TallSilhouette said:
He wanted them to make a public show of defaming his political rival in the run up to the election, as testified by Sondland during the hearing.
It was already allocated by Congress; the president had no legal right to withhold it.
Abuse of power, obstruction of Congress, bribery, wire fraud, etc. He extorted a foreign power with money that was not his to manipulate for his personal gain in the upcoming election. Then he tried to cover it up, blocked all testimony he could, and withheld all documentation he was required to submit. |
These things could all be easily interpreted differently though. After the Russia fiasco, there can't be too much room for interpretation. For example:
- Sondland never said that Trump specifically wanted Biden investigated because he is Trump's potential future political rival. Biden openly admitted to withholding money from Ukraine unless a certain prosecutor was fired. The prosecutor was investigating Biden's son's company at the time. Trump could easily argue that it is ridiculous not to allow him to investigate someone seemingly admitting to corrupt conduct simply because they might run for President in the future.
- Trump could secondly argue that the money was handed over and was simply delayed because he didn't want to see billions of US dollars go to a known corrupt country. He begrudgingly did what he knew to be wrong, simply because his hands were tied legally.
If Trump successfully argues these cases, he's basically guaranteed himself a win in 2020. If the Russia thing never happened then maybe this would be more potent, but now he's making it look like he's an underdog, constantly under attack. The most powerful man in the world as the underdog!! As ridiculous as this sounds, the Democrats poor timing could actually make this happen.
What's worse: If Trump did in fact abuse his power, with their current case I predict he will get away with it. The Democrats, even with the help of the media are too incompetent to hold power to account.
Either that, or Donald Trump is the greatest criminal mastermind of all time....I'm going with Democrat incompetence.
