The Impeachment Process Has Officially Begun (25 Viewers)

[Andrus]

By Laura Bassett

After months of internal arguing among Democrats over whether to impeach President Donald Trump, the dam is finally breaking in favor of trying to remove him from office. The Washington Post reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would announce a formal impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, following a bombshell report that Trump illegally asked Ukraine’s government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his political opponents. (He essentially admitted to having done so over the weekend.)

“Now that we have the facts, we’re ready,” Pelosi said Tuesday morning at a forum hosted by The Atlantic. At 5 p.m. the same day, she was back with more. "The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the constitution, especially when the president says Article Two says I can do whatever I want," referring to the segment of the Constitution that defines the power of the executive branch of the government. Pelosi's message was that checks and balances of those branches are just as central to the Constitution. And one more thing: "Today, I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry," she said at a conference broadcast on Twitter by the Huffington Post. ...

Read the Full Story - InStyle

 

[FullMonte]

And everyone here keeps talking about laws he's breaking. What laws has he broke?
Ukraine got their aid, they admit no pressure or influence. The transcript does not support with holding of aid until certain criteria is met,.

Yeah...Ukraine admitted no pressure or influence (not really...but let's go with that)....do you know how many women, on a daily basis, say they fell down the steps, and that their husband didn't hurt them? I'm so glad we now that their husbands aren't abusive.

 

[not2rich]

By whose standard and why? Does the constitution say that you have to have been in politics to run for President? Mary Ann Williamson waa more Qualified? Andrew Yang?

And everyone here keeps talking about laws he's breaking. What laws has he broke?
Ukraine got their aid, they admit no pressure or influence. The transcript does not support with holding of aid until certain criteria is met,.

So what laws has he broke?
The only thing broken is Democratic pride.

Ukraine got their aid only AFTER Trump knew he was being investigated for the quid pro quo. You know that, right? If so, I don't know how you interpret the facts as exonerating.

The only "law" I care about him breaking, in this instance, is using foreign policy powers to benefit himself rather than the United States. Is that a good enough reason for you?

 

[wardorican]

Absolutely correct and I agree 100%. It was time for a change.
And that's why myself and millions of others voted for Trump as President. Give this political setup in America a shakeup. And guess what? He's doing an ok job.
Now these Democrats need to stop whining, quit pouting and stop all these circus ring investigations and let the man go back to work as he was elected to do...

Just an OK job? When did you stop being a supporter?

 

[not2rich]

Just an OK job? When did you stop being a supporter?

It's actually somewhat amusing to see Joe complaining about Democrats not letting Trump do "work" when he spends half his time either holding rallies or watching Fox.

 

[Intensesaint]

In the end, this will mean nothing. It's going to go the exact same route as Clinton. Impeachment in the House and acquittal in the Senate.

Probably just serve to give Trump a bump in the election the same way it did for Clinton.

I can only imagine how hard the media will start hammering the economy with negative stories once this is over.

 

[wardorican]

Treason: He committed treason by delaying aid to an ally fighting Russia, because fighting Russian expansionism is in our national interest.

Notification of use of funds (this has another name such as impoundment): Aside from treason, it is also illegal to even attempt to withhold or even delay congressionally allocated funds without notification to congress, and it was delayed so much that not all of the funds could be delivered, so congress had to pass another law.

Bribery: He bribed another country with a whitehouse meeting and military aid for an announcement of an investigation against his chief political appointment.

Obstruction of justice: He obstructed justice by blocking all subpoenas.

These are just related to Ukraine, but he has broken many other laws. Yes, Trump brought change, primarily to the Republican party into a party that is scared to challenge and admit that Trump is corrupt and bad for America.

Treason? C'mon man. You undermine the truth of his violations with that. It isn't Treason. Not even close. You can go against the National interest and never commit Treason. All this does is give the completely partisan silly things to hang on to and feel justified in their defense.

I think you have the Bribery backward. He didn't bribe them. He essentially asked for a bribe.

 

[wardorican]

This is a pretty funny moment:

Commands him? Man, some folks are unhinged in how they view situations.

 

[not2rich]

In the end, this will mean nothing. It's going to go the exact same route as Clinton. Impeachment in the House and acquittal in the Senate.

Probably just serve to give Trump a bump in the election the same way it did for Clinton.

I can only imagine how hard the media will start hammering the economy with negative stories once this is over.

I agree with your first paragraph, since the impeachment hearings like everything else is simply a partisan circus - tribalism trumps everything - even right and wrong.

Sadly, I'm also in agreement with your second paragraph.

I'm not sure what you're saying with the third paragraph. Are you saying the media is going to somehow gin up a recession or economic implosion where there isn't one?

I'd be more worried that if a real economic crisis happens, Trump won't be able to effectively deal with it.

 

[Joe Okc]

Ukraine got their aid only AFTER Trump knew he was being investigated for the quid pro quo. You know that, right? If so, I don't know how you interpret the facts as exonerating.

The only "law" I care about him breaking, in this instance, is using foreign policy powers to benefit himself rather than the United States. Is that a good enough reason for you?

You know what I find interesting from this timeframe.

A timeline of key events in the Trump-Ukraine story

With a cast of colorful characters, fast moving parts and new information coming out every day, it is easy to get lost trying to follow the story about President Donald Trump and Ukraine. Catch up with our timeline.

www.pbs.org

In Feburary 2019 Funds are allocated in the US Federal Budget at Midnight of Feb 15, 2019. At this time the Ukrainian President is Petro Poroshenko

Ukraine has an election 2 months after the money is allocated to Ukraine to the then Petro Poroshenko. Ukraine gets a new president who did not and has not had any dealing with the USA yet. Volodymyr Zelinsky.

July 25 is the phone call.. Trump says "I would like you to do US a favor, because our country has been through a lot ..." It's interesting he doesn't ask for Zelenski to do HIM a favor, but US.

Now this is a brand new president who was NOT in office when the 2019 Budget was approved by Congress.

Aug 12 the whistleblower Complaint is filed.

Sept 1 - Two weeks later The Vice President Pence meets with Zelenski for the first time... This is the first meeting between any of our heads of state since the Ukrainian elections...

Sept 11 - Aid to Ukraine is released.


This is interesting... You know.. To me.. Just looking at this and my first thoughts...

Aid was promised to Ukraine and Another President... But dues to the election in Ukraine and a new president came into office... No Aid was promised him.. and the aid was not released until after one of our heads of state met with the new President ..

I tell ya... That is exactly what I would expect of The President of the USA to do. To not release any aid from this country until we knew exactly who and what the new president is...

So in light of this new evidence... Way to go Trump... Thanks more making sure that we didn't give 400 million to an unknown foreign leader. Plus one for Trump.

 

[wardorican]

Video How the televised hearings have moved public opinion on impeachment

Most voters don’t believe that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.

abcn.ws

Interesting polling group, following a group of people through the whole process.

 

[not2rich]

You know what I find interesting from this timeframe.

A timeline of key events in the Trump-Ukraine story

With a cast of colorful characters, fast moving parts and new information coming out every day, it is easy to get lost trying to follow the story about President Donald Trump and Ukraine. Catch up with our timeline.

www.pbs.org

In Feburary 2019 Funds are allocated in the US Federal Budget at Midnight of Feb 15, 2019. At this time the Ukrainian President is Petro Poroshenko

Ukraine has an election 2 months after the money is allocated to Ukraine to the then Petro Poroshenko. Ukraine gets a new president who did not and has not had any dealing with the USA yet. Volodymyr Zelinsky.

July 25 is the phone call.. Trump says "I would like you to do US a favor, because our country has been through a lot ..." It's interesting he doesn't ask for Zelenski to do HIM a favor, but US.

Now this is a brand new president who was NOT in office when the 2019 Budget was approved by Congress.

Aug 12 the whistleblower Complaint is filed.

Sept 1 - Two weeks later The Vice President Pence meets with Zelenski for the first time... This is the first meeting between any of our heads of state since the Ukrainian elections...

Sept 11 - Aid to Ukraine is released.


This is interesting... You know.. To me.. Just looking at this and my first thoughts...

Aid was promised to Ukraine and Another President... But dues to the election in Ukraine and a new president came into office... No Aid was promised him.. and the aid was not released until after one of our heads of state met with the new President ..

I tell ya... That is exactly what I would expect of The President of the USA to do. To not release any aid from this country until we knew exactly who and what the new president is...

So in light of this new evidence... Way to go Trump... Thanks more making sure that we didn't give 400 million to an unknown foreign leader. Plus one for Trump.

So let me get this straight.

Aid was approved through proper procedures by our country to a foreign country when they had another President. We elect a new President and so do they. Our President says he wants a favor for "us," not "me," which apparently makes all the difference in the world (or at least your world). You leave out the part about demanding investigations into a political opponent and crackpot conspiracy theory. Instead, you fabricate a theory about our new President simply wanting to "check out" the new President of said foreign country before releasing the aid. And the infamous "quid pro quo" had absolutely NOTHING to do with it. Just a new Prez feeling out another new Prez.

That's your story now?

I can't wait to see what the next one is.

 

[Joe Okc]

We elect a new President and so do they.

Where do you get that. Trump had been in office three years... and in office when the budget for Petro Poroshenko (Not Zelensky) was passed... Zelensky only came into the picture in when he took office in Late May 2019.

 

[not2rich]

Where do you get that. Trump had been in office three years... and in office when the budget for Petro Poroshenko (Not Zelensky) was passed... Zelensky only came into the picture in when he took office in Late May 2019.

I'm just trying to figure out how Ukraine getting a new President has any bearing on our President trying to extort them to release previously approved aid. Please explain.

 

[Joe Okc]

I'm just trying to figure out how Ukraine getting a new President has any bearing on our President trying to extort them to release previously approved aid. Please explain.

Think of it this way... If the USA promised Germany and President Hindenburg Aid in 1933, After Hindenburg died, do you think that it would have still been ok for Roosevelt to have given the aid to the new leader Hitler because the the USA promised it?

Or do you think maybe it would have been wise for Roosevelt to at least meet Hitler first before releasing the money?

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Think of it this way... If the USA promised Germany and President Hindenburg Aid in 1933, After Hindenburg died, do you think that it would have still been ok for Roosevelt to have given the aid to the new leader Hitler because the the USA promised it?

Or do you think maybe it would have been wise for Roosevelt to at least meet Hitler first before releasing the money?

Did you just go from 0 to Hitler in 4 seconds flat?

 

[not2rich]

Think of it this way... If the USA promised Germany and President Hindenburg Aid in 1933, After Hindenburg died, do you think that it would have still been ok for Roosevelt to have given the aid to the new leader Hitler because the the USA promised it?

Or do you think maybe it would have been wise for Roosevelt to at least meet Hitler first before releasing the money?

In your hypothetical, does Roosevelt condition aid to Germany based on Germany's new leader, Hitler, helping Roosevelt politically?

 

[Taurus]

Hey, I’m nothing if not a tad idealistic myself. I get it, I spent my teens and twenties sure that by the time I was this age we would have really solved some of these societal problems.

What I think is not helpful at all is the myth we tell ourselves that “things would just automatically be so much better if all these other people would just hurry up and die off”. That’s a particularly ugly sentiment. It gives one an excuse, ready made, why things aren’t perfect right now. And it sets one up for a crushing let down when things don’t automatically get better. And they won’t automatically get better because people are just people, same traits, same faults, same virtues in roughly the same ratios. Same as it ever was.

And that’s without considering the sort of malignant “othering” of placing blame on people for broad societal trends just by virtue of their age.

Except that as a cohort, Boomers have been uniquely selfish. There may be a number of reasons for this. I personally blame lead poisoning.

 

[Joe Okc]

In your hypothetical, does Roosevelt condition aid to Germany based on Germany's new leader, Hitler, helping Roosevelt politically?

Nope, Cause Roosevelt is already President. Same with Trump. But the funny part about it all is that Hunter Biden was in Ukraine.. Working... So Trump to ask the President to look into why a prosuter was fired is totally acceptable... Had Hunter Biden's Son been working in Turkey or Afganistan.. Then it would have been different... But since he was employed in Ukraine, it is totally acceptable for them to look into any possible corruption by the former administrations both Obamas and Petro Poroshenko's.