This is in response to the column by Byron York on Dec. 5, “The Bad-Faith Impeachment from the Left.”
Like most Republican defenses of Donald Trump’s impeachable offenses since he gained the office of president, Byron paints an ugly picture of mean Democrats out to get their “perfect” president. Byron doesn’t offer much (or any) factual evidence to counter the facts that have been accumulating since the 2016 campaign.
The Mueller report was not a failed attempt to indict the president. It was in fact very successful in detailing a solid case for multiple instances of obstruction of justice. It is strangely difficult to get the point across to Trump supporters that Mueller did not offer his opinion on obstruction because he didn’t believe he had that authority. Mueller presented his clear findings and asked that Congress use his findings. Mueller believed that only Congress had the authority to made conclusions and to act. The Mueller report can and should be used as an article of impeachment.
So much has transpired since the Mueller report. The president has indicted himself with his own words in coercing Ukraine to investigate a political rival. Trump’s obstruction of Congress in refusing to allow witnesses to testify before Congress about that Ukraine coercion couldn’t be clearer. Congress has the sole power of impeachment and the president does not have the authority to override or obstruct it.
The urgency? Yes, there are political ramifications in a slow approach – but that’s not the point. If the president is cheating in his fight to win the 2020 election, then obviously, he can’t be allowed to further cheat with delay tactics.
Ukraine is a Western-aligned country fighting desperately to retain its identity and sovereignty from Russia. People are dying daily in a hot war in eastern Ukraine. When the president of Ukraine meets with the one best resource for his country to secure its survival, the U.S., it’s not hard to understand how a strong implicit request for assistance in helping Donald Trump with his election issues in exchange for Ukrainian military assistance would be taken seriously by the Ukrainian president.
Think. Whether Ukraine had or did not have information to help Trump with his personal ask, it would be strongly in the interests of Ukraine to satisfy our president. There has never been any reason to suspect Joe or Hunter Biden of wrongs; nonetheless, Trump wants Ukraine to find something. Suppose something is found? It wouldn’t prove that the Bidens were corrupt, but it would please Donald Trump and help his election prospects. The president’s own admissions and the July 25 transcript are enough to establish the facts, but the parade of witnesses corroborating the document certainly seal the case.
So, yes, Democrats have been after Donald Trump from the day he took office – because Donald Trump has been violating his oath of office ever since.
Duane Mooring
Castaic
