The smoking gun, Trump blocks e mails on Ukraine pro quid pro. I.e. he is guilty as charged. GOP get it, stop defending destroying the Constitution
Both articles nailed it. Trump is guilty as charged. Hiding E mails. Pertinent to Ukrainian extortion.
What more do we want ? Bodies of murdered witnesses ? Seriously, if we do not stop normalizing Trump this is where we will go eventually. Execution of witnesses. And the way to stop it is to DEMAND full disclosure.
Quote
Answer to ‘biggest question of the impeachment inquiry’ is being blocked by Trump: op-ed
Published 9 mins ago on February 3, 2020
By Sky Palma
The Trump administration is blocking documents that contain emails regarding President Trump’s infamous phone call with Ukraine’s president where the decision was made to withhold military aid to the country. If Trump is as innocent as he he claims, why block the emails? That’s a question EJ Montini asked in a op-ed for AZ Central published this Monday.
“I mean, given everything Trump has said about how innocent he was, and how Republican senators, including our own appointed Martha McSally, have gone out on a limb to support him, don’t those emails sound like the sort of documentation that could prove Trump completely innocent of any wrongdoing?” Montini writes.
The White House has been fighting the release of the emails for a while now, and they have just the kind of information “that a conscientious U.S. senator would want to know prior to casting any vote on the president’s guilt or innocence.”
“And those emails involving the Ukrainian military aid, which the White House could have released months ago, and which they are still blocking, will not become public until – who knows when? – sometime after the senators vote,” Montini continues.
Read the full piece over at AZ Central.
End of quote
See this
Quote
OPINION
Donald Trump is blocking Ukraine emails. Gee, I wonder why?
EJ Montini, Arizona RepublicPublished 6:11 a.m. MT Feb. 3, 2020
Opinion: I mean, it seems like just the kind of documentation that could clear the president of wrongdoing. Unless ...
How odd.
I mean, why would President Donald Trump block the release of emails that discuss his decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine and whether he was doing so to pressure that country into giving him dirt on Joe Biden?
We’ve just learned that is what he’d been doing.
I mean, given everything Trump has said about how innocent he was, and how Republican senators, including our own appointed Martha McSally, have gone out on a limb to support him, don’t those emails sound like the sort of documentation that could prove Trump completely innocent of any wrongdoing?
So, why go to court to block their release?
Unless …
Senators could use this information
It seems that Justice Department and Office of Management and Budget attorneys admitted late Friday that the emails exist and that they’re refusing to make them public.
They're claiming executive privilege.
The nonprofit Center for Public Integrity had filed a lawsuit seeking memos, emails and other records that had to do with military aid to Ukraine.
Looking for the other side of the story? Subscribe today for access to even more opinions.
Heather Walsh, deputy general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget, now says, "Specifically, the documents ... are emails that reflect communications by either the President, the Vice President, or the President’s immediate advisors regarding Presidential decision-making about the scope, duration, and purpose of the hold on military assistance to Ukraine.”
In other words, just the type of material that would clear up the biggest question of the impeachment inquiry:
Was the president acting in the national interest or for purely personal, political gain?
Then there's John Bolton
Strangely – or maybe not – the White House has been fighting the release of the documents for a while now. Keeping them from everyone, including Congress.
It’s just the kind of available information that a conscientious U.S. senator would want to know prior to casting any vote on the president’s guilt or innocence.
Sort of the way such a senator would want to hear directly from witnesses with firsthand knowledge about what was going in the Oval Office when it came to the question of aid to Ukraine.
As everyone in the country now knows, Bolton has written a book about his time in the White House. And, according to The New York Times, Bolton says that Trump told him it was his plan to withhold Ukrainian aid until he got some dirt on Biden.
But the Republicans who control the U.S. Senate decided not to call any witnesses.
This means the full extent of Bolton’s information will become public only after their verdict.
And those emails involving the Ukrainian military aid, which the White House could have released months ago, and which they are still blocking, will not become public until – who knows when? – sometime after the senators vote.
Without witnesses, it has been a sham trial.
Without honest jurors, it’s a sham verdict.
The question of whether our democracy is a sham will be answered later this year, when a number of those senators, including McSally, will have to face voters back home.
Which makes the final verdict … yours.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
End of quote
ONCE AGAIN
What more do we want ? Bodies of murdered witnesses ? Seriously, if we do not stop normalizing Trump this is where we will go eventually. Execution of witnesses. And the way to stop it is to DEMAND full disclosure.
Andrew Beckwith, PhD
Award-winning journalist, editor and novelist
4yKeep you head high. We can do this.