Althought both Mulvaney and Pompeo stated corruption was why the aid was frozen, the fact is the DOD had certified that progress was being made to eliminating corruption. In fact, the DOD working with the State Dept, twice certified that Ukraine had made sufficient reforms to decrease corruption and increase accountability, and that the country could ensure accountability for U.S. provided military equipment.It's consistent with our 2 decade old mutual assistance treaty to request this assistance, and, the Congressional Authorization for the aid REQUIRED the President to make sure that Ukraine was rooting out its endemic corruption. The only people trying to whip this into an impeachment are the same clowns who have never accepted the decision of The Electorate that resulted in Trump's 2016 victory.Trump should not be asking the Ukraine or any country for an investigation targeting any presidential candidate because it’s violates our election laws. It is perfectly legal for him to ask the Ukraine to investigate corruption in their country as long as he does not include any presidential candidate in that request.EU countries have provide the Ukraine 16.4 billion dollars over the last 4 years. They are certainly providing their share of the cost.Biden is not the nominee, and it's likely he won't be. This charge that Trump stalled the aid for political advantage requires a crystal ball that tells us Biden will be the nominee.
Trump gave several reasons for stopping the aid, including the lack of funds from other UN countries. You can't make the case it's a false concern given the fact he ran on the UN skipping out on their equal share during the Republican debates. Nor can you make the case that it was the rat who forced Trump to act, when it's clear and documented that Congress critters from both sides were applying the pressure.
I don't recall Trump ever using the term "start an investigation" The key words he used were "look into it" and "favor." The dictionary term for favor is doing something out of good will without remuneration.
There is no doubt that Zelensky understood Trump wanted an investigation. 6 times in the phone conversation he refers to an investigation.
When Trump began the following discussion of Biden in his request for investigation, he gave democrats the ammunition they for an impeachment. "There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me."
If Trump had just ask Zelensky for an investigation of corruption, then there would be no evidence for impeachment in the call. Once he made it clear he wanted Biden investigated, he gave the democrats an article of impeachment. A president can't ask a foreign country to investigate a candidate for president, That's a violation of election law and if the request is coming from president, it's violation of constitution.
Had Trump simply ask Zelensky to open an investigation of corruption, talk to Rudy about it, and not mentioned Biden, we would not be discussing this call and there would have been no impeachment investigation. Giuliani could have directed Zelensky to focus on Biden, make public statements and give Trump exactly what he wanted. There would been no case of impeachment.
Then what you are saying is that even if Biden exercised corruption, he is immune from requests of an investigation simply because he is one of 30 people running for the nomination????? How ridiculous is that?
Now find me the word "investigation" in that phone transcript please. Trump never said anything about Biden's candidacy nor election. The commies just decided to use it as an excuse to conduct a phony impeachment hearing. When you on the left can come up with empirical evidence as to why Trump asked that favor, then bring impeachment charges. But they can't legitimately bring such charges based on what the commies thought Trump meant.
Again, this is a Thought Police impeachment.
Whether Biden violated Ukraine law is a Ukrainian issue, not a US issue. Had Trump simply ask for an investigation of corruption in the Ukraine and left it to Guilana to pressure Zenlinsky to make a public statement and focus on Biden, we wouldn’t be discussing this now.
Again, there is no doubt that Trump conveyed his desire for an investigation to Zelensky. Zelensky mention the investigation 6 times in their July 25 phone conversation in response to Trump’s request. Equally clear is the fact that Trump wanted that investigation to include Biden. In that phone conversation Trump said, “There's a lot of talk about Biden's son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it... It sounds horrible to me.” This is not hearsay evidence and there is no need to guess at what Trump meant or is asking for because he's telling us. If you're claiming Trump was not asking for an investigation of Biden or Trump's intent is unclear, you're see this through GOP colored glasses.
Read the transcript of Trump's conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky - CNNPolitics
He asked for cooperation with the AG, you have it in bold right there. And the AG is looking into it.
John Durham investigating Ukraine in Trump-Russia origins probe
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Further, after OMB held the assistance to Ukraine, the Department of Defense (DOD) conducted an additional analysis and concluded that the assistance was effective and should be resumed, yet aid remained frozen until Sept, 2 days before the House announced an investigation.
Before the July 2019 hold, the Trump administration had approved sending foreign assistance to Ukraine nearly 50 separate times without ever holding it because of concerns that it would be diverted due to corruption.
Fact Sheet: DOD Certified that Ukraine Met Corruption Benchmarks | United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
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