Timothy Buchanan
Impeachment in proper perspective
By Timothy Buchanan
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Congressional Democrats have leveled so many false accusations and perpetrated so many acts of hypocrisy that it becomes tiresome to review them. Many of us have come to expect such behavior. But hold on. Democrats may now have successfully made the transition from a political party to an organized crime syndicate. The impeachment of President Trump is a gambit for which Democrats will pay a heavy price.
House Democrat leaders have accused President Trump of abusing the power of his office and obstructing justice. Their charges stem from a request or demand – depending upon which account one chooses to believe – that President Trump wrongly withheld $400 million in foreign aid to Ukraine unless its government agreed to pursue an investigation of former Vice President, Joe Biden. Although the former vice president has not yet secured his party's nomination, this, Democrats say, is an illegal abuse of power worthy of the president's removal from office.
The impeachment of President Trump is problematic for Democrats in several ways. First, even if the findings of fact are valid, the assumption that the president acted like a devious politician is not. Desperate political actors may see a sinister plan when viewing facts through their own template, but President Trump is not a conniving Washington politician. And that has cost him greatly.
Next, bribery is not established unless something of tangible value is received and there is no evidence that President Trump has gotten anything for his trouble. In fact, he is not even accepting the $400,000 per year salary to which he is entitled. President Trump endures the incessant attacks of Democrats and the media for purposes other than personal gain. Therefore, the bribery charge is baseless and without merit.
While the president is required to take reasonable steps to ensure that U.S. aid funds are not disbursed to dishonest regimes, federal aid to Ukraine was released by the Trump administration without any precondition. Perhaps, the condition was withdrawn because Ukrainian officials were already conducting their own investigation. In desperate attempts to sully the president, Democrats have risked exposure to numerous crimes involving a global criminal enterprise.
Less-than-honest U.S. news agencies failed to disclose the fact that the Obama administration withheld over $1 billion in aid to Ukraine unless Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin, was fired. In 2016, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings' and owner, Nikolai Zlochevsky, in a massive money-laundering scheme. Burisma Holdings is largely a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Beginning in 2014 and while his Vice President father was acting as the Obama administration's foreign relations advisor in Ukraine affairs, Hunter Biden acquired a seat on Burisma's board of directors despite having no prior experience in the energy business or Ukraine. Hunter Biden and his partners reportedly received $16.5 million for their services. Hunter Biden was paid as much as $83,000 per month during this time period.
At a meeting of the Council on Foreign Affairs, former Vice President Joe Biden publicly boasted of getting Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, fired. Biden family involvement in Burisma's corruption scheme may be much deeper and far more sinister than profiteering, bribery and extortion. According to Fox News reports, Hunter Biden has been implicated in a $156 million counterfeiting scheme whereby Burisma funneled money to financial accounts with Morgan Stanley, PrivatBank, the Bank of China, and CrowdStrike to fund Democrat political operations.
CrowdStrike is the cybersecurity firm that reportedly holds the DNC computer server that Hillary Clinton and other Democrats claim was hacked into by Russia. After the alleged hacking incident occurred, and while James Comey was the Director of the F.B.I., agents attempted to gain access to the server, but were refused. Therefore, the charges of Russians hacking entry into the DNC server have neither been confirmed nor disproved. Nevertheless, the unverified accusations remain to percolate in the media.
While presidential impeachment is a political proceeding conducted and reported in the shady realm of hyperbole, half-truths and implied offenses in an environment of high dudgeon, when the leadership of the United States is called into question, citizens are entitled to reasonable verified proof of wrongdoing. There is nothing approaching that here.
Instead, evidence has been obscured, charges have been colored by partisan interpretations of fact, and the identity of much-heralded but highly dubious whistle-blower has been shrouded in secrecy. Local police could not write the president a speeding ticket without more substantial evidence than Democrats have presented in their articles of impeachment. Law enforcement officers must demonstrate the accuracy of their speed measurements to a verified standard. The people of the United States deserve much more credible proof before their votes are nullified by a hostile faction of Congress dealing from the bottom of the deck.
George Washington once said, "Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light." As the truth surrounding the affairs of Burisma Holdings finally come to light; as the full extent of the Biden's involvement in an international Democrat corruption probe become known, the impeachment of President Trump may soon prove to be the greatest political blunder in U.S. history.
Stay tuned to reputable sources in this developing story. The half has not yet been told, and the ride to the truth may be wilder than expected.
© Timothy Buchanan
January 31, 2020
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Congressional Democrats have leveled so many false accusations and perpetrated so many acts of hypocrisy that it becomes tiresome to review them. Many of us have come to expect such behavior. But hold on. Democrats may now have successfully made the transition from a political party to an organized crime syndicate. The impeachment of President Trump is a gambit for which Democrats will pay a heavy price.
House Democrat leaders have accused President Trump of abusing the power of his office and obstructing justice. Their charges stem from a request or demand – depending upon which account one chooses to believe – that President Trump wrongly withheld $400 million in foreign aid to Ukraine unless its government agreed to pursue an investigation of former Vice President, Joe Biden. Although the former vice president has not yet secured his party's nomination, this, Democrats say, is an illegal abuse of power worthy of the president's removal from office.
The impeachment of President Trump is problematic for Democrats in several ways. First, even if the findings of fact are valid, the assumption that the president acted like a devious politician is not. Desperate political actors may see a sinister plan when viewing facts through their own template, but President Trump is not a conniving Washington politician. And that has cost him greatly.
Next, bribery is not established unless something of tangible value is received and there is no evidence that President Trump has gotten anything for his trouble. In fact, he is not even accepting the $400,000 per year salary to which he is entitled. President Trump endures the incessant attacks of Democrats and the media for purposes other than personal gain. Therefore, the bribery charge is baseless and without merit.
While the president is required to take reasonable steps to ensure that U.S. aid funds are not disbursed to dishonest regimes, federal aid to Ukraine was released by the Trump administration without any precondition. Perhaps, the condition was withdrawn because Ukrainian officials were already conducting their own investigation. In desperate attempts to sully the president, Democrats have risked exposure to numerous crimes involving a global criminal enterprise.
Less-than-honest U.S. news agencies failed to disclose the fact that the Obama administration withheld over $1 billion in aid to Ukraine unless Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin, was fired. In 2016, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings' and owner, Nikolai Zlochevsky, in a massive money-laundering scheme. Burisma Holdings is largely a Ukrainian natural gas company.
Beginning in 2014 and while his Vice President father was acting as the Obama administration's foreign relations advisor in Ukraine affairs, Hunter Biden acquired a seat on Burisma's board of directors despite having no prior experience in the energy business or Ukraine. Hunter Biden and his partners reportedly received $16.5 million for their services. Hunter Biden was paid as much as $83,000 per month during this time period.
At a meeting of the Council on Foreign Affairs, former Vice President Joe Biden publicly boasted of getting Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, fired. Biden family involvement in Burisma's corruption scheme may be much deeper and far more sinister than profiteering, bribery and extortion. According to Fox News reports, Hunter Biden has been implicated in a $156 million counterfeiting scheme whereby Burisma funneled money to financial accounts with Morgan Stanley, PrivatBank, the Bank of China, and CrowdStrike to fund Democrat political operations.
CrowdStrike is the cybersecurity firm that reportedly holds the DNC computer server that Hillary Clinton and other Democrats claim was hacked into by Russia. After the alleged hacking incident occurred, and while James Comey was the Director of the F.B.I., agents attempted to gain access to the server, but were refused. Therefore, the charges of Russians hacking entry into the DNC server have neither been confirmed nor disproved. Nevertheless, the unverified accusations remain to percolate in the media.
While presidential impeachment is a political proceeding conducted and reported in the shady realm of hyperbole, half-truths and implied offenses in an environment of high dudgeon, when the leadership of the United States is called into question, citizens are entitled to reasonable verified proof of wrongdoing. There is nothing approaching that here.
Instead, evidence has been obscured, charges have been colored by partisan interpretations of fact, and the identity of much-heralded but highly dubious whistle-blower has been shrouded in secrecy. Local police could not write the president a speeding ticket without more substantial evidence than Democrats have presented in their articles of impeachment. Law enforcement officers must demonstrate the accuracy of their speed measurements to a verified standard. The people of the United States deserve much more credible proof before their votes are nullified by a hostile faction of Congress dealing from the bottom of the deck.
George Washington once said, "Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light." As the truth surrounding the affairs of Burisma Holdings finally come to light; as the full extent of the Biden's involvement in an international Democrat corruption probe become known, the impeachment of President Trump may soon prove to be the greatest political blunder in U.S. history.
Stay tuned to reputable sources in this developing story. The half has not yet been told, and the ride to the truth may be wilder than expected.
© Timothy Buchanan
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