House Intelligence Committee Releases Report

Discussion in 'Politics' started by JoeNation, Dec 3, 2019.

  1. JoeNation
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    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

    House Intelligence Committee releases report of its findings in the Trump impeachment inquiry
    Source: Business Insider

    The House Intelligence Committee released a draft report on Tuesday of key findings in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

    The report's main conclusions were:

    • "The President Conditioned a White House Meeting and Military Aid to Ukraine on a Public Announcement of Investigations Beneficial to his Reelection Campaign."
    • "The President Obstructed the Impeachment Inquiry by Instructing Witnesses and Agencies to Ignore Subpoenas for Documents and Testimony."
    • Trump "removed anti-corruption champion Ambassador [Marie] Yovanovitch."
    • The president's "hand-picked agents" began the "scheme" to strongarm Ukraine into acceding to his political demands.

    Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/house-intelligence-committee-trump-impeachment-report-2019-12
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  2. JoeNation
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    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

  3. JohnHamilton
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    JohnHamilton Well-Known Member

    This is a load of crap, but I know that this is like Christmas morning for you, Joe, so I’ll let you bask in the moment.
     
  4. CoinBlazer

    CoinBlazer de omnibus dubitandum

    Here are the "Key Findings"
    https://intelligence.house.gov/report/#findings
    Based on witness testimony and evidence collected during the impeachment inquiry, the Intelligence Committee has found that:

    I. Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States—acting personally and through his agents within and outside of the U.S. government—solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The President engaged in this course of conduct for the benefit of his reelection, to harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and to influence our nation’s upcoming presidential election to his advantage. In so doing, the President placed his personal political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process, and endangered U.S. national security.

    II. In furtherance of this scheme, President Trump—directly and acting through his agents within and outside the U.S. government—sought to pressure and induce Ukraine’s newly-elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to publicly announce unfounded investigations that would benefit President Trump’s personal political interests and reelection effort. To advance his personal political objectives, President Trump encouraged the President of Ukraine to work with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

    III. As part of this scheme, President Trump, acting in his official capacity and using his position of public trust, personally and directly requested from the President of Ukraine that the government of Ukraine publicly announce investigations into (1) the President’s political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden, and (2) a baseless theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine—rather than Russia—interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. These investigations were intended to harm a potential political opponent of President Trump and benefit the President’s domestic political standing.

    IV. President Trump ordered the suspension of $391 million in vital military assistance urgently needed by Ukraine, a strategic partner, to resist Russian aggression. Because the aid was appropriated by Congress, on a bipartisan basis, and signed into law by the President, its expenditure was required by law. Acting directly and through his subordinates within the U.S. government, the President withheld from Ukraine this military assistance without any legitimate foreign policy, national security, or anti-corruption justification. The President did so despite the longstanding bipartisan support of Congress, uniform support across federal departments and agencies for the provision to Ukraine of the military assistance, and his obligations under the Impoundment Control Act.

    V. President Trump used the power of the Office of the President and exercised his authority over the Executive Branch, including his control of the instruments of the federal government, to apply increasing pressure on the President of Ukraine and the Ukrainian government to announce the politically-motivated investigations desired by President Trump. Specifically, to advance and promote his scheme, the President withheld official acts of value to Ukraine and conditioned their fulfillment on actions by Ukraine that would benefit his personal political interests:

    A. President Trump—acting through agents within and outside the U.S. government—conditioned a head of state meeting at the White House, which the President of Ukraine desperately sought to demonstrate continued United States support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, on Ukraine publicly announcing the investigations that President Trump believed would aid his reelection campaign.

    B. To increase leverage over the President of Ukraine, President Trump, acting through his agents and subordinates, conditioned release of the vital military assistance he had suspended to Ukraine on the President of Ukraine’s public announcement of the investigations that President Trump sought.

    C. President Trump’s closest subordinates and advisors within the Executive Branch, including Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Energy J. Richard Perry, and other senior White House and Executive Branch officials had knowledge of, in some cases facilitated and furthered the President’s scheme, and withheld information about the scheme from the Congress and the American public.

    VI. In directing and orchestrating this scheme to advance his personal political interests, President Trump did not implement, promote, or advance U.S. anti-corruption policies. In fact, the President sought to pressure and induce the government of Ukraine to announce politically-motivated investigations lacking legitimate predication that the U.S. government otherwise discourages and opposes as a matter of policy in that country and around the world. In so doing, the President undermined U.S. policy supporting anti-corruption reform and the rule of law in Ukraine, and undermined U.S. national security.

    VII. By withholding vital military assistance and diplomatic support from a strategic foreign partner government engaged in an ongoing military conflict illegally instigated by Russia, President Trump compromised national security to advance his personal political interests.

    VIII. Faced with the revelation of his actions, President Trump publicly and repeatedly persisted in urging foreign governments, including Ukraine and China, to investigate his political opponent. This continued solicitation of foreign interference in a U.S. election presents a clear and present danger that the President will continue to use the power of his office for his personal political gain.

    IX. Using the power of the Office of the President, and exercising his authority over the Executive Branch, President Trump ordered and implemented a campaign to conceal his conduct from the public and frustrate and obstruct the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry by:

    A. refusing to produce to the impeachment inquiry’s investigating Committees information and records in the possession of the White House, in defiance of a lawful subpoena;

    B. directing Executive Branch agencies to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of all documents and records from the investigating Committees;

    C. directing current and former Executive Branch officials not to cooperate with the Committees, including in defiance of lawful subpoenas for testimony; and

    D. intimidating, threatening, and tampering with prospective and actual witnesses in the impeachment inquiry in an effort to prevent, delay, or influence the testimony of those witnesses.

    In so doing, and despite the fact that the Constitution vests in the House of Representatives the “sole Power of Impeachment,” the President sought to arrogate to himself the right to determine the propriety, scope, and nature of an impeachment inquiry into his own misconduct, and the right to deny any and all information to the Congress in the conduct of its constitutional responsibilities.
     
    JoeNation likes this.
  5. JoeNation
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    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

    Wow, that's some rebuttal. You should be Trump's next fixer with keen insights of that calibur.
     
  6. JohnHamilton
    Pensive

    JohnHamilton Well-Known Member

    Don’t be surprised when this “impeachment Christmas present” to Joe turns out to be like the pink bunny suit that Aunt Clara gives to Ralphie in the film “A Christmas Story.”

    This whole impeachment mess is pure garbage, and I am not going to waste my time explaining it it to a totally close minded guy like Joe who had Trump convicted the day after Election Day 2016.

    Sometime later I will explain why this whole process poses a great danger to our political system. Historically one of our great political strengths has been an orderly passage of power from one administration to another. The foolish children who now run the Democrat Party, and their equally childish minions, do not understand that.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019
  7. JoeNation
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    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

    So...... You're saying that you won't explain why it is "garbage" because your only audience is me while also not explaining it to anyone else either? I feel so dang special.
     
  8. Recusant
    Spaced

    Recusant Member

    Another of the great historical strengths of the US is that those who abuse the power of their office or engage in other serious malfeasance are held to account. There are no kings and queens who are above any possible oversight. The US Congress has a constitutional responsibility to ensure accountability and stand up to an executive that engages in "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Such an executive is a great danger to the political system of the country.
     
    JoeNation likes this.
  9. CoinBlazer

    CoinBlazer de omnibus dubitandum

    You know, I can make this compromise, I really believe what the Democrats are attempting to charge the President with is really an impeachable offense...if it actually happened. However I don't believe it did happen.
     
  10. JohnHamilton
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    JohnHamilton Well-Known Member

    Joe has nothing but hearsay evidence from partisan Democrat witnesses based upon a story written by Adam Schiff. Like I said ... garbage.
     
  11. Recusant
    Spaced

    Recusant Member

    Ambassador Sondland is a Republican, not a member of the Democratic party. His testimony is anything but hearsay. Many of the other witnesses testified regarding their personal experiences, not hearsay. Few have a known connection to the Democratic party. The claim that they're all partisan Democrats is insupportable and demonstrably false.
     
    JoeNation likes this.
  12. JohnHamilton
    Pensive

    JohnHamilton Well-Known Member

    If we had done to Obama what you have done Trump, over something like the birther issue, you would be screaming bloody murder. This has gone on for three years, before he took office. You never gave him a chance.

    You want him to fail, which means you don’t care if the U.S. fails. It’s all about YOU and your political opinions. Your threaten Trump supporters with endless law suits if they don’t say what you want to hear. That’s the bottom line. The issues have nothing to do with it.

    The word was Sondland was facing perjury charges if he did not alter his testimony. In the end after you got your “smoking gun,” he admitted that what he said was his opinion. That’s his conclusion, not a statement of fact. That would not hold up in a court of law.

    Let this play out. When it’s over you two haters will be getting the pink bunny suit for Christmas. In addition, some of your presidential candidates might have to cool their heals in a Senate impeachment trial when they should be campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire.

    But have your way. You two guys are obviously brighter than everyone else.
     
  13. JoeNation
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    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

    A list of the "partisan Democrat witnesses":

    • Ambassador Bill Taylor: The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. He says it was his "clear understanding" that Trump would not release military aid to Ukraine until its president promised to conduct the investigations Trump wanted.
    • Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent: He says Trump wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to go to the microphones "and say investigations, Biden, and Clinton."
    • Former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch: The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. She says she was pushed out over unsubstantiated allegations that she was critical of Trump and didn't want Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son.
    • Jennifer Williams: An aide to Vice President Mike Pence, on detail from the State Department. She was on the July call between Trump and Zelensky and said she had concerns with the political nature of the call.
    • Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman: A decorated war veteran and the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert. He was on the July call and says Mulvaney coordinated the plan to push Ukraine for the Biden investigations.
    • Kurt Volker, former Special Envoy to Ukraine: He describes what officials saw as Rudy Giuliani's improper role in U.S. diplomacy.
    • Former National Security Council adviser Tim Morrison: He was also on the July call, and says he was told directly about Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to open political investigations.
    • EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland: He revised his initial testimony to say he told a Ukrainian official that the country wouldn't get military aid unless it caved to Trump's demands.
    • Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs Laura Cooper: She says it was her understanding that Trump himself directed the freeze on aid to Ukraine, and that officials raised concerns after the aid was suspended.
    • Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale: He spoke to what many officials described as Yovanovitch's questionable removal.
    • Former Russia aide Fiona Hill: She reported to former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and says Bolton believed Sondland and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney were cooking up a "drug deal" with Ukraine.
    Witnesses that have rejected Congress' requests:
    • Bolton.
    • Mulvaney.
    • Former deputy National Security Adviser Charles Kupperman.
    • Acting Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought.
    Lest we forget the two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget recently resigned in part over concerns about the holdup on Ukraine aid.
     
  14. JoeNation
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    JoeNation The ReichWing Abuser

    The cult of Trump is strong in @JohnHamilton.

    monkey.jpg
     
  15. Recusant
    Spaced

    Recusant Member

    Why was Sondland possibly facing perjury charges? Because the evidence indicated that he'd lied in his testimony. That evidence being the testimony of the other witnesses. Nobody forced him to change his testimony--he knew that he'd lied, and knew that if he didn't amend his testimony by claiming to have suddenly "remembered" he would be caught dead to rights.

    If he were innocent of perjury, he would have nothing to worry about. He can certainly easily afford to employ the very best lawyers, but even the very best cannot win a case if there is strong evidence of demonstrable guilt, and whatever else he may be, Sondland is clever enough to understand that.

    Sondland testified to what Trump had said. His "opinion" pertained to the significance of Trump's words. That can be dispensed with as irrelevant but Trump's words remain, and they are damning on their own regardless of Sondland's opinion.

    The Ukrainians were well aware that the aid and the White House meeting were contingent upon their cooperation with Trump's scheme (source). An appearance by President Zelensky on CNN was in the works, in which he would have announced an investigation into the Bidens. It was only cancelled once the aid was released (source). The aid was only released after Trump was notified that the whistleblower had filed a complaint (source).

    The evidence of the witnesses, including Sondland's testimony, is supported by facts on the ground. Trump clearly abused the power of his office in an attempt to procure a personal political benefit for himself.

    The cover story that Trump was merely concerned about corruption in Ukraine is laughable. He regularly praises the leaders of blatantly corrupt regimes, and happily does business with them without ever raising even the possibility that there should be some investigation of the corruption in their countries.
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2019

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