Main Impeachment Inquiry Questions

By Gary F. Zeolla

The following article is excerpted from my forthcoming book Dems Cannot Beat Trump, So They Impeach Trump: From 2016 to 2020, Dems have Been Trying to Remove President Trump from Office and Failing. Of course, if Dems are successful at removing Trump from office, I will have to change the subtitle. I seriously doubt that will happen. But either way, it will depend on how the questions in this excerpt are answered.

Let me close this chapter on the first public impeachment hearing with what I believe are the main questions to be answered.

First, is the reason Trump wanted Joe and Hunter Biden investigated because he believed they engaged in criminal or at least corrupt behavior while Joe was Vice President (VP)? Or is it because Joe is Trump’s potential political rival in 2020?

If the first possibility is true, then not only was it not inappropriate for Trump to ask Zelensky for aid in investigating them, but Trump was duty bound by his oath of office to do so. Moreover, given our treaty with Ukraine in regard to criminal investigation aid, Zelensky was bound to provide that aid if asked. However, if the second possibility is true, then it would be a corrupt act on the part of the President.

In other words, what matters is the President’s motive or intent in mentioning the Bidens in that phone call and otherwise. But establishing someone’s intent is not easy. It requires being able to read someone’s mind, which no one except God can do. The best we can do is look at surrounding circumstantial evidence.

Dems claim that circumstantial evidence is that Trump did not begin to ask for investigations into the Bidens until after Biden announced his candidacy for President. “If it was really about Biden’s alleged crimes as VP, then Trump should have started investigating him sooner.” However, the counter is that Trump only became aware of the Joe Biden’s alleged criminal or corrupt behavior more recently, due to Rudy Giuliani’s activities in Ukraine investigating 2016 election interference.

Though personally, I think what happened is that as the Mueller investigation was winding down, after putting a drag on his presidency for two years, Trump couldn’t help but get upset that the crimes and corruption of the prior administration were never looked at. He became aware of this situation in Ukraine through Rudy, and that got him outraged and wanting it investigated to show it was the Obama/ Biden administration that was corrupt in its dealing with foreign governments, not him and his administration.

But it must be noted, the issue here is not what is true in regard to the Bidens. It is what Trump believed to be the case when he was talking to Zelensky on the July 25 phone call and in the other claims of him seeking investigations in Ukraine.

That also applies to the second main issue—did Trump think Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election with the aid of Democrats?

If he did, then asking about Crowdstrike and related investigations was perfectly legitimate. And again, what matters is not if in fact Dems conspired with Ukraine in that election but what Trump believed at the time of the phone call and in other requests for investigations. Again, that requires discerning Trump’s motives, which is almost impossible to do.

Third, was the withholding of the military aid solely for the political and personal benefit of the President? Or was it to ensure that corruption in Ukraine would not cause that aid to be wasted? If the former, then it could be said to be an act of bribery or a quid pro quo. But if the latter, then it was legitimate to withhold the aid. In fact, Trump was required to do so based on congressional law in that regard.

In proof of the former, Dems say Trump did not mention “corruption” in his phone call with Zelensky. They also point to the aid being released two days after they started the impeachment investigation. They say that was the only reason it was released.

However, the counter to the first point is that Zelensky knew full well about the widespread corruption in his country. Campaigning against such was in fact why he got elected. And he referred to corruption in the call when he said, “we are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp here in our country.” Thus, Trump did not need to mention it, as Zelensky did, using Trump’s campaign phrase for corruption.

On the second point, Trump’s aids had already been pressuring him to release the aid before it expired on September 30, as seen in the private depositions. If it was not released before then, Congress would need to reallocate it, and that would cause a significant delay. Thus, there is every reason to believe the aid would have been released before that date even without the start of the impeachment inquiry.

But of course, there is no way to know one way or the other on this latter point. What we do know is the aid was released without Ukraine doing anything. And that goes a long way in arguing against bribery or a quid pro quo.

Final Note: All of the issues raised in this excerpt will be further addressed in my forthcoming book. God willing, it will be published early next year (2020), shortly after the impeachment proceedings are completed. That will mean the book will be available several months in advance of the 2020 election. That is important, as how Dems and Republicans handle this impeachment inquiry and the end result of it will factor into the decision of many Americans as to who to vote for in the November election, not just for President but for their House and Senate representatives. Then even after the election, the book will serve as a history and conservative e commentary on this critical era of American history.

Tearing the USA Apart
From Kavanaugh, to Incivility, to Caravans, to Violence, to the 2018 Midterm Elections, and Beyond

The United States of American is being torn about by political differences more than any time since the 1960s and maybe since the Civil War of the 1860s. This division was amplified by political events in the summer to fall of 2018. This time period could prove to be seminal in the history of the United States. This tearing apart came to the forefront and was amplified during the confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. This book overviews the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation proceedings in detail. It then overviews these additional major events that occurred up to the end of November 2018.

The above article was posted on this website November 22, 2019.

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