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sundin13 said:
EricHiggin said:

If a bunch of other people or countries agree doing bad things is ok, then no point in arguing, just go along with it? Could other countries be forced to agree due to leverage from a superpower?

There's no proof, since the original prosecutor was ousted due to leverage, used by none other than Biden, only to be replaced by someone that Biden feels is right for the job? Man it's nice when things fall into place like that. Thank God for fate I guess?

Why is it wrong to oust an incredibly corrupt prosecutor who is internationally acknowledged as being incredibly corrupt? What is wrong about that? If your argument is that Biden's actions were wrong because the prosecutor was a great 10/10 guy who did nothing wrong, you would be disagreeing with basically the entire world and I think you will have to do at least a little bit to actually convince anyone of that point. However, even if you were able to prove the entire international community wrong, this man who you think was working tirelessly to bring down Hunter Biden....wasn't. Again, he was actually standing in the way of international investigations, preventing the company Hunter Biden was involved with from being investigated, and just recently, this prosecutor stated that he is not aware of any possible violation of Ukrainian law by Joe or Hunter Biden.

There is nothing wrong with the United States using its economic leverage to impact foreign governments. That is the entire purpose of sanctions (and foreign policy in general). The problem comes when instead of acting in the interests of the county, you begin to act in the interest of yourself. Asking for a hit job on a political opponent is extremely corrupt. Asking for a government to remove a corrupt prosecutor is not.

Your entire argument is based on a flawed rationality, to the very core. There is nothing there.

I dunno, there was a time when the world thought slavery was normal. Is slavery normal? Is it ok? Should it have been left alone as it was?

That's what the public is being told, but they were also told Trump did a lot of bad stuff, especially tied to the Russia probe, that wasn't true.

The public is also being told Trump pressured Ukraine to bend to his will, when what really happened, based on the transcript, is that Trump asked on behalf of the country for Ukraine to do America a favor. Like making sure none of her people are or were using the system to their advantage.

There is no there, there. There there, no need to...



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SpokenTruth said:
EricHiggin said:

"If you cannot answer that question with a specific instance, stop", said every sane liberal, independent, and conservative American, and Earthling, when it comes to the Russia investigation.

I thought you knew better than to challenge me like that.  You ask for 1, I bring you 10.

1.

Conduct towards Flynn, Manafort, HOM After Flynn withdrew from a joint defense agreement with the President and began cooperating with the government, the President's personal counsel left a message for Flynn's attorneys reminding them of the President's warm feelings towards Flynn, which he said "still remains," and asking for a “heads up” if Flynn knew "information that implicates the President.” When Flynn's counsel reiterated that Flynn could no longer share information pursuant to a joint defense agreement, the President's personal counsel said he would make sure that the President knew that Flynn's actions reflected "hostility" towards the President. During Manafort's prosecution and when the jury in his criminal trial was deliberating, the President praised Manafort in public, said that Manafort was being treated unfairly, and declined to rule out a pardon. After Manafort was convicted, the President called Manafort "a brave man” for refusing to "break” and said that “flipping” “almost ought to be outlawed." Harm to Ongoing Matter.

2.

Efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence. In the summer of 2017, the President learned that media outlets were asking questions about the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between senior campaign officials, including Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer who was said to be offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump.” On several occasions, the President directed aides not to publicly disclose the emails setting up the June 9 meeting, suggesting that the emails would not leak and that the number of lawyers with access to them should be limited. Before the emails became public, the President edited a press statement for Trump Jr. by deleting a line that acknowledged that the meeting was with "an individual who [Trump Jr.] was told might have information helpful to the campaign” and instead said only that the meeting was about adoptions of Russian children. When the press asked questions about the President's involvement in Trump Jr.'s statement, the President's personal lawyer repeatedly denied the President had played any role.

3. 

Efforts to curtail the Special Counsel's investigation. Two days after directing McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed, the President made another attempt to affect the course of the Russia investigation. On June 19, 2017, the President met one-on-one in the Oval Office with his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a trusted advisor outside the government, and dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to Sessions. The message said that Sessions should publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal from the Russia investigation, the investigation was "very unfair” to the President, the President had done nothing wrong, and Sessions planned to meet with the Special Counsel and "let [him] move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections." Lewandowski said he understood what the President wanted Sessions to do.

One month later, in another private meeting with Lewandowski on July 19, 2017, the President asked about the status of his message for Sessions to limit the Special Counsel investigation to future election interference. Lewandowski told the President that the message would be delivered soon. Hours after that meeting, the President publicly criticized Sessions in an interview with the New York Times, and then issued a series of tweets making it clear that Sessions's job was in jeopardy. Lewandowski did not want to deliver the President's message personally, so he asked senior White House official Rick Dearborn to deliver it to Sessions. Dearborn was uncomfortable with the task and did not follow through.

4. 

The appointment of a Special Counsel and efforts to remove him. On May 17, 2017, the Acting Attorney General for the Russia investigation appointed a Special Counsel to conduct the investigation and related matters. The President reacted to news that a Special Counsel had been appointed by telling advisors that it was "the end of his presidency” and demanding that Sessions resign. Sessions submitted his resignation, but the President ultimately did not accept it. The President told aides that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and suggested that the Special Counsel therefore could not serve. The President's advisors told him the asserted conflicts were meritless and had already been considered by the Department of Justice.

On June 14, 2017, the media reported that the Special Counsel's Office was investigating whether the President had obstructed justice. Press reports called this "a major turning point" in the investigation: while Comey had told the President he was not under investigation, following Comey's firing, the President now was under investigation. The President reacted to this news with a series of tweets criticizing the Department of Justice and the Special Counsel's investigation. On June 17, 2017, the President called McGahn at home and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre.

5. 

The President's termination of Comey. On May 3, 2017, Comey testified in a congressional hearing, but declined to answer questions about whether the President was personally under investigation. Within days, the President decided to terminate Comey. The President insisted that the termination letter, which was written for public release, state that Comey had informed the President that he was not under investigation. The day of the firing, the White House maintained that Comey's termination resulted from independent recommendations from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General that Comey should be discharged for mishandling the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But the President had decided to fire Comey before hearing from the Department of Justice. The day after firing Comey, the President told Russian officials that he had “faced great pressure because of Russia," which had been "taken off" by Comey's firing. The next day, the President acknowledged in a television interview that he was going to fire Comey regardless of the Department of Justice's recommendation and that when he "decided to just do it," he was thinking that "this thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story." In response to a question about whether he was angry with Comey about the Russia investigation, the President said, "As far as I'm concerned, I want that thing to be absolutely done properly," adding that firing Comey “might even lengthen out the investigation."

6. 

Conduct involving Michael Cohen. The President's conduct towards Michael Cohen, a former Trump Organization executive, changed from praise for Cohen when he falsely minimized the President's involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow project, to castigation of Cohen when he became a cooperating witness. From September 2015 to June 2016, Cohen had pursued the Trump Tower Moscow project on behalf of the Trump Organization and had briefed candidate Trump on the project numerous times, including discussing whether Trump should travel to Russia to advance the deal. In 2017, Cohen provided false testimony to Congress about the project, including stating that he had only briefed Trump on the project three times and never discussed travel to Russia with him, in an effort to adhere to a "party line" that Cohen said was developed to minimize the President's connections to Russia. While preparing for his congressional testimony, Cohen had extensive discussions with the President's personal counsel, who, according to Cohen, said that Cohen should "stay on message" and not contradict the President. After the FBI searched Cohen's home and office in April 2018, the President publicly asserted that Cohen would not "flip,” contacted him directly to tell him to "stay strong," and privately passed messages of support to him. Cohen also discussed pardons with the President's personal counsel and believed that if he stayed on message he would be taken care of. But after Cohen began cooperating with the government in the summer of 2018, the President publicly criticized him, called him a "rat," and suggested that his family members had committed crimes.

7. 

Conduct involving FBI Director Comey and Michael Flynn. In mid-January 2017, incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn falsely denied to the Vice President, other administration officials, and FBI agents that he had talked to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about Russia's response to U.S. sanctions on Russia for its election interference. On January 27, the day after the President was told that Flynn had lied to the Vice President and had made similar statements to the FBI, the President invited FBI Director Comey to a private dinner at the White House and told Comey that he needed loyalty. On February 14, the day after the President requested Flynn's resignation, the President told an outside advisor, "Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over.” The advisor disagreed and said the investigations would continue.

Later that afternoon, the President cleared the Oval Office to have a one-on-one meeting with Comey. Referring to the FBI's investigation of Flynn, the President said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Shortly after requesting Flynn's resignation and speaking privately to Comey, the President sought to have Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland draft an internal letter stating that the President had not directed Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak. McFarland declined because she did not know whether that was true, and a White House Counsel's Office attorney thought that the request would look like a quid pro quo for an ambassadorship she had been offered.

8. 

Efforts to have McGahn deny that the President had ordered him to have the Special Counsel removed. In early 2018, the press reported that the President had directed McGahn tohave the Special Counsel removed in June 2017 and that McGahn had threatened to resign rather than carry out the order. The President reacted to the news stories by directing White House officials to tell McGahn to dispute the story and create a record stating he had not been ordered to have the Special Counsel removed. McGahn told those officials that the media reports were accurate in stating that the President had directed McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed. The President then met with McGahn in the Oval Office and again pressured him to deny the reports. In the same meeting, the President also asked McGahn why he had told the Special Counsel about the President's effort to remove the Special Counsel and why McGahn took notes of his conversations with the President. McGahn refused to back away from what he remembered happening and perceived the President to be testing his mettle.

9. 

Further efforts to have the Attorney General take control of the investigation. In early summer 2017, the President called Sessions at home and again asked him to reverse his recusal from the Russia investigation. Sessions did not reverse his recusal. In October 2017, the President met privately with Sessions in the Oval Office and asked him to "take [a] look” at investigating Clinton. In December 2017, shortly after Flynn pleaded guilty pursuant to a cooperation agreement, the President met with Sessions in the Oval Office and suggested, according to notes taken by a senior advisor, that if Sessions unrecused and took back supervision of the Russia investigation, he would be a "hero." The President told Sessions, "I'm not going to do anything or direct you to do anything. I just want to be treated fairly.” In response, Sessions volunteered that he had never seen anything "improper" on the campaign and told the President there was a "whole new leadership team” in place. He did not unrecuse.

10. 

The President's reaction to the continuing Russia investigation. In February 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions began to assess whether he had to recuse himself from campaignrelated investigations because of his role in the Trump Campaign. In early March, the President told White House Counsel Donald McGahn to stop Sessions from recusing. And after Sessions announced his recusal on March 2, the President expressed anger at the decision and told advisors that he should have an Attorney General who would protect him. That weekend, the President took Sessions aside at an event and urged him to "unrecuse." Later in March, Comey publicly disclosed at a congressional hearing that the FBI was investigating "the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election," including any links or coordination between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. In the following days, the President reached out to the Director of National Intelligence and the leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) to ask them what they could do to publicly dispel the suggestion that the President had any connection to the Russian election-interference effort. The President also twice called Comey directly, notwithstanding guidance from McGahn to avoid direct contacts with the Department of Justice. Comey had previously assured the President that the FBI was not investigating him personally, and the President asked Comey to "lift the cloud" of the Russia investigation by saying that publicly.

And you wonder why I didn't stop...



EricHiggin said:

I dunno, there was a time when the world thought slavery was normal. Is slavery normal? Is it ok? Should it have been left alone as it was?

So what you are telling me is that you have no argument and no evidence or reason to believe that Biden did anything wrong at all?

Neat.

Why do we have to do this every five pages? Stop dragging up shit we already went through when you are bringing nothing new to the table. All you are accomplishing is making it crystal clear that this is nothing but a distraction tactic. You are wasting everyone's time.



EricHiggin said:
sundin13 said:

We already went over this.

You had no argument then. You appear to still have no argument now.

The ousting of the Ukrainian prosecutor was entirely in line with international opinion, and there is no evidence that the motive on Biden's part was personal gain considering the fact that the company that Hunter Biden was involved with, was not under active investigation and the Prosecutor that was ousted was one of the main roadblocks to international investigations.


You have no argument.

If a bunch of other people or countries agree doing bad things is ok, then no point in arguing, just go along with it? Could other countries be forced to agree due to leverage from a superpower?

There's no proof, since the original prosecutor was ousted due to leverage, used by none other than Biden, only to be replaced by someone that Biden feels is right for the job? Man it's nice when things fall into place like that. Thank God for fate I guess?

You realize Trump said nothing illegal in his call correct? I don't even need an argument since you don't have one because there's nothing to defend.

Eric, while Biden was boasting about the ousting of the prosecutor general Victor Shokin, he by far wasn't the only one asking for it. Pretty much the whole world was asking for it because he was controversial from the get-go.

Before he even got the nomination he blocked any proceedings against those who shot into the population on Euromaidan. Soon, it became clear that he was also blocking prosecutions against his allies and other influential figures. In other words, he pretty much nullified the work of his predecessor, who was trying to fight corruption in the Ukraine.

And that became clear very quickly. He was appointed in February, and in October of the same year, protests within Ukraine started to get him ousted due to him being so corrupt. He was raiding the anti-corruption offices and alleged them of corruption in trying to get them stop investigating his own corruption (everybody got that?). His prosecutor underlings got found with huge stashes of cash, diamonds and other valuables, earning them the nickname of diamond prosecutors (as in, they'd do anything for a couple diamonds).

At that point, international pressure built up to remove Shokin, which was obviously corrupt and unfit for his position. That pressure didn't just come from the US, far from it. In fact, the European countries got in on this a couple months earlier.

The connection to Biden is that there was an undergoing investigation of a company named Burisma Holdings, and especially it's leader, the oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky. That's the company Hunter Biden joined in 2014 in the board of directors. Shokin should have conducted the investigation that was started by his predecessor, but the documents showed that he kept it dormant throughout his tenure.

Having Hunter Biden at that company caused an obvious conflict of interest - or would have in theory. In practice however, Biden did push the investigation against his son's boss forward. He pushed for Shokin to be ousted and replaced by someone who isn't corrupt, which allowed to investigation to resume. So in other words, he choose the country over his son in this and turning it into a non-issue.



SpokenTruth said:
EricHiggin said:

And you wonder why I didn't stop...

Not only did you completely ignore the above but you didn't even answer the question at hand.  So I'll ask it again.

Where did Joe Biden request anything from the Ukrainians that would benefit him personally or politically?

sundin13 said:
EricHiggin said:

I dunno, there was a time when the world thought slavery was normal. Is slavery normal? Is it ok? Should it have been left alone as it was?

So what you are telling me is that you have no argument and no evidence or reason to believe that Biden did anything wrong at all?

Neat.

Why do we have to do this every five pages? Stop dragging up shit we already went through when you are bringing nothing new to the table. All you are accomplishing is making it crystal clear that this is nothing but a distraction tactic. You are wasting everyone's time.

Obviously my words and vids along with them aren't being read or watched or the answers to these questions would be apparent, yet for some reason they are not somehow, like above.

Asking the same questions over when they've long been answered leads to things dragging on. 

If I'm clearly wasting everyone's time, why do they keep replying? Cat got their tongue?



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SpokenTruth said:
EricHiggin said:

Obviously my words and vids along with them aren't being read or watched or the answers to these questions would be apparent, yet for some reason they are not somehow, like above.

Asking the same questions over when they've long been answered leads to things dragging on. 

If I'm clearly wasting everyone's time, why do they keep replying? Cat got their tongue?

I saw your video before you even posted it. I watched it several days ago.  And if you want proof I know about the contents of said video, the reference to Ukrainian funds and the prosecutor are at 52:00 mark.  But again, tell me how that benefits him personally or politically?

Did you also miss the part right at 52:00 where he was assigned to Ukraine to handle that situation?  

I've never asked my boss or a coworker for a favor, or gone out of my way to get a job or position that would benefit me, because nobody does. Not on the left anyway. Not sure bout those righties though. They're always up to no good.

Well there's his son, and the company, and anything tied to that, that may include himself or others he's close to. There's also the fact that if a large number of countries want this, for the U.S. to go against that, well...



SpokenTruth said:
EricHiggin said:

I've never asked my boss or a coworker for a favor, or gone out of my way to get a job or position that would benefit me, because nobody does. Not on the left anyway. Not sure bout those righties though. Their always up to no good.

*blank stare*

I have no idea what you are trying to say here.  If you have a point, make it. Your metaphors do not convey your thoughts adequately enough to use them as debate points.

I accidentally hit submit. Had to go back and finish. 

Hold your horses. Jumping the gun is what get's you, and the Dems into these situations.



Just a little more time for investigative journalism to do it's thing and now more bad news for Biden. Stories aren't matching up, and multiple sources directly tied to the event have agreed on one statement, which isn't the same statement Biden is giving. New found timelines are also helping to put the pieces together.



As previously stated, Youtube videos are not evidence:

"I do not consider Youtube videos evidence unless they are a primary source (which is basically never). If they are sourcing something, provide the link to that. Otherwise, I am just getting the news as filtered through the mouth of someone whose opinion I really couldn't care any less about. If it is a primary source, then please post either time stamps or direct quotations with time stamps. Otherwise, you are just wasting everyone's time."

Having watched a bit of that Laura Ingraham video, it is absolutely laced with opinions and spin. It is a waste of time. Give it to me straight, bud. I don't want that junk.



I have to ask - You indicate you don't consider Youtube videos evidence as you want a primary source. Do you disregard local news, newspapers, etc. as well? The majority of "news" sources do not cite their sources.



Money can't buy happiness. Just video games, which make me happy.