HP sent a link to a Dan Bongino website/podcast where he takes on John Bolton and along the way makes three points that destroy the Democrat impeachment charges revolving around the allegation that President Trump demanded quid-pro-quo of Ukraine in the form of an announcement into an investigation of the Biden crime family before aid would be released. That would be beside the fact that no quid-pro-quo was demanded as stated by principals in the Ukraine government involved with Trump, and that they never made an announcement of investigating the Bidens. HP also posted the meme at right.
1) Aid was delivered in advance even though Trump got “caught” scrutinizing a country with notorious levels of corruption. The aid to Ukraine was delivered by September 12th which was ahead of the September 30th time frame set by Congress.
2) There is no crime and no victim in the accusations. The House never articulated a crime, high or misdemeanor, treason or bribery. (The charge “abuse of power” is not a criminal matter and too vague to be justiciable. It is subject to electoral discretion as a political issue. The matter of “obstruction of Congress” as between branches of government, is likewise not a crime, no criminal statures apply. One is not required to submit to the other if it is not constitutionally required. Ukraine got the aid and made no announcement of an investigation into Biden
3) Democrat corruption exists in Ukraine part of which was implicated in Politico’s investigations. Also note Pam Bondi’s presentation to the Senate yesterday (see embedded YouTube video).
We think Alan Dershowitz did a great job yesterday establishing the baseless constitutionality for impeachment on the vague notions of abuse of power (a political determination) and obstruction of congress (Trump denied the House nothing they were constitutionally entitled to or adjudicated to receive). It was nice to see Dershowitz, a liberal, give so much credence to founder intent, the history and language of the Constitution. See his one-hour presentation embedded below. We previously posted the contribution of the 21 Republican Attorneys General which covers much of the same territory. Dershowitz also excoriates the House impeachment articles and their defenders for allowing removal for thought crimes — thought crimes that the prosecutors impute.
We appreciated that Dershowitz drove home that the vagueness of the House impeachment articles would make the presidency a creature of the legislative branch subject to its political majority, beholden to it not unlike the parliamentary system in England where votes of “no confidence” cause the removal of the Prime Minister. Allowing these concepts to take hold would be Constitutionally “cataclysmic” (our words)
Here is what we are up against in the reporting in the dominant media. This from the AP last night and this morning which is where most daily newspapers in the US get their copy. It was posted after the conclusion of last night’s statements from the Trump legal team as part of summarizing/characterizing the days events:
Former national security adviser John Bolton writes in a manuscript that Trump wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until it committed to helping with investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden. That assertion matters because Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly insisted that he never tied the suspension of security aid to political investigations.
They wanted to talk about what are rumors of Bolton’s accusations without mentioning Dershowitz incorporating a response in his testimony, debunking that it is of constitutional significance even if true. In summarizing the Trump case, they never mention that Ukraine never committed to helping with investigations into his Democratic rival Joe Biden. No evidence has been presented anywhere to that effect. They never mention that the Biden involvement in Ukraine is legitimately suspicious (see Politico article and the presentation by Bondi detailing it embedded below). Nor do they mention that Trump delivered all aid in the time-frame congress set (see Bongino above).
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz presentation (entirety)
Pam Bondi (former AG of Florida) (entirety)
Related reading:
Ted Cruz —
“The legal issue before this Senate is whether a president has the authority to investigate corruption,” he explained. “The House Managers built their entire case on the proposition that investigating Burisma corruption, that investigating the Bidens for corruption was baseless and a sham. … That proposition is absurd.”
Cruz cited Trump’s defense attorney Pam Bondi’s presentation about Hunter Biden and Burisma as evidence that proves the Democrats’ assertion to be false.
“At a minimum, we’ve seen two hours of evidence that, at a minimum, it was not only reasonable and justified, but the president, I think, had an obligation to investigate corruption that extended to the highest levels of government,” he said.
Regarding Bolton:
John Bolton is running the exact same revenge playbook against Trump that James Comey used. He’s even using the same agent and leaking to the same reporters. All because he’s mad Trump fired him for leaking and trying to start new wars. It’s so boring and predictable.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 27, 2020
