9.29.19: Well, Ain't This An (Im)Peach?

Despite what Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA) says about no collusion on the part of President Trump and Russia, there indeed was collusion, which is not a legal term. When then candidate Donald Trump said during the campaign, "Russia if you're listening..." Mr. Mueller's investigation stated clearly that collusion was not a legal term, whereas conspiracy is and fortunately for Mr. Trump, conspiracy was not proven. Obstruction of justice? There were only 11 proven instances. However, that is not germane to what has transpired over the past week. If you read the transcript of the phone call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky, the mere mention of Joe Biden is an indication that Mr. Trump wants his main political rival to be sullied before the 2020 election; this is conjunction with the "I want you to do us a favor though" statement, which Mr. Todd emphasized throughout today's program makes it clear that the now President of the United States abused the power of his office for personal political gain. Mr. Scalise refused to answer the direct question of whether this obvious fact should be condoned. Most all Republicans have been loathe to directly refute these charges.it himself, "Don't look at what was  call."

Whether or not you think there is any grey area here, the president has breached his oath of office and a formal impeachment inquiry is warranted.

As Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff (D-CA), explained if individuals from the administration are called to testify and do not cooperate because of executive privilege then those individuals are obstructing justice. And the gall of Hugh Hewitt to say that Mr. Schiff is not a fair arbiter of this process, may we remind him of one word, "Benghazi." There were no fair arbiters in that process.

The stench of most Republican hypocrisy is what has been most damaging to this country, and not the opening of an impeachment inquiry to hold a corrupt president accountable. This along with another falsehood that Mr. Scalise with his revisionist history outlined was the Obama Administration's unwillingness to investigate Russian meddling in 2016 as it was Mitch McConnell who dismissed the intelligence community's findings and warnings.

But this latest impropriety is not about 2016, it's about what the president has done moving forward to 2020. Unlike the Mueller investigation, this is much easier for the American people to wrap their heads around. The president wanted the Ukrainian government to reopen an investigation of his political rival to ensure aid to the country - leveraging U.S. foreign policy for personal political gain. Hard stop. The Trump Administration put out Republican talking points, which they were sufficiently incompetent enough to also send to Democrats, it stated that there was no quid pro quo so there is no need for an impeachment inquiry. Well, ain't that a peach? As fmr. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, explained there are no 'favors' in diplomacy, it's all a quid pro quo.

Mr. McFaul also outlined very clearly the timeline of how this all transpired:

Click to watch outline of the timeline

Most notable in the outline of all this is that the administration announced a freeze on $391 million of military aid to Ukraine on July 18, 2019 and then the call occurs on the 25th of the month.

It's been reported that there is rising anxiety within the West Wing, and there should be. It looks like one of the scapegoats is going to be the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) calls a free-range chicken. As a side note, Mr. Giuliani, mentioned over 30 times in the whistleblower complaint as a private citizen is representing the United States government in the eyes of the Mr. Zelensky's administration, which begs the question - Is Mr. Giuliani conducting his own personal foreign policy? And doesn't that violate the Logan Act? Maybe not, but it sure does come close.

Republicans office holders are tired Mr. Giuliani's antics and absurdities, they're fatigued. As Mark Leibovitch mentioned, there is a general fatigue with Trump, deemed Trump exhaustion. No doubt. Let the inquiry proceed.


Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, PBS News Hour; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian; Mark Leibovitch, The New York Times Magazine; Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network