Reality Check 101

This is a tragic time in the life of our nation.  Direct, irrefutable evidence has been uncovered that proves White House collusion with a foreign government, as well as bribery and extortion.

According to New Yorker Magazine, as the Vice President of the United States (VPOTUS) prepared for an upcoming visit to Ukraine, aides were very concerned about corruption being linked to the White House.  It did not help that the administration’s special envoy for energy policy personally raised the issue with VPOTUS.

Of course, the public is now fully aware of a second undeniable attempt by the White House to threaten withholding funds to Ukraine if they did not follow White House wishes that the Ukrainians install an anti-corruption prosecutor of whom Washington approved.  This was not an unverified news report, but an actual recorded threat.

As horrible as this all is, the abuse of power in Washington seems to have not remained in the White House.  Just this year a letter was exposed which had been sent to Ukraine by three U.S. senators.  In the letter, the three powerful senators lodged a complaint to Ukraine’s prosecutor general about his reported lack of involvement in an on-going U.S. federal probe into entanglements of American citizens with foreign powers.  The letter used politician-speak, “we strongly encourage you to reverse course and halt any efforts to impede cooperation with this important investigation”, to threaten conditional aide.

This is bad stuff.  But the timeline and players are what is important here.  The story in New Yorker Magazine was published in 2015 about then Vice President Biden and new scrutiny about Hunter Biden’s relationship with the corrupt energy company Burisma.  The attempt by the White House to threaten funds for Ukraine happened in 2016.  It was exposed by VP Biden himself during a 2018 video-recorded appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  To quote; “…you’re not getting the billion dollars.”  “I’m leaving here in six hours.  If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money”.  The three U.S. senators were Democrats Menendez, Durbin, and Leahy who authored the May, 2019 letter concerning the Mueller probe.

Never mind more documented situations such as President Obama’s open-microphone moment of promised collusion with Russian leadership or his secret (but eventually exposed) pallets of a cold, hard cash ransom payment to one of America’s enemies, Iran.  According to reports at the time, the ransom technique was in direct opposition to sanctions against the use of American dollars with Iran as well as international sanctions.

It is doubtful that there exists a conscientious Democrat or Republican who does not eagerly decry either internal government corruption or corruption in concert with any foreign nation.  And yet, here we are.  It is beyond ironic that the American people are now having to suffer through intensive corruption controversy based on accusations against the Trump presidency which almost exactly mirror the actual, provable, completely ignored crimes during the Obama administration.

Now, because of one phone conversation between Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and President Trump, we have to put up with this transparently partisan effort to depose a sitting president on the same grounds that were apparently legal and ethical until three years ago. 

Public sentiment is naturally dependent upon network TV, major print outlets, and openly anti-Trump organizations.  Unfortunately, this time around, the full power of an entire political party in concert with a massive media machine is wreaking havoc on factual evidence. 

So, how about some observations taken from 13 pages of notes taken during 30 hours of the personally-viewed House hearing episodes, taken from the witnesses’ own testimonies.  It is very difficult to keep up with all the dozen witness’s names and claims but the names are really not as important as the weight of their admissions in order of appearance.

* Taylor/Kent:  No claims of illegal presidential actions.  Had never interacted with the President.  Had no direct information to support their claims.

* Volker/Morrison:  No claim of bribery or extortion.  The president didn’t follow their talking points or recommendations.  No knowledge of Trump pre-conditions for military aide.  Multiple meetings between President Zelensky U.S. officials and no concerns by Ukraine.

* Sondland:  Direct quote from Pres. Trump – “No quid pro quo.  I don’t want anything.  I want him (Zelensky) to do the right thing.  I want him to do what he was elected to do.”  No knowledge of conditions on aide that would benefit Trump.  No linkage came up in three different meetings between Zelensky with Bolton, Pence, and Senators Murphy and Johnson.

* Hale/Cooper:  Trump’s support of Ukraine “very robust”.  No knowledge of conditioning Ukrainian aide on investigations and no knowledge of any “strings attached”.  Never any shortfall of military aide; it was a budgetary hold.  No personal knowledge of the reason behind the hold.

Hill/Holmes:  Aide was released immediately after Zelensky attained a majority in the new parliament and that parliament was seated.

Two administrations dealing with two different Ukrainian governments.  Two cases, the first with publicly documented coercion by the White House and senators against a foreign government and the second with every witness involved denying any knowledge of White House wrong-doing. 

In many minds, the coup is about to come to fruition.  Shouldn’t Americans rather embrace the evidence?