The Case For Impeachment

"I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president."  
"If somebody called from a country...'We have information on your opponent'--oh, I think I'd want to hear it."                                                                                                                                  --US President Donald J. Trump

Image from nbcchicago.com

This is corruption at its core--we have a President who doesn't view his unconstitutional acts as anything more than doing normal business.

It's incumbent upon the impeachment inquiry to not only investigate the Ukraine call (in which the US President asks a foreign government to open an investigation on his chief political rival), but to establish clearly his continuing pattern of, as House Speaker Pelosi calls it, "lawlessness."

First off, this isn't about Joe or Hunter Biden--as much as Trump supporters want to deflect. And it's not a continuation of the Mueller investigation or revisiting the 2016 election. It's about corrupt actions of the US President to maintain his hold on power. 

And it's a pretty easy, and quick, case to make.

Earlier this year, Federal Election Commission chair Ellen Weintraub tweeted this: "Let me make something 100% clear to the American public or anyone running for public office, it is illegal to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election."

1. Trump--even without the "quid pro quo" words he was too sly to speak--clearly asked the Ukraine President for something of value to attempt to disparage his chief political opponent. That there is evidence that Trump tied it to a meeting with Zelensky is the "quid pro quo," and even Trump's allies (including WI Sen. Ron Johnson and his diplomat William Taylor, Jr.) expressed their concerns that approved Ukraine aid was tied to Ukraine's willingness to investigate the Bidens.

Trump's self-released "transcript" of the call even bears that out.

2, That Trump, then doubled down (with cameras rolling) by reiterating his request to Ukraine, and then inviting another foreign government--arguably our number one adversary, China--to open an investigation into his chief political opponent was merely fuel to the impeachment fire.

And that should be enough.

But there's more. And it's a pattern of corruption that began before, and continued into, the White House. All for Donald Trump to achieve and maintain his hold on power.

3. Candidate Trump "joked" an invitation for Russia to find opponent Hillary Clinton's missing emails. Within 24 hours, Russia hacked into the DNC.

4. He praised the release of the hacked emails on Wikileaks--which the US had previously declared an "enemy of the state."

5. As President, during the Mueller investigation, Trump's personal desire to hold power included at least ten actions that Mueller concluded might constitute obstruction of justice--including orders or actions to fire those conducting the investigation.

6. His public derision of the federally-approved probe was magnified in tweets in which he praised those who did not offer testimony against his Russia narrative and excoriated those that "flipped" on him (including those he had previously praised or those he claimed really weren't connected to his campaign). This type of witness intimidation (I'd term it tampering) has continued to include the Ukraine call whistleblower.

7.His lies to keep hold on his power included such varied things as denying business in Russia as he pushed a Trump Tower Moscow to not knowing Stormy Daniels to having "no involvement" of the false explanation of Don, Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting (which he had, in fact, dictated).

And it's all a story of a man trying to hold on to his power.

It's evident.

And it's corrupt.

And it's the President of the United States of America.

It is not normal business.

And it's time to say, "No more, Donald Trump."