Recent revelations about 73-year-old President Donald Trump asking newly minted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July to investigate 49-uear-old Hunter Binden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden (D-Del.) has brought impeachment fever back to Capitol Hill. Impeachment fever hit a boiling point in the March when 73-year-old Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his 22-month investigation final report. When that proved a dud for Democrats’ pitchfork crowd, the Democrat caucus has looked for any excuse to start impeachment proceedings on the president. When House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.) set impeachment rules Sept. 8 with pro-impeachment Democrats like freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, practically jumping for joy. Yet Occasio-Cortez expressed disappointment with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) response.
Ocasio-Cortez, and other pro-impeachment Democrats, wondered whether or not the bigger scandal, than Trump’s behavior, was why Pelosi hasn’t agreed to start impeachment proceedings. Since Mueller’s report offered nothing definite, Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), have looked under every rock to impeach Trump. Nadler and Schiff have been focused on ambiguous statements in the Mueller report related to obstruction of justice, whether or not Trump tried to interfere with the Mueller investigation. Nothing in Mueller’s 480-page report gave Democrats anything compelling to open impeachment hearings. Reports of Trump trying to squeeze Zelensky for dirt on Hunter Biden gives fence-sitting Democrats all they need to start impeachment proceedings, believing Trump tried to interfere with the 2020 election.
Mueller’s 22-month probe was focused primarily on whether or not anyone from the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to gain advantage in the 2016 election. When Mueller found nothing, Democrats have gone into overdrive to find anything to justify impeaching Trump. Whatever Trump said publicly about his contact with Zelensky about Hunter Biden, it doesn’t look good. Trump also admitted he talked to Zelensky about whether Joe Biden tried to get former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin removed to protect his son Hunter for his work on the board of Busima Holdings natural gas company. Hunter apparently made millions from his work on the Bursima Holdings Board, something that hasn’t been exposed by the Democrat-friendly media. When asked about his talks with Zelensky, Trump made it look like he was concerned about Ukrainian corruption.
Biden lashed out at Trump on the campaign trail in Iowa Sunday. “Trump’s doing this because he knows “I’ll beat him like a drum and he’s using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me,” Biden said, calling Trump a “serial abuser.” Biden had no sharp words for Democrats or Mueller’s 22-month probe that accused Trump of Russian collusion. Biden said nothing when former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told CBS News Scott Pelley Feb. 20 that Trump was probably as “Russian asset.” Even after Mueller report cleared Trump, Biden said nothing, other than agreeing with Nadler and Schiff to find Trump guilty of obstruction of justice. Trump’s contact with Zelensky looks like he used his office to get dirt on the former VP and his son, Hunter. After Trump’s admission, Democrats are beating the impeachment drums more than ever.
With an unidentified whistleblower complaint from an anonymous intelligence official circulating behind the scenes, Trump recent public remarks about his conversations with Zelensky have sent Washington into a frenzy. “We want to make sure that country is honest. It’s very important to talk about corruption. If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?” Trump asked, trying to minimize the political nature to his call with Zelensky. Whatever happened, it sure looks political when the president seeks dirt of the former VP and his ambitious son. Trump recently released $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, hoping to de-link any inquiry about the Bidens to his foreign policy. Trump insists the money was withheld because of concerns about corruption, not for some quid pro quo about getting dirt for military aid.
Trump stepped into the sticky-wicket talking about his phone calls to Zelensky about the Bidens. Whatever misgivings Pelosi and some Democrats had about impeaching Trump, there’s little resistance now to bring it on. “I’m not looking to hurt Biden or even hold him to it,” Trump said Sunday. “Now me, on the other hand, my conversation with the new president of Ukraine was perfect,” denying that he withheld military aid for dirt on the Bidens. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said that if the whistleblower confirms the reports of Trump’s conversations with Zelensky, then Democrats should proceed with impeachment hearings. Democrats don’t need impeachment hearings to win the presidency in 2020. Every national poll shows Trump losing his bid for a second term, regardless of whom Democrats run for president. Pelosi thinks voters should decide in 2020.
