You Can Call It A Bribe, A Quid Pro Quo, Or Extortion
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | NOVEMBER 7, 2019
“Whether you call this a bribe, a quid pro quo, or extortion, it is a blatant abuse of presidential power and a violation of a fundamental rule that prohibits foreign governments from intervening in and manipulating our elections.”
The evidence is now overwhelming that President Trump attempted to extort a foreign country to intervene in the 2020 presidential election for his personal political benefit.
Trump made this extortion attempt by withholding military assistance for Ukraine to fight off Russia. He made clear that his price for Ukraine to obtain the military assistance was a public announcement by the Ukrainian President of a corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Whether you call this a bribe, a quid pro quo, or extortion, it is a blatant abuse of presidential power and a violation of a fundamental rule that prohibits foreign governments from intervening in and manipulating our elections.
The clock is now running on the impeachment process, with the House in session for five more weeks before the winter holidays. If the House leadership wants to finish the impeachment process before next year, they will have to move expeditiously.
Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) announced yesterday that public televised hearings would begin next week in the Committee.
These hearings are very important to help educate the American people about the case for Trump’s impeachment.
The hearings are expected to be followed by an Intelligence Committee report, Judiciary Committee action on Articles of Impeachment, Rules Committee action to establish the rules for House floor consideration, and House consideration and action on the Articles.
At the end of this process, Trump is likely to become the third President of the United States to be impeached. The matter will then go to the Senate for a trial.
Meanwhile, the House is expected to continue pursuing numerous investigations into other abuses by President Trump and his Administration.
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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.
