opined. Trump called the Colonel a “never Trumper” with no evidence. FYI FOX: military aid to Ukraine had bi-partisan support and Congressional authorization. It was US official policy that arose when Russia invaded and grabbed the Crimea part of Ukraine and then undertook an active war to grab a nearby Ukraine province. American foreign policy was to keep Ukraine from falling into Russian hands. Ukraine is the first line of defense in stopping Russian incursions in the Baltics and Balkans. The US would not like to engage in another war, hot or cold, in Europe again. Been there, done that.
What the president did was bad, but it was not bad enough to impeach or remove from office?
This may be the only excuse GOP members can use to vote against impeachment or for Senators to vote for acquittal, given the facts and evidence that have emerged. It is a judgment call. If the criteria is whether the acts affected public policy and breaking laws, this 2019 impeachment inquiry is far more serious than prior ones were. A crime was committed and admitted and national security policy was involved. In Bill Clinton's case, it was his lies about a dalliance with an intern, and in Nixon's, it was his lies about his role in the Watergate Breakin. Letting the president off the hook for these actions would allow future corrupt presidents to do likewise. If the Democrats' design the articles of impeachment just to focus on Trump's ask for Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 elections, there is a crime involved under federal statutes. Though a commission of a crime is not required for impeachment, abuse of power is an article used in prior impeachment attempts and success. A crime adds weight to the seriousness of the article. If a quid pro quo involved national security interests and anti-Russian expansion policies, that adds even more seriousness to the impeachment, though quid pro quo's require proof if the exact words are not uttered by the accused. In any case, the substance of violating election laws can stand alone to justify impeachment and quid pro quo would be the heavyweight icing on the cake.
Why would Trump et al also want to investigate Ukraine's role in the 2016 campaign?l It is about Russia. One of Trump's stated goals was to get the economic sanctions imposed on friends of Putin because of the evidence between the Mueller indictments and the bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee findings were overwhelming that "Russia done it". If the blame could be shifted to Ukraine, then perhaps the sanctions could be rolled back. Why Donald Trump is constantly licking Putin's boots is a question, the answer which may someday come into the public light. Until then, we should just accept the fact that Trump loves Putin's style and nationalist goals and still hopes someday the Moscow tower will be built.
There was no quid pro quo? Updated 10/29/ 19
Update 11/5/19
Sondland: now I remember: There was one twice that did not have anything to do with a condition of fixing general corruption...but due to specific one
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/05/bombshell-reversal-earlier-testimony-sondland-confirms-knowledge-quid-pro-quo
Oh yes there was per one who was a participant: Ambassador Taylor
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/22/william-taylor-ukraine-testimony-trump-054259
Oh yes, wrote Col. Vindman who was a first-hand witness, and was not relying on hearsay.
https://static.politico.com/69/13/cdffb8a4420a8a4d8a65439570f2/vindman-statement-final.pdf
Col. Vindman's opening statement as a witness to White House meetings on Ukraine in mid-July in which Amb. Sondland raised the quid pro quo strategy; raised alarms to his superiors and the NSC attorney, and listening in on the July 25 call. He supports the Whistleblower complaint. He was aware in mid-May of Guiliani's pressure on Ukraine president. He says he was not the Whistleblower. The significance of Vindman is that he was a first-hand witness, not testifying from hearsay or second-hand knowledge. He was actually listening to the July 25 telephone call between Trump and the Ukraine president.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/22/politics/bill-taylor-deposition-text-messages/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2FdD9rMKC-WjaGRddHgNf5Zll_HEk8Vx5vxbxYpJ7bnB6xrDLDLoizN9I
https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/opening-statement-of-ambassador-william-b-taylor/6b3a6edf-f976-4081-ba7f-bce45468a3ff/
There was no quo because Ukraine did not know of the arms freeze when the quid was being asked to investigate the Bidens? There may have been a quid, but no quo?
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/24/20881505/donald-trump-withhold-aid-ukraine-timeline-whistleblower
Per a report in the NY Times Oct 23, Ukrainians did know in early August the aid had been frozen and that was during the time Guiliani was demanding that Ukraine investigate the Bidens. "Word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.
The problem was not bureaucratic, the Ukrainians were told. To address it, they were advised, they should reach out to Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, according to the interviews and records." Ukraine knew two months earlier the aid had met all conditions for the aid release.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/us/politics/ukraine-aid-freeze-impeachment.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/us/politics/ukraine-aid-freeze-impeachment.html
Whistleblower narrative false; differs from what Trump released so the whole accusation died.(Trump Oct. 28
The text of the July 25 telephone call was word for word the same as the White House version, so much so, Trump called the whistleblower must have been a spy. The issue did not die. The impeachment vote: November. or December.
Ambassador Taylor is a part of the deep state out to get Trump?
The other GOP defenses are that Taylor is the deep state. Take a look at his credentials: He was appointed by Sec. State Pompeo who called him from his retirement. He was West Point, Viet Nam veteran, and career diplomat that had served both Democrats and Republicans. He does not need employment.
His credibility is unimpeachable.
The origins of the Russia probe was the result of a deep state conspiracy and partisan?
Updated: 10/29/19
The best fact checking so far on the bs of conspiracy theories: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/29/president-trumps-alternative-reality-ukraine/?fbclid=IwAR
AG Bill Barr has been traveling the world himself to question other country's intelligence services that the Russian connection was cooked up. In the meantime, Trump's Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the CIA and FBI investigators. of the Russian inquiry. Why? Since we do not know what crimes were involved, we can at least see how it benefits Trump to do it. It is a diversion and it is a way to bring faux legitimacy into Trump's deep state conspiracy theory. While it is under criminal investigation, he can make that a talking point even though nothing ever comes out of it much later. We can speculate that it is a diversion from the obvious that Trump had abused his power by requesting a foreign government to interfere on his behalf in his campaigns. It gives FOX another story to report than the emerging evidence that forms the basis for the impeachment. It also is a way to intimidate and bully more whistleblowers coming forward in the issue. It bolsters Trump's attempt to give legitimacy to his request for Ukraine to prove they were the guilty ones, not Russia, in 2016. Why would this benefit Trump? It would work to give him an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia imposed for their 2016 interference.
Ukraine hacked the DNC in 2016, not Russia?
The Mueller report in over 125 pages in graphic detail concluded that Russia did
indeed help
Trump get elected in 2016, but it was just there was not enough evidence
that Trump himself
conspired with a foreign power. A bipartisan Senate intel committee found after
extensive review it was
Russia, not Ukraine. Their reports were issued in early October 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/bipartisan-senate-report-undercuts-trumps-account-of-2016-meddling/ Trying to put the blame on Ukraine instead is strange. Speculation is that Trump
wants an excuse to
remove sanctions from Russia imposed because of their 2016 meddling.
..one more favor Trump
can do for Russia and Putin.
The impeachment inquiry is unlawful?
Update 10/29/19: Nancy Pelosi won that one in court, but proceeded anyway to call for a vote on rules
of impeachment going forward and began to allow public hearings of witnesses to proceed even while
taking depositions of other witnesses. In agreeing with GOP demands that the inquiry move from
behind closed doors to the public and that the inquiry should have a vote of the House, she gave cover
to Democratic House members in red districts to tell their constituents they were only heeding GOP
complaints and voted to comply with their process demands.
On October 26, a judge rules that grand jury proceedings on the Mueller Special Counsel actions must
be turned over to the House and that rejects the White House /Department of Justice argument that the impeachment inquiryindeed help
Trump get elected in 2016, but it was just there was not enough evidence
that Trump himself
conspired with a foreign power. A bipartisan Senate intel committee found after
extensive review it was
Russia, not Ukraine. Their reports were issued in early October 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/bipartisan-senate-report-undercuts-trumps-account-of-2016-meddling/ Trying to put the blame on Ukraine instead is strange. Speculation is that Trump
wants an excuse to
remove sanctions from Russia imposed because of their 2016 meddling.
..one more favor Trump
can do for Russia and Putin.
The impeachment inquiry is unlawful?
Update 10/29/19: Nancy Pelosi won that one in court, but proceeded anyway to call for a vote on rules
of impeachment going forward and began to allow public hearings of witnesses to proceed even while
taking depositions of other witnesses. In agreeing with GOP demands that the inquiry move from
behind closed doors to the public and that the inquiry should have a vote of the House, she gave cover
to Democratic House members in red districts to tell their constituents they were only heeding GOP
complaints and voted to comply with their process demands.
On October 26, a judge rules that grand jury proceedings on the Mueller Special Counsel actions must
is illegal... It is not. https://www.npr.org/2019/10/25/773535329/judge-orders-doj-to-hand-over-mueller-material-validates-impeachment-probe This has great significance, not only in justifying the legality of the impeachment inquiry, but it should provide dramatic evidence of Russia's interference in the 2016 election (not Ukraine, sorry conspiracy theorists) and perhaps add to the abuse of power articles of impeachment.
That 47 GOP members, all members of the House impeachment committees did and could attend the depositions (and 10 of them still participated in the sit-in) also adds to the House defense this phase of the inquiry (read "investigation") us similar to a grand jury process, but not as secret. Private, maybe, but the GOP attendees have had equal time to cross-examine the deposed. The same rules apply to Democrats as the GOP.
Trump's day in court, his chance to rebut and defend himself will be in the trial in the Senate. That is how the Constitution was constructed. Impeachment is like a grand jury findings of probable cause laying certain charges that rise to the standard justifying impeachment. Criteria worthy of impeachments could include bribery, treason, or high crimes and misdemeanors. That proof Trump had committed a crime that broke some law is not necessary and what defines high crimes is up to the House.
The Constitution provides for impeachment and both House and Senate rules and precedent set in prior impeachments. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/impeachment and https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-4/impeachment
Process is unfair?
Updated 10/31/19
Updated 11/5/19
Upon releasing the first two depositions of witnesses, Rep. Adam Schiff responded:
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that top White House aides have "absolute immunity" from congressional subpoenas, an assertion Schiff rejected: "There's no such thing as 'absolute immunity.'"
Some witnesses refused to testify on the basis that their agency's lawyers are not allowed in the hearing room. Schiff said doing so would violate House rules governing depositions.
Schiff spoke to reporters shortly after his committee released the first transcripts from the closed-door impeachment proceedings. He said the transcripts of Yovanovitch and McKinley's testimonies showed that Republicans on the impeachment committees had equal opportunity to ask witnesses questions.
The Democratic chairman also criticized Republicans for their shifting justifications for opposing the impeachment inquiry, citing last week's vote in the full House to establish the inquiry's ground rules. He accused Republican members of being hypocrites, since previous investigations under Republican majorities, like the Benghazi investigation, featured closed-door testimony from witnesses without agency lawyers present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFIZwOzWq38
The Rules for the impeachment proposed by the House Democrats passed on a party-line vote. The Inquiry stage continues but in the open. This stage permits equal time for both parties to question the witness. In the Ben Ghazi hearings, they were conducted first in private and the witnesses called were up to the majority party...rules constructed by GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, and followed in the inquiry stage. Also, the inquiry is similar to a Grand Jury process where defense lawyers cannot participate. It too is conducted in private. The due process time comes when the inquiry report goes to the Judiciary Committee. Trump lawyers are allowed " to participate in hearings and it gives Republicans the chance to request subpoenas for witnesses and documents. But the White House says it does not provide “basic due process rights,” and Republicans complain that their ability to issue subpoenas is limited. They will need the consent of Democrats or a vote of a majority of members. That has been standard in previous modern impeachments. The majority has the final say over how the proceedings unfold."
The 2018 election did have consequences, turning the House decisively from red to blue, putting the Democrats in charge with the simple majority to needed to impeach. However, to claim this is unfair, the implications are that impeachment could only occur if the party in power was the same as the presidents. If so, impeachment would never happen if party discipline held. Trump's day in court, his chance to rebut and defend himself will be in the trial in the Senate.
The other GOP defense: the process is unfair. To dramatize that, a bunch of GOP Republicans committed a sit-in in the secure meeting room where depositions were being taken. They claimed it was in secret with no chance to rebut or participate or give due process. It was a sophomoric demonstration that proved to be a farce. Both Democrats and Republicans were in the room during Taylor's testimony and asked questions. 47 Republicans could be present and ask questions, though House rules did not grant them the ability to call their own witnesses, rules enacted by Rep. Trey Gowdy and then Rep. Mike Pompeo when they were in the majority.. Those attending the depositions were limited to members of the House committees conducting the inquiry. Most of those who stormed the meeting room Oct. 23 in a sophomoric sit-in were not members of the committees. Nine of the sit-in participants were who already were members of the inquiry committees could attend and participate. Hardly are these depositions done in secret https://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-stormed-closed-impeachment-hearing-but-were-allowed-to-attend-2019-10?fbclid=IwAR0nHSIMqSy0Bz37Nl3t-Alt1rCe7z4wdajG0pN7ITH9b67wVPVpDnY-ZMQ. However, closed meeting depositions were also a technique used by the GOP in the Ben Ghazi House investigations. Rep. Mike Pompeo, now Trump's secretary of state, was part of the Ben Ghazi inquisition. The President is using his media megaphone and tweets full of lies and insinuations and attempts to divert attention to lynching victimization, etc. There will be a chance to do this in the public, too. So there will be hearings held in public and cross-examination by the GOP. If the impeachment vote is sent to the Senate, there will be a full-blown trial and the GOP will get their day in court. Unlike Nixon and Mueller, there was no law enforcement examination of the issue via a special counsel so the House must do that. Impeachment is like a grand jury to determine the cause and prosecution charges, where those testifying are under oath and are not represented by attorneys or department minders. House democrats fear that if all depositions are held in public, then witnesses can coordinate answers and the truth will be that much harder to find or reveal. That is a common prosecution tactic, to keep witnesses from knowing what the one before them said so they could back them up.
The Trump administration will be able to call witnesses and cross-examine them in the trial phase in the Senate. Calls for public testimony of the witnesses in House hearings to make this fair and open will happen, soon, and before the impeachment vote is taken.
We need to pursue theories?
It appears at this time in the early impeachment inquiry in the House that Trump had also set loose some ghostbusters, Rudy Guiliani and Attorney General Bill Barr. Guiliani and his accomplices began pressuring the Ukraine president to investigate conspiracy theories that had been debunked many times before, that Hunter Biden, Joe's son, had committed some crime in his business dealings with Ukraine and that Joe had interfered to stop the Ukraine prosecutor. In fact, Vice president Joe Biden and the whole western world was trying to get that prosecutor off any investigations (Biden's energy company was not under investigation at that time) as corrupt himself and to ferret out corruption with more vigor, not less. Trump's ghostbusters per reports of House depositions of State Department officials were working around official diplomats to pressure the newly elected Ukrainian president to launch those investigations into conspiracy theories. When he balked, they dangled a White House meeting as a reward, and when he balked again, the military aid freeze was begun, followed by the July 25 telephone call. Trump's private attorney Rudy Guiliani, who himself was working some side deals to control Ukraine's energy company for some clients. Ghostbuster Barr set out on an international trek to find evidence of another conspiracy theory that the entire Mueller report was started was due to a deep state conspiracy. None of this gets at the evidence and facts of the Mueller report; it just tries to undermine it by questioning the motives of some in the CIA, FBI, and national security apparatus. Mueller's integrity has been beyond reproach. In fact, he may have bent a bit the other way, by not investigating the financial dealings with foreign banks to see if there was a Russian angle
The Hillary email issue was laid to rest this week when the State Department said they could find no evidence of intent...3 years after the 2016 election where the email BS helped scuttle her campaign.
They did not find evidence of intent where there were mistakes. This and Ben Ghazi which resulted in a fizzle too (in which Pompeo participated) were effective campaign strategies. Keeping those hearings and investigations on and off forever worked. Both were dead ends. Even if there is no proof, just saying it was under investigation hurts the target. That is why the White House wanted the Ukraine president to announce publicly that he would investigate both Biden's and DNC Ukraine done it hacking. Both have been found to be conspiracy theories already been debunked by many... just saying or announcing they are under investigation gives it credibility they otherwise would not have. Terrific and effective talking points and deceptive and dirty tricks. ..
No laws were broken so impeachment is unjustified?
Another diversionary argument is specious: Is receiving dirt on an opponent from a foreign government a forbidden thing of value so it breaks federal election laws? Per the head of the US election commission: it is: https://www.vox.com/2019/6/14/18677631/trump-campaign-finance-law-fec-illegal-fbi However, as Nixon found out, you do not have to be convicted of a crime for an article of impeachment such as abuse of powers, to be thrown at you.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/justice-department-trump-call-ukraine-thing-value
Impeachment is like a lynching? A coup?
Trump's outrageous tweet that the House impeachment process is a lynching...aside from his dog whistle to his racist supporters..has one major difference between the two: The Constitution provides for legal action and the end result would be removal from office; lynching was a murder without due process. The best discussion of impeachment I found was : https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/impeachment
Trump's outrageous tweet that the House impeachment process is a lynching...aside from his dog whistle to his racist supporters..has one major difference between the two: The Constitution provides for legal action and the end result would be removal from office; lynching was a murder without due process. The best discussion of impeachment I found was : https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/impeachment
This is all a smear campaign?
(so ignore facts and evidence?)
That impeachment will pass the House is very likely. The votes are there. The text of the infamous July 25 telephone call is verified by the administration. Now evidence to back up charges that a quid pro quo took place is emerging between Mulvaney's slip and the flood of State Department officials and former members of the administration willing to be witnesses and to be deposed. Already 52% of voters per recent polls want not only Trump impeached, an action similar to a grand jury indictment, but over a majority want the Senate to hold a trial and remove him from office. It will take a 2/3 vote of Senators to vote to remove him from office, a high bar, that has never been met before by a vote. Given the party makeup of the Senate, that will require 20 GOP senators and all Democratic senators to vote for conviction and removal from office. Now GOP Senators are terrified of being primaried if they do not pledge allegiance to the person of Trump himself. Even if the Senate does not convict, Democrats could damage Trump so much that he would be handily defeated in his run for re-election a year from now. Democrats are taking a gamble doing this, fearing a backlash if the President is acquitted in the Senate, but it is not a very big risk given the public nature of the evidence and the Trump party discipline imposed by fear and tweets.
Withholding military aid is justified if there is fear it will be used corruptively?
This is another line of the White House defense: US can withhold aid if they believe the money will be used corruptly, so we did. In this case, that was never the conditions laid as favors asked by Trump. that one gets 4 Pinocchios. In May the Defense Department certified conditions had been met; corruption was no longer an issue. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/25/764453663/pentagon-letter-undercuts-trump-assertion-on-delaying-aid-to-ukraine-over-corrup In mid June, the Defense Department authorized it.
In the July 25 telephone call between Trump and the Ukraine president no mention was made of general corruption, but only of Biden and the favors asked only had to do with Biden then and until early September. 2 days after the Whistleblower complaint was made public, the aid was restored. The aid had been approved in April because all conditions had been met. The corruption issue was not attached as a condition to the aid. Neither the White House or the Department of Defense had conducted a review of general corruption as a condition of releasing aid; our other European allies had determined that Ukraine had taken measures with their judiciary to combat corruption; the US Ambassador to Ukraine had been recalled because she was fighting corruption and not cooperating with the Guiliani shadow efforts . Guiliani was running a scheme parallel to US official policy to force Ukraine president to claim publicly that he had opened an investigation of the Bidens and whether Ukraine, not Russia, hacked the DNC. The testimony of Ambassador Bill Taylor makes clear that the aid was conditioned on the Ukraine president agreeing to White House demands. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/23/trump-mulvaneys-claim-that-corruption-concerns-held-up
One more defense line from the White House was that Taylor's testimony was hearsay. Some was, some was not since he was a participant dealing with the messages and texting. He came equipped with contemporaneous notes and documents. In a grand jury, which is like this phase of impeachment,
hearsay is permitted and it is permitted in an impeachment process. (Linda Tripp's testimony in the Clinton process is an example of that).
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/us/politics/mick-mulvaney-trump-ukraine.html
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/trumps-potential-senate-impeachment-trial-what-we-know.html
This section will also be reproduced as a separate blog postings and future updates post 10/22/19 will be in that new posting: GOP's defense in impeachment inquiry sounds better than it is.
Other diversions:
The Mueller report in over 125 pages in graphic detail concluded that Russia did indeed help
Trump get elected in 2016, but it was just there was not enough evidence that Trump himself
conspired with a foreign power. A biartisan Senate intel committee found after extensive review it was
Russia, not Ukraine. Their reports was issued in early October 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/bipartisan-senate-report-undercuts-trumps-account-of-2016-meddling/ Trying to put the blame on Ukraine instead is strange. Speculation is that Trump wants an excuse to
remove sancitons from Russia imposed because of their 2016 meddling. ..one more favor Trump
can do for Russia and Putin.
Trump get elected in 2016, but it was just there was not enough evidence that Trump himself
conspired with a foreign power. A biartisan Senate intel committee found after extensive review it was
Russia, not Ukraine. Their reports was issued in early October 2019. https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/bipartisan-senate-report-undercuts-trumps-account-of-2016-meddling/ Trying to put the blame on Ukraine instead is strange. Speculation is that Trump wants an excuse to
remove sancitons from Russia imposed because of their 2016 meddling. ..one more favor Trump
can do for Russia and Putin.
The 2018 election did have consequences, turning the House decisively from red to blue, putting the Democrats in charge with the simple majority to needed to impeach. However, to claim this is unfair, the implications are that impeachment could only occur if the party in power was the same as the presidents. If so, impeachment would never happen if party discipline held. Trump's day in court, his chance to rebut and defend himself will be in the trial in the Senate. That is how the Constitution was constructed. Impeachment is like a grand jury findings of probable cause laying certain charges that rise to the standard justifying impeachment. Criteria worthy of impeachments could include bribery, treason, or high crimes and misdemeanors. That proof Trump had committed a crime that broke some law is not necessary and what defines high crimes is up to the House.
The other GOP defenses are that Taylor is the deep state. Take a look at his credentials: He was appointed by Sec. State Pompeo who called him from his retirement. He was West Point, Viet Nam veteran, and career diplomat that had served both Democrats and Republicans. He does not need employment.
His credibility is unimpeachable.
The other GOP defense: the process is unfair. Both Democrats and Republicans were in the room during Taylor's testimony and asked questions. The President is using his media megaphone and tweets full of lies and insinuations and attempts to divert attention to lynching victimization, etc. There will be a chance to do this in the public, too. So there will be hearings held in public and cross-examination by the GOP. If the impeachment vote is sent to the Senate, there will be a full-blown trial and the GOP will get their day in court. Unlike Nixon and Mueller, there was no law enforcement examination of the issue via a special counsel so the House must do that. Impeachment is like a grand jury to determine the cause and prosecution charges, where those testifying are under oath and are not represented by attorneys or department minders. House democrats fear that if all depositions are held in public, then witnesses can coordinate answers and the truth will be that much harder to find or reveal. That is a common prosecution tactic, to keep witnesses from knowing what the one before them said so they could back them up.
It appears at this time in the early impeachment inquiry in the House that Trump had also set loose some ghostbusters, Rudy Guiliani and Attorney General Bill Barr. Guiliani and his accomplices began pressuring the Ukraine president to investigate conspiracy theories that had been debunked many times before, that Hunter Biden, Joe's son, had committed some crime in his business dealings with Ukraine and that Joe had interfered to stop the Ukraine prosecutor. In fact, Vice president Joe Biden and the whole western world was trying to get that prosecutor off any investigations (Biden's energy company was not under investigation at that time) as corrupt himself and to ferret out corruption with more vigor, not less. Trump's ghostbusters per reports of House depositions of State Department officials were working around official diplomats to pressure the newly elected Ukrainian president to launch those investigations into conspiracy theories. When he balked, they dangled a White House meeting as a reward, and when he balked again, the military aid freeze was begun, followed by the July 25 telephone call. Trump's private attorney Rudy Guiliani, who himself was working some side deals to control Ukraine's energy company for some clients. Ghostbuster Barr set out on an international trek to find evidence of another conspiracy theory that the entire Mueller report was started was due to a deep state conspiracy. None of this gets at the evidence and facts of the Mueller report; it just tries to undermine it by questioning the motives of some in the CIA, FBI, and national security apparatus. Mueller's integrity has been beyond reproach. In fact, he may have bent a bit the other way, by not investigating the financial dealings with foreign banks to see if there was a Russian angle.
Another diversionary argument is specious: Is receiving dirt on an opponent from a foreign government a forbidden thing of value so it breaks federal election laws? Per the head of the US election commission: it is: https://www.vox.com/2019/6/14/18677631/trump-campaign-finance-law-fec-illegal-fbi However, as Nixon found out, you do not have to be convicted of a crime for an article of impeachment such as abuse of powers, to be thrown at you.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/justice-department-trump-call-ukraine-thing-value
Trump's outrageous tweet that the House impeachment process is a lynching...aside from his dog whistle to his racist supporters..has one major difference between the two: The Constitution provides for legal action and the end result would be removal from office; lynching was a murder without due process. The best discussion of impeachment I found was : https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/impeachment
That impeachment will pass the House is very likely. The votes are there. The text of the infamous July 25 telephone call is verified by the administration. Now evidence to back up charges that a quid pro quo took place is emerging between Mulvaney's slip and the flood of State Department officials and former members of the administration willing to be witnesses and to be deposed. Already 52% of voters per recent polls want not only Trump impeached, an action similar to a grand jury indictment, but over a majority want the Senate to hold a trial and remove him from office. It will take a 2/3 vote of Senators to vote to remove him from office, a high bar, that has never been met before by a vote. Given the party makeup of the Senate, that will require 20 GOP senators and all Democratic senators to vote for conviction and removal from office. Now GOP Senators are terrified of being primaried if they do not pledge allegiance to the person of Trump himself. Even if the Senate does not convict, Democrats could damage Trump so much that he would be handily defeated in his run for re-election a year from now. Democrats are taking a gamble doing this, fearing a backlash if the President is acquitted in the Senate, but it is not a very big risk given the public nature of the evidence and the Trump party discipline imposed by fear and tweets.
This is another line of the White House defense: US can withhold aid if they believe the money will be used corruptly, so we did. In this case, that was never the conditions laid as favors asked by Trump. that one gets 4 Pinocchios. In the July 25 telephone call between Trump and the Ukraine president no mention was made of general corruption, but only of Biden and the favors asked only had to do with Biden then and until early September. 2 days after the Whistleblower complaint was made public, the aid was restored. Neither the White House or the Department of Defense had conducted a review of general corruption as a condition of releasing aid; our other European allies had determined that Ukraine had taken measures with their judiciary to combat corruption; the US Ambassador to Ukraine had been recalled because she was fighting corruption and not cooperating with the Guiliani shadow efforts . Guiliani was running a scheme parallel to US official policy to force Ukraine president to claim publicly that he had opened an investigation of the Bidens and whether Ukraine, not Russia, hacked the DNC. The testimony of Ambassador Bill Taylor makes clear that the aid was conditioned on the Ukraine president agreeing to White House demands. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/23/trump-mulvaneys-claim-that-corruption-concerns-held-up
One more defense line from the White House was that Taylor's testimony was hearsay. Some was, some was not since he was a participant dealing with the messages and texting. He came equipped with contemporaneous notes and documents. In a grand jury, which is like this phase of impeachment,
heresay is permitted and it is permitted in an impeachment process. (Linda Tripp's testimony in the Clinton process is an example of that).
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/17/us/politics/mick-mulvaney-trump-ukraine.html
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/trumps-potential-senate-impeachment-trial-what-we-know.html
https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Impeachment/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/read-full-transcript-trump-s-conversation-ukraine-s-president-n1058581
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-invention-of-the-conspiracy-theory-on-biden-and-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR0ZOA6Tk1BZ7xVOyLJgRpxrGvUlkx8S
https://thehill.com/policy/international/465151-ukraine-president-says-he-will-happily-investigate-whether-country
https://www.axios.com/trump-tax-returns-house-democrats-subpoena-court-ruling-46f369a5-976c-45b6-865a-c9ec6fdc5407.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-ukraine-buris/ukraine-agency-says-allegations-against-burisma-cover-period-before-biden-joined-idUSKBN1WC1LV?fbclid=IwAR2C303PXWzF2V540JbFfpf7awVVDUsDcHsC90FFYBM5LcZ7nspa5iqcC98
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-seized-conspiracy-theory-called-insurance-policy-now-it-s-n1062096
DNC hacked themselves
https://thehill.com/policy/international/465151-ukraine-president-says-he-will-happily-investigate-whether-country
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-invention-of-the-conspiracy-theory-on-biden-and-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR1wudXBIUqgruIaEuq8MS_9_o5OaWwlA5UqzJhv8Gq6FPj9VEIHVQHderI
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/08/gop-theory-that-ukraine-set-up-trump/?fbclid=IwAR05CjcPwjDMtuqcJtBWNPLaDQQYusF34GZ5MxSZv4WIRuVkqmmuKXB7Mr0
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-clintons-russia-trump-688592?fbclid=IwAR0mo8779it79ByOBTM89SqC1AO7qsvRrofQ6Btoj-gtRR6rKkEx1nGeLMA
https://www.apnews.com/d7440cffba4940f5b85cd3dfa3500fb2 Guiliani, Rick Perry, oil gas
Ukraine
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/chairs-on-volker/index.html
Pay attention to pages 9 and 10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/03/may-ukrainian-oligarch-said-giuliani-was-orchestrating-clear-conspiracy-against-biden/
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:52%20section:30121%20edition:prelim)
https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Impeachment/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/read-full-transcript-trump-s-conversation-ukraine-s-president-n1058581
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-invention-of-the-conspiracy-theory-on-biden-and-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR0ZOA6Tk1BZ7xVOyLJgRpxrGvUlkx8S
https://thehill.com/policy/international/465151-ukraine-president-says-he-will-happily-investigate-whether-country
https://www.axios.com/trump-tax-returns-house-democrats-subpoena-court-ruling-46f369a5-976c-45b6-865a-c9ec6fdc5407.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-whistleblower-ukraine-buris/ukraine-agency-says-allegations-against-burisma-cover-period-before-biden-joined-idUSKBN1WC1LV?fbclid=IwAR2C303PXWzF2V540JbFfpf7awVVDUsDcHsC90FFYBM5LcZ7nspa5iqcC98
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-seized-conspiracy-theory-called-insurance-policy-now-it-s-n1062096
DNC hacked themselves
https://thehill.com/policy/international/465151-ukraine-president-says-he-will-happily-investigate-whether-country
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-invention-of-the-conspiracy-theory-on-biden-and-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR1wudXBIUqgruIaEuq8MS_9_o5OaWwlA5UqzJhv8Gq6FPj9VEIHVQHderI
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/08/gop-theory-that-ukraine-set-up-trump/?fbclid=IwAR05CjcPwjDMtuqcJtBWNPLaDQQYusF34GZ5MxSZv4WIRuVkqmmuKXB7Mr0
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-clintons-russia-trump-688592?fbclid=IwAR0mo8779it79ByOBTM89SqC1AO7qsvRrofQ6Btoj-gtRR6rKkEx1nGeLMA
https://www.apnews.com/d7440cffba4940f5b85cd3dfa3500fb2 Guiliani, Rick Perry, oil gas
Ukraine
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/chairs-on-volker/index.html
Pay attention to pages 9 and 10
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/03/may-ukrainian-oligarch-said-giuliani-was-orchestrating-clear-conspiracy-against-biden/
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