Republicans, a president you like to quote these days said
in 1961, “ask what you can do for your country.” Since President Trump released the transcript
of the July 25 Zelenskyy conversation there has been testimony that should
bring to Republicans a willingness to reevaluate their position on impeachment. That’s the ask.
The Washington Post recently reported eight instances where
a quid pro quo has been alleged and either publicly confirmed or reported to have
been confirmed;
- In the July 10 meeting between E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Oleksandr Danylyuk.
- In a debrief of the July 10 meeting where Sondland reiterated what was said in the previous meeting.
- On July 25 in a text message from Kurt Volker, special envoy to Ukraine to Andrey Yermak, an aid to Zelensky.
- On August 10 when Yermak texted Volker tying a presidential meeting to a public statement confirming new investigations by Ukraine.
- On August 30 Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) spoke to Sondland who said that Trump will “release the military spending” when Trump is confident Ukraine will “get to the bottom” of what happened in 2016.
- On September 1 in a call between acting Ukraine ambassador William Taylor and Tim Morrison a former special assistant to Trump
- Immediately following the above call on September 1 Taylor called Sondland who confirmed what Morrison had just been told.
- On a September 7 call between Taylor and Morrison where they discussed a Sondland conversation with Trump.
Don’t take the word of the Washington Post. There will soon be public hearings. Pay attention. Rise above politics, put aside your ideology
for a moment and objectively pay attention.
You think you’re better than Democrats.
Prove it.
The country faces an ominous choice next year; four more
years of constitutional crises or a Democratic-Socialist president. The removal or just the impeachment of Trump
may ensure a Democratic victory. But
that’s relatively unimportant. The
country can survive a socialist president.
It can’t survive the continued debasement of our system of checks and
balances.
The Democrats in turn, need to show some fairness to the
investigations by the Department of Justice of itself. One is DoJ Inspector General Horowitz’ look
into the FISA application and subsequent renewals to surveil former Trump
adviser Carter Paige. The other is the “investigation of the investigators”
being led by U.S. Attorney John Durham.
This investigation is necessary to ensure accountability within the FBI
and Department of Justice. The ability
of Durham to empanel a Grand Jury and expand on aspects of the Horowitz
investigation will ensure any criminal indictments needed, will happen.
With all this going on nothing of substance is going to be
accomplished legislatively until the Trump impeachment process is completed. Congress should focus on these three investigations
putting them all to bed before the political season gets into full swing in
February of 2020.
Democrats can start by getting Judiciary Chairman Gerald
Nadler to schedule a hearing to get testimony from FBI Director Christopher
Wray and I.G. Michael Horowitz regarding the soon to be published I.G. report. Sequential
scheduling of these hearings is the best way to focus everyone on all the
issues.
The country needs closure on all this. Reach out to your congressmen and senators,
encourage them to engage these investigations objectively and quickly.
