erik lundegaard

Tuesday September 24, 2019

Impeachment Now

Today, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would open an impeachment inquiry into Whatshisface, Donald Somethingorother. Pres. Blah Blah. Here's why, via The New Yorker. The bullet-pointing is mine:

  • On July 18th, the Pentagon and the State Department were informed that the President had decided to suspend almost $400 million in aid to the new government of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who took office in May.
  • On July 25th, Trump called Zelensky and, as he admits, discussed former Vice-President Joe Biden, whose son Hunter had done business in Ukraine. Trump also urged the young Ukrainian leader—eight times, according to the Wall Street Journal—to investigate the Bidens for corruption.
  • In early August, Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal lawyer, met with a representative of Zelensky's government in Spain and, according to the Times, again urged an investigation of the Bidens.
  • Three weeks after Trump had frozen the funds, the aid had still not been released.
  • On August 12th, an anonymous whistle-blower in the U.S. intelligence community filed a complaint involving communications between Trump and Zelensky.
  • On September 9th, members of Congress were notified of the whistle-blower's complaint and demanded that it be released.
  • Finally, on September 11th, the Administration released aid to Ukraine, which faces existential military challenges from Russia.

That's a dry, just-the-facts-so-far-ma‘am rendition, but it gets at it. Here’s the main: Trump urged a foreign leader to investigate a political rival for his own benefit. That's it. That's enough. That's a violation of his oath of office right there. Using foreign policy levers and coffers is simply the icing on the cake.

Truth is, he's been putting himself above country from Day 1. Let's hope Day Last is soon. 

Posted at 06:37 PM on Tuesday September 24, 2019 in category Politics  
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