Trump’s Actions Are Clear And Indefensible
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | NOVEMBER 14, 2019
“The actions taken by President Trump are clear and indefensible.”
The House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings that began yesterday brought powerful factual testimony from two Administration officials with impeccable records of public service and irrefutable credibility about President Trump’s improper conduct in the Ukraine scandal.
In the days ahead, we will hear more powerful evidence from current and former Administration officials about President Trump’s abuse of power, and continuing efforts by Trump supporters to distract from and obfuscate the evidence in the case.
The actions taken by the President, however, are clear and indefensible.
President Trump attempted to extort and bribe Ukraine.
Trump withheld desperately needed military assistance appropriated by Congress for Ukraine to use to defend itself against military aggression by our adversary, Russia. Trump tied the release of these appropriated funds to a public announcement by Ukraine that it was opening a criminal investigation into a political rival in the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden, and Biden’s son.
In doing so, Trump engaged in abuse of his office for his own personal political benefit. The military assistance was only released after Congress learned that Trump had withheld the funds and pressured Trump to release them.
In soliciting an investigation by Ukraine of a political rival in the 2020 election, Trump also violated a fundamental principle embodied in the Constitution: that we do not want foreign interests involved in our elections. He also violated campaign finance laws that prohibit a person from soliciting anything of value from a foreign country in connection with an election.
Some supporters of Trump have argued that whatever Trump did, it does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense.
But, as one of the nation’s leading impeachment scholars stated, “Soliciting foreign intervention to undermine the integrity of the American electoral system is exactly the sort of misconduct the framers had in mind when they established the impeachment process in the Constitution.”
President Trump is going to be impeached for his abuse of power and for his effort to corrupt our elections.
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Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and ensure the integrity and fairness of government decisions and elections. See previous Notes from Fred here.
