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wdmso 10-17-2019 01:10 PM

Mulvaney appears to confirm Ukraine aid was contingent upon probe into 2016 election

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged Thursday that U.S. military funds to Ukraine were previously withheld at least in part because of a desire to have the Eastern European nation investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries may have aided Democrats

another attempt to muddy the waters

scottw 10-17-2019 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdmso (Post 1177135)

Mulvaney appears to confirm

another attempt to muddy the waters

yup

Got Stripers 10-17-2019 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdmso (Post 1177135)
Mulvaney appears to confirm Ukraine aid was contingent upon probe into 2016 election

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged Thursday that U.S. military funds to Ukraine were previously withheld at least in part because of a desire to have the Eastern European nation investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries may have aided Democrats

another attempt to muddy the waters

I’m pretty sure everyone already knew that, even if the GOP party line if a microphone is put in their face, there was no QPQ.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Pete F. 10-17-2019 01:58 PM

Mulvaney knows Nixon’s Chief of Staff went to jail.
If he admits that what happened is illegal the jigs up, it’s over and he’s indicted
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

scottw 10-18-2019 06:17 AM

are the democraps going to impeach trump for "quid pro quo" and then elect "quid pro joe" president? :kewl: that would be classic democrap

Pete F. 10-18-2019 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177173)
are the democraps going to impeach trump for "quid pro quo" and then elect "quid pro joe" president? :kewl: that would be classic democrap

It’s like Mulvaney says and then tries to unsay

Get over it

Apparently that’s now how the Constitution works
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

wdmso 10-18-2019 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177173)
are the democraps going to impeach trump for "quid pro quo" and then elect "quid pro joe" president? :kewl: that would be classic democrap

SCOTT one actually happened.. the other only happened in your mind .
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

scottw 10-18-2019 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wdmso (Post 1177182)
SCOTT one actually happened.. the other only happened in your mind .
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device


you know Biden is on tape bragging about it right? Biden got the prosecutor fired...just ask him...What did trump get for his supposed "quid pro quo"?

PaulS 10-18-2019 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177188)
you know Biden is on tape bragging about it right? Biden got the prosecutor fired...just ask him...What did trump get for his supposed "quid pro quo"?

And you know that the full US govern. wanted the pros. gone.

scottw 10-18-2019 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177200)
And you know that the full US govern. wanted the pros. gone.

Biden wanted him gone to protect his crack head kid(otherwise there is a hell of a lot of coincidence involved there)...

so if a democrat actually gets a quid pro quo that's ok

if a republican talks about what democrats can construe as a possible quid pro quo.... that's impeachable

you people are nuts

Pete F. 10-18-2019 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177188)
you know Biden is on tape bragging about it right? Biden got the prosecutor fired...just ask him...What did trump get for his supposed "quid pro quo"?

Mulvaney claimed yesterday that Trumps quid pro quo is SOP

Here is a Timeline: Trump, Giuliani, Biden, and Ukrainegate.

The timeline if you look at the link continues to current time and details the involvement of others after Biden

April 2014 – Russian and pro-Russian forces invade the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, starting a war that continues today and has killed more than 13,000 people.

April 2014 – Hunter Biden joins Ukrainian firm Burisma

Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, joins the board of Burisma Holdings, controlled by Mykola Zlochevskiy, who had served as a Cabinet minister under former pro-Russian Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Yanukovych. Both administrations had been suspected of corruption, and once they were ousted, successor administrations pledging reforms targeted previous officials, including Zlochevskiy, for investigation. Allegations against Zlochevskiy center on the funding schemes he used to form the company in 2002. But cases against him stall.

April 16, 2014 – U.K. investigates Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevskiy

The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) blocks accounts of Burisma’s majority shareholder, Mykola Zlochevskiy. A British court conducts a hearing on Dec. 3-5, 2014, and unblocks the accounts in a Jan. 21, 2015 judgment, finding that none of the evidence “establishes reasonable grounds for a belief that his assets were unlawfully acquired as a result of misconduct in public office.” The SFO apparently continued its investigation until at least May 2015, when a spokeswoman told The Guardian, “We are disappointed we were not provided with the evidence by authorities in the Ukraine necessary to keep this restraint order in place.”

May 12, 2014 – Burisma Holdings issues a press release saying Hunter Biden has joined its board, and that he will be “in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the company among international organizations.” The release cites his then-current positions as counsel to New York-based law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP and co-founder and a managing partner of investment advisory firm Rosemont Seneca Partners, where he also served as board chairman.

May 25, 2014 – Chocolate and confectionary magnate/oligarch Petro Poroshenko wins the presidency in Ukraine in an election to succeed Yanukovych on a platform of turning Ukraine back to the West. Poroshenko previously had served as foreign minister and minister of trade and economic development.

June 7, 2014 – Petro Poroshenko takes office as president of Ukraine.

June 19, 2014 – The Ukrainian Parliament approves Poroshenko’s appointment of former law enforcement officer and member of Parliament Vitaly Yarema as prosecutor general.

Aug. 5, 2014 – Ukraine investigation of Burisma

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema opens an investigation of Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevskiy on suspicion of “unlawful enrichment.” Zlochevskiy’s American lawyer, John Buretta, a former U.S. deputy assistant attorney general, says in a 2017 Q&A on the Burisma website that a court in Kyiv ordered the case closed in September 2016 because no evidence of wrongdoing had been presented. While suspicions remain over how Zlochevskiy obtained his wealth and what happened to taxpayer money while he held public office, the British judge in the January 2015 U.K. judgment observed, “Allegations of corruption against political opponents appear to have been a feature of Ukrainian political life at this time.”

Oct. 14, 2014 – Ramping up Ukraine anti-corruption forces

Ukraine’s Parliament passes a law establishing the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), a priority of anti-corruption campaigners who’d helped lead the revolution and of the U.S. government (led by Biden) and other international backers of Ukraine. The bureau, which is to include a special prosecutor for certain corruption cases, was created in part because of the recognized ineffectiveness and corruption of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the country’s judiciary. The country’s anti-corruption plans also include a special High Anti-Corruption Court, which Poroshenko and Parliament slow-rolled until domestic and foreign advocates again exerted pressure over the past year. In fact, the U.S. and Europe required the Ukrainian government to fund NABU in exchange for financial aid. NABU’s early years are an uphill battle in the face of documented efforts by Parliament and the Prosecutor General’s Office to undermine its work.

NABU later becomes a target of Giuliani’s.

Feb. 10, 2015 – Viktor Shokin takes office as Ukraine’s prosecutor general, replacing Yarema.

Sept. 24, 2015 – U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt excoriates officials in the Prosecutor General’s Office for stymying anti-corruption investigations, including those involving Burisma

Pyatt’s speech was part of a regular drumbeat by U.S. and other Western leaders, including Vice President Biden, and a swath of Ukrainian civil society seeking to pressure President Poroshenko to force his officials, especially in the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) to crack down more, not less, on corruption. “Corruption kills,” Pyatt said in the address to the Odesa Financial Forum for business leaders. “It kills productivity and smothers inspiration. Ideas are lost in its shadow. Innovation and entrepreneurship lag under the weight of bribery, back room dealing, and bullying.”

While giving Shokin a last chance to shape up (Pyatt says, “We want to work with Prosecutor General Shokin so the PGO is leading the fight against corruption.”), the ambassador criticizes “officials at the PGO’s office” for not providing documents that were needed for the British investigation of Burisma owner Zlochevskiy and effectively allowing Zlochevskiy to transfer $23 million of what Pyatt says were Ukrainian taxpayer assets to Cyprus. In other words, Pyatt is critical of the prosecutor’s office for not aiding in investigations of Burisma’s owner, which was in line with Biden’s criticism that the office was blocking corruption investigations. Pyatt specifically called for the investigation and removal of officials who were involved in the failure to help the British authorities investigate Zlochevskiy:

“We have learned that there have been times that the PGO not only did not support investigations into corruption, but rather undermined prosecutors working on legitimate corruption cases.

For example, in the case of former Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky [cq], the U.K. authorities had seized 23 million dollars in illicit assets that belonged to the Ukrainian people. Officials at the PGO’s office were asked by the U.K to send documents supporting the seizure.

Instead they sent letters to Zlochevsky’s attorneys attesting that there was no case against him.

The misconduct by the PGO officials who wrote those letters should be investigated, and those responsible for subverting the case by authorizing those letters should – at a minimum – be summarily terminated.”

Oct. 8, 2015 – U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland continues the drumbeat on the need for stepped-up anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine, telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in testimony that “the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has to be reinvented as an institution that serves the citizens of Ukraine, rather than ripping them off.” She continues, “That means it must investigate and successfully prosecute corruption and asset recovery cases, including locking up dirty personnel in the PGO itself.”

Fall 2015 – Biden, along with the EU, publicly calls for ouster of Prosecutor General Shokin for failure to work on anti-corruption efforts.

John E. Herbst, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine under George W. Bush, later testified before Congress:

“By late fall of 2015, the EU and the United States joined the chorus of those seeking Mr. Shokin’s removal as the start of an overall reform of the Procurator General’s Office. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke publicly about this before and during his December visit to Kyiv.”

Dec. 8, 2015 – Vice President Biden makes a speech to Ukraine’s Parliament urging the country to step up anti-corruption measures.

In a speech covered widely in news media, Biden implores Ukrainian lawmakers to move more quickly to fight the country’s “historic battle against corruption” and “make real the Revolution of Dignity.” (Many of the lawmakers themselves were former businessmen and suspected of corruption and therefore that much less interested in fighting graft.) He says, “The only thing worse than having no hope at all is having hopes rise and see them dashed repeatedly on the shoals of corruption…Not enough has been done yet.” Specifically citing Shokin’s Office of the General Prosecutor for lagging on corruption investigations, he continues:

“It’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption. The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform. The judiciary should be overhauled. The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles — not sweetheart deals. It’s not enough to push through laws to increase transparency with regard to official sources of income. Senior elected officials have to remove all conflicts between their business interest and their government responsibilities. Every other democracy in the world — that system pertains.

Oligarchs and non-oligarchs must play by the same rules. They have to pay their taxes, settle their disputes in court — not by bullying judges. That’s basic. That’s how nations succeed in the 21st century.

Corruption siphons away resources from the people. It blunts the economic growth, and it affronts the human dignity. We know that. You know that. The Ukrainian people know that. When Russia seeks to use corruption as a tool of coercion, reform isn’t just good governance, it’s self-preservation. It’s in the national security interest of the nation ….

The United States is with you in this fight…We’ve stepped up with official assistance to help backstop the Ukrainian economy. We’ve rallied the international community to commit a total of $25 billion in bilateral and multilateral financing to support Ukraine. It includes $2 billion in U.S. loan guarantees and the possibility of more.

Yesterday I announced almost $190 million in new American assistance to help Ukraine fight corruption, strengthen the rule of law, implement critical reform, bolster civil society, advance energy security. That brings our total of direct aid to almost $760 million in direct assistance, in addition to loan guarantees since this crisis broke out. And that is not the end of what we’re prepared to do if you keep moving.

But for Ukraine to continue to make progress and to keep the support of the international community you have to do more, as well. The big part of moving forward with your IMF program — it requires difficult reforms.”

Jan. 21, 2016 – Vice President Biden meets with Ukrainian President Poroshenko and discusses “the need to continue to move forward on Ukraine’s anti-corruption agenda,” according to a readout on the website of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

Feb. 11, 2016 – Vice President Biden speaks with Poroshenko by phone. A U.S. Embassy statement said the two agreed “that it is essential for Ukraine to continue to take action to root out corruption and implement reforms.”

Biden later boasts about the pressure he exerted on Ukraine during that time to address corruption. In a Jan. 23, 2018, Q&A following a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, Biden touts his tough stance with Ukraine in 2016. He says he told Ukrainian leaders that the U.S. would withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees unless they fired Prosecutor General Shokin. President Trump and Rudy Giuliani have cited that boast repeatedly as proof that Biden admitted pushing for Shokin’s firing, even though Biden was calling for the prosecutor to be fired because he wasn’t pursuing corruption cases vigorously enough. In the CFR appearance, Biden makes the comments in the context of expressing his concern that Ukraine still was not getting tough enough on corruption. “I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a bitch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.” Biden continued, “So they made some genuine substantial changes institutionally and with people. But … there’s now some backsliding.”

“The United States and other Western nations had for months called for the ousting of Mr. Shokin, who was widely criticized for turning a blind eye to corrupt practice,” the New York Times reported at the time.

Steven Pifer is a career foreign service officer who was ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton and deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs under President George W. Bush. He told PolitiFact that “virtually everyone” he knew in the U.S. government “felt that Shokin was not doing his job and should be fired. As far as I can recall, they all concurred with the vice president telling Poroshenko that the U.S. government would not extend the $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine until Shokin was removed from office.”

Note: Investigation of Burisma laid dormant at the time

Vitaliy Kasko, a former deputy prosecutor general who had worked under Shokin and resigned in frustration at his stymying of corruption investigations, told Bloomberg News (in a May 2019 interview) that the office’s probe into Burisma Holdings had been long dormant by the time Joe Biden issued his ultimatum in 2016. “There was no pressure from anyone from the U.S. to close cases against” Burisma owner Zlochevskiy, Bloomberg quoted Kasko as saying. “It was shelved by Ukrainian prosecutors in 2014 and through 2015,” Kasko said.

“Shokin was not investigating. He didn’t want to investigate Burisma,” Daria Kaleniuk a leading Ukrainian anti-corruption advocate, told the Washington Post. “And Shokin was fired not because he wanted to do that investigation, but quite to the contrary, because he failed that investigation.”

See also entries above: At time of British investigation in 2014-2015, Shokin’s Office sent letters to Zlochevsky’s attorneys attesting that there was no case against him.

Feb. 16, 2016 – Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin resigns, then returns to office before finally being ousted

Ukrainian news media report on Feb. 16 that Viktor Shokin resigned as Prosecutor General after months of intense criticism for failing to adequately pursue any major corruption cases. But wait … despite President Poroshenko’s public call that day that Shokin resign and the apparent submission of a resignation letter on Feb. 19, media cited a prosecutor in Shokin’s office on March 16 saying the chief prosecutor was back after a “long leave.” Finally, on March 29, the Parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve Poroshenko’s recommendation to dismiss Shokin.

The European Union issued a statement hailing his departure. The respected English-language Kyiv Post writes, “By the end of his term, he was likely one of the most unpopular figures in Ukraine, having earned a bad reputation for inaction and obstructing top cases.” The paper also says it “wasn’t able to find any public comments that Shokin made about [Burisma] during his 14 months in office.”

Feb. 18 and 19, 2016 – Vice President Biden speaks by phone with Ukrainian President Poroshenko. The Feb. 19 U.S. Embassy statement says Biden again urged the Ukrainian leader to “to accelerate Ukraine’s efforts to fight corruption, strengthen justice and the rule of law, and fulfill its IMF requirements.”

April 4, 2016 — George Kent, then charge d’Affaires in Kyiv, writes letter to Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy Stolyarchuk re apparent pressure campaign on anti-corruption work and advocates inside and outside the office. Kent demands, essentially, that the PGO stop harassing entities and individuals with investigations based on the fact that they are involved in anti-corruption projects supported by the United States. [Note: The Hill’s John Solomon later twists this in a March 26, 2019 article to make it look like the Embassy was trying to suppress investigations.]

April 14, 2016 – Vice President Biden speaks with Ukrainian President Poroshenko by phone, emphasizing “the urgency of putting in place a new Prosecutor General who would bolster the agency’s anti-corruption efforts and strongly support the work of its reformers.” Biden does the same in a call the same day with newly elected Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

May 12, 2016 – A new General Prosecutor

Yuriy Lutsenko, who had headed Poroshenko’s political bloc in Parliament, takes office as prosecutor general, after Parliament changed the law to allow someone without a law degree and legal experience to hold the position. According to the New York Times, “Lutsenko initially took a hard line against Burisma.”

May 13, 2016 — Biden speaks with Poroshenko to commend the appointment of Lutsenko and the creation of an inspector general for the PGO, and informed the Ukrainian President that the U.S. would finally sign the $1 billion loan guarantee program. The guarantee was signed on June 3, with Ambassador Pyatt representing the United States.

Aug. 14, 2016 – Evidence surfaces of payments to Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort by this time was Trump’s campaign chairman

https://www.justsecurity.org/66271/t...d-ukrainegate/

Pete F. 10-18-2019 09:06 AM

If you read the rest of the story, you'll see the involvement of Manafort, Guiliani, Trump, Parnas, Fruman, Zelensky etc.

There will be some people going to jail.

https://www.justsecurity.org/66271/t...d-ukrainegate/

PaulS 10-18-2019 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177202)
Biden wanted him gone to protect his crack head kid(otherwise there is a hell of a lot of coincidence involved there)...

so if a democrat actually gets a quid pro quo that's ok

if a republican talks about what democrats can construe as a possible quid pro quo.... that's impeachable

you people are nuts

your trying to come up w/alternate facts but are wrong. You have lost all credibility lately.

Do you have anything you can show that indicates Biden said to get rid of the pros. bc he wanted to protect his son?

scottw 10-18-2019 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177211)

Do you have anything you can show that indicates Biden said to get rid of the pros. bc he wanted to protect his son?

so you believe it was just a wild coincidence? I bet a lot of democrats are kicking themselves for not sending their kids to Ukraine to make a fortune

Sea Dangles 10-18-2019 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177211)
your trying to come up w/alternate facts but are wrong. You have lost all credibility lately.

Do you have anything you can show that indicates Biden said to get rid of the pros. bc he wanted to protect his son?

It’s hard to tell if you are being serious here Paul. Did you hear a tree fall?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Pete F. 10-18-2019 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177214)
so you believe it was just a wild coincidence? I bet a lot of democrats are kicking themselves for not sending their kids to Ukraine to make a fortune

Why so suspicious? Just because Kushner and Ivanka desperately needed that $600M cash infusion from the Saudis and then the crown prince bragged Kushner was "in his pocket"?

PaulS 10-18-2019 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles (Post 1177217)
It’s hard to tell if you are being serious here Paul. Did you hear a tree fall?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

do you have any links?

PaulS 10-18-2019 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177214)
so you believe it was just a wild coincidence? I bet a lot of democrats are kicking themselves for not sending their kids to Ukraine to make a fortune

I wish any pols. family/kids didn't benefit from the pols. being in office but there was nothing to indicate Biden was protecting his son and the US gov. (and many others) wanted the prosec. out.

Sea Dangles 10-18-2019 09:54 AM

I understand your confusion.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Pete F. 10-18-2019 10:09 AM

The centerpiece of Trump’s impeachable abuse of power is turning out to be not one phone call with Ukraine’s leader but a sprawling conspiracy into which the president criminally corrupted a large chunk of the Executive Branch for his personal benefit

scottw 10-18-2019 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177227)

but there was nothing to indicate Biden was protecting his son and the US gov. (and many others) wanted the prosec. out.

THAT'S HILARIOUS

democrats(including biden) who were fleecing ukraine through their children and who were engaged in election skulduggery wanted him out...now they want trump out for wanting it exposed...democrats are basically a hopeless criminal enterprise at this point...swamp creatures united with the media to preserve the swamp and their cozy deals....it's un-American

Pete F. 10-18-2019 10:16 AM

281 lobbyists have worked in the Trump administration, where the swamp is anything but drained. That figure is 4 times more than the Obama administration had 6 years in. And former lobbyists serving Trump often regulate industries that once employed them.

detbuch 10-18-2019 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177200)
And you know that the full US govern. wanted the pros. gone.

So quid pro quo is OK when the full US government (whatever that is) wants to do it, but if the chief executive of the government (who is responsible for foreign relations and represents the government in those relations) wants to do it he should be impeached?

The Ukrainian President didn't want to fire the prosecutor but was coerced or bribed into doing it by a quid pro quo by the VP who was representing the US government so it's OK?

But if a US President (who represents a government that professes to want to eliminate corruption in Ukraine and assure that such corruption doesn't interfere with future elections) supposedly gives a quid pro quo offer to help in exposing such corruption, he should be impeached?

PaulS 10-18-2019 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177234)
THAT'S HILARIOUS

democrats(including biden) who were fleecing ukraine through their children and who were engaged in election skulduggery wanted him out...now they want trump out for wanting it exposed...democrats are basically a hopeless criminal enterprise at this point...swamp creatures united with the media to preserve the swamp and their cozy deals....it's un-American

so again you have no facts.

As I said, you have good down hill lately.

Pete F. 10-18-2019 10:17 AM

President Trump says he wants to drain the swamp, but appointed 281 lobbyists.

President Trump says he's concerned about families profiting from political connections, but his sons are running his business.

Then again...President Trump also said the Ukraine call was perfect.

scottw 10-18-2019 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177237)

As I said, you have good down hill lately.

thanks :hihi:

Pete F. 10-18-2019 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by detbuch (Post 1177236)
So quid pro quo is OK when the full US government (whatever that is) wants to do it, but if the chief executive of the government (who is responsible for foreign relations and represents the government in those relations) wants to do it he should be impeached?

The Ukrainian President didn't want to fire the prosecutor but was coerced or bribed into doing it by a quid pro quo by the VP who was representing the US government so it's OK?

But if a US President (who represents a government that professes to want to eliminate corruption in Ukraine and assure that such corruption doesn't interfere with future elections) supposedly gives a quid pro quo offer to help in exposing such corruption, he should be impeached?
Show me where Trump or his administration voiced concerns about corruption in Ukraine and the date

Diplomacy is always Quid pro quo
American diplomacy is done within the limits set by the Constitution
We have systems in place that ensure things are done within those limits
A shadow State Department is not part of our system, nor should it be.
Trump was told by numerous members of the Administration, that there were things he cannot do the way he wants.
Constructing a backchannel means of communication is not acceptable, to the Kremlin, MBS or Zelensky.
There is a horror show going on in this administration and it is starting to come to light.
Trump is scared.
What wacko thing will he do next to follow up on Syria?
Pull troops from Korea or Germany?

PaulS 10-18-2019 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by detbuch (Post 1177236)
So quid pro quo is OK when the full US government (whatever that is) wants to do it, but if the chief executive of the government (who is responsible for foreign relations and represents the government in those relations) wants to do it he should be impeached?

yes he sb impeached when there are NO facts to back up the claim of corruption and that the Pres. is asking the foreign govern. to look into a political rival for his own political gains (along w/other reasons).

Well I guess we are past the point of if there was a QPQ.

scottw 10-18-2019 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177242)
yes he sb impeached when there are NO facts to back up the claim of corruption and that the Pres. is asking the foreign govern. to look into a political rival for his own political gains (along w/other reasons).

Well I guess we are past the point of if there was a QPQ.


What did trump gain in the supposed quid pro quo?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

detbuch 10-18-2019 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177242)
yes he sb impeached when there are NO facts to back up the claim of corruption

There are ongoing investigations by the DOJ, the IG, By Durham and one other can't remember his name, on such corruption. Apparently they are aware of some "facts" that you're not.

The corrupt seed which led to these investigations and from which blossomed unproven charges of obstruction by Trump was the fake collusion narrative which was not founded on facts or evidence.

So, apparently, facts or evidence are not necessary to start investigations.


and that the Pres. is asking the foreign govern. to look into a political rival for his own political gains (along w/other reasons).

Well I guess we are past the point of if there was a QPQ.

It is perfectly legitimate to ask a foreign government with which you have an applicable treaty to look into these matters, and there is, as you and others insist re Biden, no proof that Trump is doing it for political gain.

Pete F. 10-18-2019 11:04 AM

Last week at his father’s rally in Minnesota, the president’s simple son led a round of “lock him up” chants aimed squarely at Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. It was more than a little ironic given that, on the same morning, two close associates of his father’s personal lawyer were picked up at Dulles International Airport trying to get out of the country with one-way tickets to Vienna. Or the fact that his father’s last personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is currently serving time. Or the fact that his father’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is also in the big house.

On the one hand, it’s kind of funny that everyone around Donald Trump seems to wind up in jail while he accuses the rest of the world of being corrupt. Like it’s all just some big, strange coincidence.

On the other hand, it’s kind of terrifying that Donald Trump always projects his character problems onto his opponents. And somehow he keeps getting away with it.

The arrest of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman was just the latest case of Rudy Giuliani costing his boss even while working for him pro bono. He’s the most expensive free lawyer in America.

It’s also not helpful that Parnas and Fruman were supposed to join Giuliani in Vienna. After all, the president of the United States is desperate to convince people that he’s not a corrupt, would-be autocrat who deserves to be impeached because he’s flouting the Constitution and abusing his office by colluding with foreign governments. And yet, there’s his private attorney, running off to a secret meeting in another country with two foreign-born “business associates” who have been arrested on charges of funneling foreign money into U.S. elections. Oops.

Other charges against Parnas and Fruman—who again, it bears repeating, are “business associates” of the president’s personal lawyer—include falsifying records and making false statements.

Hours before they were arrested, they had dinner with the president’s free lawyer at the president’s hotel.

But yes, by all means, let’s lock up Joe Biden. That’s the real story here.

Keep believing

scottw 10-18-2019 11:41 AM

What did trump gain in the supposed quid pro quo?

PaulS 10-18-2019 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177243)
What did trump gain in the supposed quid pro quo?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

He was asking for dirt on his political rival. Didn't you know that?

scottw 10-18-2019 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177264)
He was asking for dirt on his political rival. Didn't you know that?

what did he gain?

it wasn't a tough question...well, maybe for you :hee:

PaulS 10-18-2019 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottw (Post 1177265)
what did he gain?

it wasn't a tough question...well, maybe for you :hee:

He didn't gain anything bc there was no corruption and the whistle blower came forward.

PaulS 10-18-2019 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by detbuch (Post 1177245)
It is perfectly legitimate to ask a foreign government with which you have an applicable treaty to look into these matters, and there is, as you and others insist re Biden, no proof that Trump is doing it for political gain.

Not when it involves a political rival in a QPQ when there is no evidence that the person you are asking about did anything ie Hunter.

Do you have any links to any investigations about Hunter at the time Trump was pressuring the Ukr. to investigate Hunter?

Pete F. 10-18-2019 12:07 PM

The charge that the president asked the government of Ukraine to give him personal political favors is serious. Proving it also requires overcoming presidential stonewalling, building a carefully-constructed case on the model of criminal law, and relying on dozens of Republicans to reverse positions they have already taken publicly.

Cipollone’s or Trump's letter to Congress is a game-changer precisely because it is not about the president’s conduct—which Democrats are always primed to attack and which Republicans are forever willing to excuse. It sweeps away the clutter of Trump’s outsized personality to clarify the constitutional stakes. The letter is not a constitutional crisis. It is a constitutional opportunity.

On the basis of Cipollone’s letter alone, the House could immediately debate articles of impeachment rooted in abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. That would clarify the question for Congressional Republicans, which is not whether they are willing to apologize ad infinitum for President Trump personally—they are—but rather whether they are willing to go on record as foregoing their power of oversight of future Democratic administrations. Democrats will eventually occupy the White House and Republicans will eventually control the Congress. Whether that happens in 2021 or beyond is not the point. The survival of congressional oversight is.

The stakes are no less than that. The important fact about the Cipollone letter is not that it concocts legal grounds for resisting the House inquiry but rather that it reserves for presidents the right to judge whether impeachment proceedings are legitimate. Is there a circumstance in which a future president would acknowledge that they are?

That those in power will someday find themselves in opposition—and consequently should make decisions on the integrity of institutions rather than the behavior of individuals—is both one of the most important, and one of the most easily forsaken, tenets of constitutionalism.

Democrats forgot that principle with respect to President Obama’s assertions of unilateral executive authority over domestic issues such as health care and immigration. Yet some of the president’s most shameless apologists have retained a residue of institutional concern. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for example, has defended the legislative filibuster on the grounds that Democrats are using it today, but Republicans may need it tomorrow.

A charge of obstruction of Congress would compel senators like McConnell to weigh the same considerations with respect to Congressional oversight. Is protecting this president today—an individual whose four-year term is a fraction of the Constitution’s centuries—more important than preserving Congressional power for all time? Could, for example, the Benghazi investigation have occurred at all if President Obama had been able to withhold the testimony of Senate-confirmed officials or documentary evidence on the claim that the process was partisan?

That presidents and legislators—especially senators—are chosen on different electoral clocks helps force these considerations. A senator elected alongside President Trump in 2020 will serve two years beyond his term and consequently should consider constitutional issues on a time horizon that exceeds one administration.

Oversight of the administration’s antics in Ukraine can continue, of course. But the obstruction case is ready for trial. The evidence is indisputable, and indisputably clarifying.

What is on trial is not the transient fabulism of Donald Trump but rather the enduring architecture of the Constitution.

Remember which side of this you fell on when the next administration comes along and claims that their powers are unlimited and pushes it further.

scottw 10-18-2019 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177266)

He didn't gain anything

thank you

scottw 10-18-2019 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulS (Post 1177268)
Not when it involves a political rival in a QPQ when there is no evidence that the person you are asking about did anything ie Hunter.

Do you have any links to any investigations about Hunter at the time Trump was pressuring the Ukr. to investigate Hunter?

the fact that you think there is nothing to biden's kid being on that board is absolutely hilarious

Sea Dangles 10-18-2019 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete F. (Post 1177271)
The charge that the president asked the government of Ukraine to give him personal political favors is serious. Proving it also requires overcoming presidential stonewalling, building a carefully-constructed case on the model of criminal law, and relying on dozens of Republicans to reverse positions they have already taken publicly.

Cipollone’s or Trump's letter to Congress is a game-changer precisely because it is not about the president’s conduct—which Democrats are always primed to attack and which Republicans are forever willing to excuse. It sweeps away the clutter of Trump’s outsized personality to clarify the constitutional stakes. The letter is not a constitutional crisis. It is a constitutional opportunity.

On the basis of Cipollone’s letter alone, the House could immediately debate articles of impeachment rooted in abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. That would clarify the question for Congressional Republicans, which is not whether they are willing to apologize ad infinitum for President Trump personally—they are—but rather whether they are willing to go on record as foregoing their power of oversight of future Democratic administrations. Democrats will eventually occupy the White House and Republicans will eventually control the Congress. Whether that happens in 2021 or beyond is not the point. The survival of congressional oversight is.

The stakes are no less than that. The important fact about the Cipollone letter is not that it concocts legal grounds for resisting the House inquiry but rather that it reserves for presidents the right to judge whether impeachment proceedings are legitimate. Is there a circumstance in which a future president would acknowledge that they are?

That those in power will someday find themselves in opposition—and consequently should make decisions on the integrity of institutions rather than the behavior of individuals—is both one of the most important, and one of the most easily forsaken, tenets of constitutionalism.

Democrats forgot that principle with respect to President Obama’s assertions of unilateral executive authority over domestic issues such as health care and immigration. Yet some of the president’s most shameless apologists have retained a residue of institutional concern. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for example, has defended the legislative filibuster on the grounds that Democrats are using it today, but Republicans may need it tomorrow.

A charge of obstruction of Congress would compel senators like McConnell to weigh the same considerations with respect to Congressional oversight. Is protecting this president today—an individual whose four-year term is a fraction of the Constitution’s centuries—more important than preserving Congressional power for all time? Could, for example, the Benghazi investigation have occurred at all if President Obama had been able to withhold the testimony of Senate-confirmed officials or documentary evidence on the claim that the process was partisan?

That presidents and legislators—especially senators—are chosen on different electoral clocks helps force these considerations. A senator elected alongside President Trump in 2020 will serve two years beyond his term and consequently should consider constitutional issues on a time horizon that exceeds one administration.

Oversight of the administration’s antics in Ukraine can continue, of course. But the obstruction case is ready for trial. The evidence is indisputable, and indisputably clarifying.

What is on trial is not the transient fabulism of Donald Trump but rather the enduring architecture of the Constitution.

Remember which side of this you fell on when the next administration comes along and claims that their powers are unlimited and pushes it further.

Lots of blah blah with no substance.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device


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