EPIC FAIL: Impeachment hearings fall flat so treasonous Dems trot out new charge

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The corrupt traitors were owned today when their house of cards of hearsay came tumbling down. On to their next charade.

Dems trot out new charge as initial focus of impeachment hearings falls flat

Wednesday’s first public impeachment hearings showed that Democrats have shifted the focus to bribery. There is a strategy here.

NY Post, November 13, 2019:

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Most of the debate over President Trump’s dealings with the Ukrainian government have centered on whether his pressure on President Volodymyr Zelensky for an investigation of Joe and Hunter Biden were an abuse of power rising to “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

That is complicated. It doesn’t necessarily call for a criminal offense; rather, such offenses are “political” in nature, involving an egregious abuse of the trust reposed in holders of high office. There is profound debate over whether particular abusive conduct rises to this level.

By contrast, bribery is cleaner as a proof proposition. It is a federal felony with settled, well-understood offense elements. And proving guilt doesn’t require showing an actual, completed bribe. What’s necessary is to establish that, with corrupt intent, a public official demanded “anything of value” in exchange for performing an official act.

That is the Democrats’ theory. They want to frame the focus of the negotiations narrowly: The official acts by the president sought by Ukraine were the delivery of nearly $400 million in defense aid and a White House visit for the newly elected Zelensky; the thing of value demanded by the president was a Ukrainian investigation of Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, whom Trump feared as his most likely 2020 Democratic opponent.

This came into sharp relief in the first day’s testimony. Former Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, for example, testified in response to Democratic counsel’s question that it was “crazy” to make aid conditional on assistance in American domestic politics — as if the matter were that simple.

Republicans are at a disadvantage. Under the heavy-handed rules fashioned by majority Democrats, the president and committee Republicans have been denied the right to call their own witnesses and present a defense. That will come later, they are told.

For now, though, there is already plenty of ammunition to fight the bribery theory.

Most significantly, all negotiations between sovereign nations involve mutual exchange — that is not corruption or bribery; it is foreign relations. And this negotiation, like most, was more complex than Democrats portray it to be. In the conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Trump made two different requests. They were not demands in the context of the Trump-Zelensky conversation. They were framed as requests.

As Republicans repeatedly stressed, Zelensky never felt threatened, although it is fair to say there is evidence that the president’s subordinates signaled to Ukrainians that the official acts they sought were conditioned on their reciprocity.

The first request involved Ukrainian assistance in the investigation into the origins of the 2016 election, the subject of a formal Justice Department investigation. It is entirely legitimate for a president to ask another head of state for assistance in a US investigation. There is even a treaty that requires such assistance.

Trump also asked for Ukraine to look into potential corruption on the part of the Bidens. Hunter Biden had been lavishly paid to sit on the board of Burisma, an energy company long investigated by the Ukrainian government for corruption. At the same time, his father was the point person for Team Obama’s Ukraine policy. The elder Biden had extorted Kiev — by threatening to withhold $1 billion in aid — into firing a prosecutor.

Democrats say this can be ­understood only as a bribe: a ­demand for assistance in Trump’s 2020 campaign in exchange for official acts.

Yet to establish a bribe, corrupt intent must be established. While it would obviously have been preferable if Trump hadn’t singled out the Bidens, it is nevertheless permissible for presidents to encourage countries receiving American aid to investigate and root out corruption. Indeed, the legislation authorizing aid for Ukraine actually directs the executive branch to certify that Ukraine is making such efforts.

Republicans spent much of Wednesday trying to put the president’s requests in context — pressing Taylor and State Department official George Kent on Ukrainian corruption and on the suspicious circumstances of Hunter Biden’s association with a corrupt company. They emphasized that defense aid to Ukraine has been significantly increased by President Trump, compared to what it was under his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

The battle lines are drawn around the issues of whether the president had corrupt intent and risked the security of an important ally solely to better his political prospects. But the Democrats’ approach indicates that the issue behind the battle lines will be: Was there a bribe?

Andrew C. McCarthy, a former chief assistant US attorney, is a contributing editor of National Review. Twitter: @AndrewCMcCarthy

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Dan Young
Dan Young
4 years ago

here’s proof biden admitted doing what they are going after trump for…. I guess he’s next if liberals want to be consist …. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/27/flashback_2018_joe_biden_brags_at_cfr_meeting_about_withholding_aid_to_ukraine_to_force_firing_of_prosecutor.html

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  Dan Young

Biden publicly bragged that he got the investigator fired …and the only reason for doing so was to stop his kid from being outed as a pay to play scheme. OH and BTW – that is foreign influence in another country’s actions – kiind of like when Obama sent money to interfere in Israelielections, and Kerry went to Iran when he was no longer the Sec of State and tried to interfere in the nuclear negotiations, and Ted Kennedy went to the Soviets to get help taking down Ronald Reagan’s election campaign.

Dan Young
Dan Young
4 years ago

here’s proof biden admitted doing what they are going after trump for…. I guess he’s next if liberals want to be consist …. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/27/flashback_2018_joe_biden_brags_at_cfr_meeting_about_withholding_aid_to_ukraine_to_force_firing_of_prosecutor.html

Bubbles
Bubbles
4 years ago

If the swamp drains somewhere between Ukraine and the Bidens’ little house on the prairie, so be it. It must be drained. And if the Bidens’ little house on the prairie is a sinkhole connected to a thousand other swampy, smarmy business dealings and the DNC — how else to get at it but through ~foreign relations~ negotiations.

The Dems will embalm and robotify a dead Joe Biden and keep him in this presidential race to prove … he could win if not for President Trump. Ludicrous.

Jim McCormack
Jim McCormack
4 years ago

COMEDY CENTRAL …

Adam
Adam
4 years ago

If what Trump did was a bribe Biden should be arrested and prosecuted

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Exactly! GOOD THINKING!

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
4 years ago
Reply to  Adam

I THINK THAT EITHER VP DADDY JOE OR BABY HUNTER BIDEN NEED TO GO TO UKRAINE AND BE TRIED FOR CORRUPTION, FRAUD, MONEY LAUNDERING & INTERFERING IN A CRIMINAL JUSTICE INVESTIGATION! LET’S SEE HOW MUCH VP DADDY JOE WOULD BE ABLE TO REMEMBER IF THAT IS WHERE HIS SON WILL GO IF HE DOESN’T SAY ALL HE KNOWS PUBLICLY ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S COLLUSION ON A FALSE IMPEACHMENT OF PRES. DONALD TRUMP!
IF THE REPUBLICANS WOULD GET REAL ABOUT THE DEM-WITS, THAT IS WHAT WE WOULD DO, THREATEN VP DADDY JOE AND FORCE HIM TO PUBLICLY REVEAL ALL THAT WE NEED TO KNOW! THE GOP SENATE NEEDS TO GET A TRIAL GOING OF VP DADDY JOE BIDEN BASED ON HIS OWN STATEMENTS, ETC! LET’S SEE HOW FAR REP SCHIFF GOES THEN ONCE THE GOP SENATE STARTS TO ROAST VP DADDY JOE BIDEN!

Jeanne Hintze
Jeanne Hintze
4 years ago

So who was Obama BRIBING with his planeload of cash?

nag2
nag2
4 years ago
Reply to  Jeanne Hintze

It doesn’t seem to matter how absurd the nonsense from the left becomes the American people just elected/re-elected a boatload of democrats last week. Many Americans are therefore brain dead! All Americans will pay the price for more of these losers in congress.

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  nag2

I AGREE. MANY ARE UNEDUCATED, IGNORANT OF ISSUES, DON’T THINK CRITICIALLY, AND WILLINGLY ACCEPT slavery that the DEMS want to impose on them.

nag2
nag2
4 years ago
Reply to  H. Sabin

You know I look at the letters to the editor every morning in our local newspaper and many folks write in simply parroting leftist talking points as if they were proven facts and I read the most ignorant arguments they write about. Also our local paper is slated way left and once when i wrote in a comment it was refused publication because the screen-er disagreed with my opinion even though all comments on the page are opinions!

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
4 years ago
Reply to  nag2

THIS IS WHY WE REPUBLICANS NEED OUR OWN MEDIA OUTLETS! THAT PAPER NEEDS TO DIE FROM LACK OF GOP CIRCULATION! WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO TAKE IT?

created4el
created4el
4 years ago
Reply to  nag2

Old school censorship of opinion is to not publish your opinion. The new school is to shadow ban you. Both result in making you invisible in the culture… both silence your voice… both are devious ways to influence society.

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
4 years ago
Reply to  H. Sabin

THE DEM-WITS ARE NEO-BOLSHEVIK ANARCHISTS! THEY ARE THE PAID OFF POLITICAL LOBBY OF THE GEORGE SOROS-IAN GLOBALIST BANKING CLIQUE. THEY ARE THE ORIGINAL PARTY OF TREASON THAT MURDERED GOP PRES. ABRAHAM LINCOLN BUT REPUBLICANS FORGAVE AND FORGOT TOO QUICK!

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
4 years ago
Reply to  nag2

IN VA THIS WAS TRUE BECAUSE VA TOOK BACK LAND THAT SHOULD BE DC BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR POPULATED BY GOVERNMENT WORKERS AND IS LOST IN MODERN TIMES! W.VA IS MOUNTAIN MAMA AND THE REFUGE FOR REPUBLICANS WHO SHOULD RELOCATE THERE & TAKE THEIR MONEY WITH THEM! W.VA DESERVES THE HELP!
KY WAS LOST DUE TO VOTER FRAUD, FOLKS! WHEN WILL THE GOP START TO PAY ATTENTION? BESHEAR SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED BY THE FEDS FOR RIGGING HIS ELECTION! WHAT DO REPUBLICANS HAVE TO LOSE IN KY? THEY NEED TO THROW OUT SOME FAKE VOTES! MS VOTES RIGHT EVEN WHEN THE DEM-WIT CANDIDATE LIES FROM THE RIGHT BECAUSE THE DEM-WIT PARTY IS LEFT OF WRONG! MS HAS THE BEST SHRIMP AND GRITS TOO!

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  Jeanne Hintze

SHHHHHH – THE DEMS GOT SOME OF THAT CASH…..THEY WON’T ASK!

Sweetp Holt
Sweetp Holt
4 years ago
Reply to  Jeanne Hintze

not a bribe – a gift from one muzzy to another muzzy from steeling US taxpayers yankee scrips.

CharlieSeattle
CharlieSeattle
4 years ago
Reply to  Jeanne Hintze

Not a bribe at all.

He was purposely ‘Aiding and Abetting’ a state sponsor of terrorism while he was President.

I would call that Treason.

Lagertha
Lagertha
4 years ago

Adam Shit-For-Brains is…well…the name is self explanatory!

Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
4 years ago
Reply to  Lagertha

ADAM SCHIFF IS A SCHIFTY WANNABE WRITER WHO LOOKS LIKE A CHILD MOLESTER! IT DOESN’T SPEAK HIGHLY OF CA THAT HE HAS BEEN RE-ELECTED FOR OVER A DECADE! CA IS PROOF THAT LEGALIZING HEMP IS JUST NOT A GOOD IDEA!

Lagertha
Lagertha
4 years ago

I would not be surprised if he actually was a molester; Epstein was murdered for a reason.

Laddyboy
Laddyboy
4 years ago
Reply to  Lagertha

@L; The reason being -. Ole Kackles did not want him to squeal to the American People about her and her hubby’s pedophilia. SOOoo! Epstein received the ARKANCIDE treatment!

Jay Wizzy
Jay Wizzy
4 years ago

The Democrats are like “the Muhammadist tyrants, in face of all the Islamophobia, they really stand for free speech & freedom of religion. Let’s give’em more money.”

FormerlyNicab
FormerlyNicab
4 years ago

Schiff is a liar – comment image

NITZAKHON
NITZAKHON
4 years ago
Reply to  FormerlyNicab

Here’s the thing. Glad the WaPo did this but it doesn’t matter.

Schiff could go on the record admitting everything we know to be true… and it won’t matter.

They want Trump gone because he committed the ultimate crime: Denying Her Heinous the Crone of Chappaqua her rightful place. And then he had the added temerity to attempt to actually keep his campaign promises: the wall, reduce migration, etc. Hasn’t succeeded as well as we all hoped for but he’s facing enormous headwinds.

minted
minted
4 years ago

Turkish president Recep Erdogan lashes out at Congress in astonishing White House press conference for recognizing Armenian genocide and demands Donald Trump hand over U.S. resident who strongman accuses of plotting a coup

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7683089/Erdogan-lashes-Congress-recognizing-Armenian-genocide.html

AlgorithmicAnalyst
AlgorithmicAnalyst
4 years ago

In that case, everything done in foreign relations is a bribe.

patd
patd
4 years ago

The WHOLE idea of foreign aide is so foreign governments act in the best interest of America!!!!! So isn’t ALL foreign aid bribery???

Settle it and stop giving our tax dollars to foreigners!!!! Nothing but ignorant BS from the ignorant libturd criminals!!!!

WTF was the POS anti-American muslim doing by giving iran billions of dollars or trading 5 criminals and money for the deserter bergdahl????

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  patd

YOU ARE RIGHT OBAMA IS A POS!

Michelle
Michelle
4 years ago

In my world there would be no foreign aid except to honest needy allies; no wastage of space or money on the UN and absolutely ruthless policing of borders and execution of terrorists and traitors. Antifa and anyone like them should be sentenced to hard labour chain gangs while academics who support them should have their tenures removed and sent as aid workers as below. As well, no madrassas and only imams appointed who are proven to be peaceful and accepting of assimilation and if there are none then we need no mosques as they are citadels of ideology not religion. The creation of ribat(muslim ghettoes) in the west should be banned and dissenters sent back to their Islamic sewer of origin. Leftist opponents to this should be sent to work as civilian aid workers in countries terrorized by islam: Nigeria, ivory coast, Mali. Niger etc. This the Only solution that can save the west. Chances of this? >>>0

rickyoo
rickyoo
4 years ago
Reply to  Michelle

Great comment. If only.

NITZAKHON
NITZAKHON
4 years ago
Reply to  Michelle

I’d go for that.

Richard Canary
Richard Canary
4 years ago
Reply to  Michelle

…and therefor the Founding Fathers provided the second amendment, but I would hope that loyal officers of the U.S. military would be the leading force in its use. And do not forget, the president is their Commander-in-chief.

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  Richard Canary

Tell that to the seditious LTC VINDMANN who should be getting an article 15!!

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  Michelle

Want to run for public office?

Dusty Rhodes Decker
Dusty Rhodes Decker
4 years ago

It’s obvious now that they and their media lapdogs will stoop to nothing, no matter how low or unfounded, to try to undo the election of 2016. News flash! There’s another election coming and they won’t like that one either.

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
4 years ago

You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t.

Richard Canary
Richard Canary
4 years ago

democrats do, and they chew with glee all day long.

rickyoo
rickyoo
4 years ago

Hopefully there are enough Americans out there that can see this impeachment for what it is, just another put up job by the Democratic Shifty groupies that lie constantly and hate the fact that we have a real president that is a true patriot and fighter. I cannot wait to see how these traitors and the fake media react when the IG report is finally available and criminal indictments are forthcoming to those that tried to destroy Trump and are still doing so.

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  rickyoo

DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH! Many Americans are just plain ignorant, uneducated, and lack critical thinking skills.

ed
ed
4 years ago

The top picture is really showing the MAN-LOVE between Barry, Recip, & Angelo…..

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Reply to  ed

YEP AND OBAMA IS AROUSED AND LOVING IT…..

durabo
durabo
4 years ago

Schitt0head’s and Pee-lousy’s Democrat party is Marxism’s junior varsity.

tituspullo
tituspullo
4 years ago

the repubs should just boycott these show trials, and have their own televised hearings in some abandoned walmart in virginia where they could introduce evidence that barry soetoro is an illegal alien with a fake SSN who bribed iran with pallets of american cash which were then used to kill american soldiers. now THAT would get america’s attention

AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
4 years ago

Dems need some product placement and sponsors,… DNC can’t raise money with the hardcore Leftist candidates,… and Joe Bribe’m is sinking !!
comment image

Commissioner Gordon
Commissioner Gordon
4 years ago

Now “Cadillac Deval” from Taxachusetts is getting in the race to save the day.

TomSJr
TomSJr
4 years ago

Deval has some really nasty people in his marital family……look at the Brother-In-Law.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/06/13/deval-patricks-brother-in-law-found-guilty-in-kidnapping-rape-case/
“Patrick fired the head of the Sex Offender Registry Board after she pushed to classify Sigh as a sex offender.”

Tradisjonal Nordmann
Tradisjonal Nordmann
4 years ago

As usual, one set of rules us another for the “do as I say, not as I do crowd.”

fritzdahmus
fritzdahmus
4 years ago

Who knew the Russians were breaking down the door to eastern Europe through Ukraine….and aid to this cause shouldn’t be messed with?

Where is the UN?? Where is the outrage from NATO??

Andrew McCarthy has a nice summary of the first day. But, we can now watch it for ourselves and notice the errors, biases, and bad reporting for ourseves. I fear the dems and the media will wish this never got started.

Always On Watch
Always On Watch
4 years ago

Most significantly, all negotiations between sovereign nations involve
mutual exchange — that is not corruption or bribery; it is foreign
relations.

Bingo!

Is America paying attention?

Steven
Steven
4 years ago

If any old Soviets read Pamela Geller then I am sure the photo of Schitt for brains reminds them of their commissars.

H.  Sabin
H. Sabin
4 years ago
Cauc-Asian Patriot
Cauc-Asian Patriot
4 years ago

IN THE CASE OF VP DADDY JOE BIDEN HE BOASTS THAT HE BRIBED THE UK GOVERNMENT INTO FIRING A TROUBLESOME PROSECUTOR ON BEHALF OF HIS SON! TELL THE DEM-WITS THAT PRES TRUMP IS WILLING TO UNDERGO A TRIAL OF 6 DEMS AND 6 REPUBLICANS IF VP DADDY JOE BIDEN IS WILLING TO GO TO UK AND BE TRIED BY 6 U.S. DEMS AND 6 UKRAINIANS! LET’S HANG THE JURIES AND MOVE ON TO THE 2020 ELECTION WHICH WILL SETTLE THIS! THE UKRAINIANS GOT RIPPED OFF BY THE BIDENS AT LEAST $3 MILLION TO 50 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH!

Bart's Bantering
Bart's Bantering
4 years ago

They are not actual impeachment hearings, but only hearings to determine if impeachment will be brought out. It is noting more than a show, a charade to try to kill support for our duly elected President Trump. A real, viable coup by traitors to this nation and our laws.
Otherwise Ms. Geller, you are exactly right on –

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