by Deborah Weiss
A sober look at Dems' bogus -- and surreal -- articles of impeachment.
As most of you know, the House has announced that it will issue
articles of impeachment this week. As of now, two have been determined,
though there may be more to come. They are: 1) Trump’s "abuse of power"
and 2) "obstruction of congress".
ARTICLE 1: ABUSE OF POWER
1) This article of impeachment document uses the word "scheme" to describe Trump's colloquy whereby he asked Ukraine President Zelensky to conduct investigations. This is consistent with the Democrat lawyer/witness Daniel Goldman’s “testimony” where he repeatedly referred to Trump’s request for investigations as a “scheme”. This word is a characterization of a fact, and not a fact in and of itself.
2) The article asserts that President Trump solicited an investigation that "would benefit his re-election, harm the political prospects of a political opponent and influence the 2020 elections to his advantage." Note: here the Democrats are not attributing motive but simply stating that such investigations would benefit the President. So it appears that the Democrats believe anything which happens to benefit the president and harm an "opponent" is impeachable. If we accept the possibility that the proposed investigations were to root out corruption, as President Trump has indicated, then perhaps on some level, this article is acknowledges, in effect, that rooting out corruption is to Trump's advantage and a Democrat opponent’s disadvantage in the 2020 election.
3) Subsequently, the article states that Trump did this for "corrupt purposes". This language echoes Professor Feldman's testimony as well as conclusions. Professor Feldman repeatedly, without any objective basis, used the adjective "corruptly" to describe President Trump's neutral behavior, in order to attribute motive to him, despite the fact that he is not a mind-readers and has no direct evidence to support his conclusion.
4) The article repeatedly says that Trump was "soliciting interference in the 2020 election" even though there is zero --- and I stress this --- zero evidence based on Trump's words or actions that this is the case. Any "testimony" asserting this conclusion was based on hearsay, double hearsay and presumptions. The witnesses testifying to these statements admitted that they had no first-hand knowledge of the “facts” that they were asserting. The better, more likely and more consistent view, given that Ukraine was corrupt and there was a stemmed investigation into Barismus, is that this was as effort by Trump to look backwards to 2016 and clean it up, not forward to 2020 with "corrupt purposes."
5) The article then argues that by engaging in the above, President Trump "compromised national security and undermined the integrity of the democratic process." But actually, this is what the Democrats are doing. For example, using the intelligence committee to investigate Trump instead of for intelligence purposes on behalf of our nation, is absolutely a problem for US national security. And undermining the Democratic process?
In fact, the entire impeachment process constitutes Democrat interference into the 2020 election. Instead of letting you, the public, decide the election by voting, they are intent on removing President Trump so the public has no choice. Several Democrat congressmen have blatantly admitted that if they can't remove Trump through impeachment, he will get re-elected. They are therefore doing everything they can, (including sullying his name,) to make that happen. Everything the Democrats are accusing Trump of is something they are doing. Can you spell psychological "projection"?
ARTICLE 2: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS
1) Article 2 states that Trump "directed the unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the house in its sole power of impeachment"....by directing the executive branch agencies and officials not to comply with subpoenas of documents and records" [that are held in the executive branch], as well as testimony by key officials.
2) Thus, the article continues, Trump sought to "arrogate himself the right to determine the propriety, scope and nature of an impeachment inquiry violating Congress' "sole power of impeachment”. Therefore, he's trying to "seize and control the power of impeachment”.
3) This constitutes the entirety of the second article of impeachment. It repeatedly refers to the Congress' "sole power of impeachment" as though that means the executive branch and the judicial branch are subordinate to Congress. Not so. It omits (I think purposely) that the executive branch asserted executive privilege --- which is a legitimate thing. If properly exercised, it exempts the executive branch from having to comply with subpoenas or other requests for information that belong solely within the realm of the executive.
4) If there is a dispute about whether the privilege is being properly asserted, it can be litigated in court. And that is exactly what the Trump Administration has sought to do. But congress doesn't want to wait for the judicial rulings because it's on a schedule for political purposes. Furthermore, congress wants to pretend that it doesn't have to abide by a court ruling, not to mention the fact that the Democrats in congress may lose their claims to insist they have the "right" to the specified information.
5) It's entirely possible that a court could rule that the executive branch is entitled to executive privilege on some of the subpoenas (or parts of them) and not others. Even if Trump loses, he's entitled to appeal. However, it is likely that he would win on many of his executive privilege assertions....... another reason the Democrats don't want to wait.
6) In effect, article 2 asserts that Trump is committing an impeachable offense by asserting his constitutionally permissible claim of executive privilege and then litigating the legitimacy of its application in court.
7) This article cites the constitution saying that the President can "be removed for conviction of Treason, Bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors". But note: despite the fact that in press conferences and hearings and focus groups, this is all the Democrats talked about, the articles of impeachment make no mention of treason, bribery, any articulable high crime, misdemeanor --- or low crime for that matter. Nor does it mention the words "quid pro quo."
8) On both article 1 and article 2, the impeachment document stresses that Trump is a danger to our country and a threat to our democracy and that allowing him that “allowing him to remain in office”, constitutes a threat to the integrity of the 2020 elections. Apparently, the Democrats have appointed themselves to determine if a president they don’t like should be "allowed" to stay in office and serve out his term.
CONCLUSION
The real threat to our freedom and democracy is the pathetic refusal by the Democrats to accept the results of the 2016 election. Our system relies on the acceptance and peaceful transition of power. The stated goal to remove President Trump from office, articulated even prior to Trump’s inauguration, demonstrates the inability of many on the Left to relinquish control, even temporarily. From the onset of Trump’s presidency, the Democrats have been working fastidiously to undermine the institutions and processes that serve as the foundation for our freedom and democracy. They started with fabrications to support FISA warrants, illegal surveillance of citizens and an opposing political campaign, the phony Mueller investigation.
And now we have the so-called “impeachment process” whereby the minority has virtually no rights, testimony was taken in secret, and little due process was afforded. The Democrats will stop at nothing to remove Trump and hold onto their power. He is shaking things up, restoring our constitutional freedoms, increasing jobs, blowing the stock market through the roof and doing a bang-up job on human rights, getting prisoners of conscience released in foreign countries, among other successes. The Democrats and the Deep State don’t like it. The mainstream media is more than complicit in the war against Trump: they are accomplices, spewing forth anti-Trump propaganda every chance they get.
The foundations of freedom laid out in our Constitution by the Framers are what distinguish us from banana republics. But they only work when those who administer them are honest and have integrity. Yet, the freedom to hold different opinions, is fast shrinking in this country. Censorship is on the rise, and many on the Left can no longer agree to disagree or play by the rules. The Democrat leadership is fascistic, looking for a crime, having already determined who the criminal is. Whether you are pro-Trump, Never-Trump or somewhere in between, THIS is what should really scare you.
ARTICLE 1: ABUSE OF POWER
1) This article of impeachment document uses the word "scheme" to describe Trump's colloquy whereby he asked Ukraine President Zelensky to conduct investigations. This is consistent with the Democrat lawyer/witness Daniel Goldman’s “testimony” where he repeatedly referred to Trump’s request for investigations as a “scheme”. This word is a characterization of a fact, and not a fact in and of itself.
2) The article asserts that President Trump solicited an investigation that "would benefit his re-election, harm the political prospects of a political opponent and influence the 2020 elections to his advantage." Note: here the Democrats are not attributing motive but simply stating that such investigations would benefit the President. So it appears that the Democrats believe anything which happens to benefit the president and harm an "opponent" is impeachable. If we accept the possibility that the proposed investigations were to root out corruption, as President Trump has indicated, then perhaps on some level, this article is acknowledges, in effect, that rooting out corruption is to Trump's advantage and a Democrat opponent’s disadvantage in the 2020 election.
3) Subsequently, the article states that Trump did this for "corrupt purposes". This language echoes Professor Feldman's testimony as well as conclusions. Professor Feldman repeatedly, without any objective basis, used the adjective "corruptly" to describe President Trump's neutral behavior, in order to attribute motive to him, despite the fact that he is not a mind-readers and has no direct evidence to support his conclusion.
4) The article repeatedly says that Trump was "soliciting interference in the 2020 election" even though there is zero --- and I stress this --- zero evidence based on Trump's words or actions that this is the case. Any "testimony" asserting this conclusion was based on hearsay, double hearsay and presumptions. The witnesses testifying to these statements admitted that they had no first-hand knowledge of the “facts” that they were asserting. The better, more likely and more consistent view, given that Ukraine was corrupt and there was a stemmed investigation into Barismus, is that this was as effort by Trump to look backwards to 2016 and clean it up, not forward to 2020 with "corrupt purposes."
5) The article then argues that by engaging in the above, President Trump "compromised national security and undermined the integrity of the democratic process." But actually, this is what the Democrats are doing. For example, using the intelligence committee to investigate Trump instead of for intelligence purposes on behalf of our nation, is absolutely a problem for US national security. And undermining the Democratic process?
In fact, the entire impeachment process constitutes Democrat interference into the 2020 election. Instead of letting you, the public, decide the election by voting, they are intent on removing President Trump so the public has no choice. Several Democrat congressmen have blatantly admitted that if they can't remove Trump through impeachment, he will get re-elected. They are therefore doing everything they can, (including sullying his name,) to make that happen. Everything the Democrats are accusing Trump of is something they are doing. Can you spell psychological "projection"?
ARTICLE 2: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS
1) Article 2 states that Trump "directed the unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the house in its sole power of impeachment"....by directing the executive branch agencies and officials not to comply with subpoenas of documents and records" [that are held in the executive branch], as well as testimony by key officials.
2) Thus, the article continues, Trump sought to "arrogate himself the right to determine the propriety, scope and nature of an impeachment inquiry violating Congress' "sole power of impeachment”. Therefore, he's trying to "seize and control the power of impeachment”.
3) This constitutes the entirety of the second article of impeachment. It repeatedly refers to the Congress' "sole power of impeachment" as though that means the executive branch and the judicial branch are subordinate to Congress. Not so. It omits (I think purposely) that the executive branch asserted executive privilege --- which is a legitimate thing. If properly exercised, it exempts the executive branch from having to comply with subpoenas or other requests for information that belong solely within the realm of the executive.
4) If there is a dispute about whether the privilege is being properly asserted, it can be litigated in court. And that is exactly what the Trump Administration has sought to do. But congress doesn't want to wait for the judicial rulings because it's on a schedule for political purposes. Furthermore, congress wants to pretend that it doesn't have to abide by a court ruling, not to mention the fact that the Democrats in congress may lose their claims to insist they have the "right" to the specified information.
5) It's entirely possible that a court could rule that the executive branch is entitled to executive privilege on some of the subpoenas (or parts of them) and not others. Even if Trump loses, he's entitled to appeal. However, it is likely that he would win on many of his executive privilege assertions....... another reason the Democrats don't want to wait.
6) In effect, article 2 asserts that Trump is committing an impeachable offense by asserting his constitutionally permissible claim of executive privilege and then litigating the legitimacy of its application in court.
7) This article cites the constitution saying that the President can "be removed for conviction of Treason, Bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors". But note: despite the fact that in press conferences and hearings and focus groups, this is all the Democrats talked about, the articles of impeachment make no mention of treason, bribery, any articulable high crime, misdemeanor --- or low crime for that matter. Nor does it mention the words "quid pro quo."
8) On both article 1 and article 2, the impeachment document stresses that Trump is a danger to our country and a threat to our democracy and that allowing him that “allowing him to remain in office”, constitutes a threat to the integrity of the 2020 elections. Apparently, the Democrats have appointed themselves to determine if a president they don’t like should be "allowed" to stay in office and serve out his term.
CONCLUSION
The real threat to our freedom and democracy is the pathetic refusal by the Democrats to accept the results of the 2016 election. Our system relies on the acceptance and peaceful transition of power. The stated goal to remove President Trump from office, articulated even prior to Trump’s inauguration, demonstrates the inability of many on the Left to relinquish control, even temporarily. From the onset of Trump’s presidency, the Democrats have been working fastidiously to undermine the institutions and processes that serve as the foundation for our freedom and democracy. They started with fabrications to support FISA warrants, illegal surveillance of citizens and an opposing political campaign, the phony Mueller investigation.
And now we have the so-called “impeachment process” whereby the minority has virtually no rights, testimony was taken in secret, and little due process was afforded. The Democrats will stop at nothing to remove Trump and hold onto their power. He is shaking things up, restoring our constitutional freedoms, increasing jobs, blowing the stock market through the roof and doing a bang-up job on human rights, getting prisoners of conscience released in foreign countries, among other successes. The Democrats and the Deep State don’t like it. The mainstream media is more than complicit in the war against Trump: they are accomplices, spewing forth anti-Trump propaganda every chance they get.
The foundations of freedom laid out in our Constitution by the Framers are what distinguish us from banana republics. But they only work when those who administer them are honest and have integrity. Yet, the freedom to hold different opinions, is fast shrinking in this country. Censorship is on the rise, and many on the Left can no longer agree to disagree or play by the rules. The Democrat leadership is fascistic, looking for a crime, having already determined who the criminal is. Whether you are pro-Trump, Never-Trump or somewhere in between, THIS is what should really scare you.
Deborah Weiss
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/12/high-crime-nothing-deborah-weiss/
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