In a WaPo op-ed. Paul Waldman spells out how inevitably impeachable Trump made his “perfect” 25 July phone call.
President Trump loves superlatives, so here’s one: His July 25 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have been the single dumbest, most damaging phone call in the history of the presidency, if not in the history of telephonic communication itself.
Without that phone call, Trump would almost certainly not be on the road to impeachment right now. And yet, somewhere in his addled mind he still believes it was, in the word he has used so many times, “perfect.”
Everybody knows I did nothing wrong, Trump said in a new interview. “Bill Clinton did things wrong; Richard Nixon did things wrong,” Trump continued. They did things wrong. I did nothing wrong.
In reality, when the history of the Trump impeachment is written, we’ll look back and say it all could have been different if he just decided not to pick up the phone that day.
That isn’t to say that his actual impeachable offenses, even just with regard to Ukraine, were restricted to that call.
As we now know, he set up an entire shadow foreign policy run through his deranged personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the purpose of which was to pressure the Ukrainian government to open an investigation that could be used to damage Joe Biden.
www.washingtonpost.com/…
Donald, people who are not known to pray are praying you leave 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. no later than noon on January 20, 2021. Cyrus Vance is working on a five year (minimum) holding cell for your transition to FL. https://t.co/KdjaJWVcjN
— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) November 1, 2019
Breaking via Politico: Senior W.H. lawyer John Eisenberg, who placed a record of Trump's call with Ukraine's president in a top-secret system, also instructed at least one official who heard the call, Lt. Col. Vindman, not to tell anyone about it. https://t.co/8y4cRQpzBD
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 1, 2019
The Framers understood a president might sacrifice our national security, fail to defend the Constitution, and place his personal interests above all else. And they prescribed a remedy: impeachment.
We take no joy in this inquiry, but nor do we shrink from our responsibility. https://t.co/dKUTCG3aCB
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) October 31, 2019
Fact: WRONG.
On October 30, 1973 the House officially began consideration of impeachment hearings against President Nixon on a strict party-line vote. Not one Republican voted for it. https://t.co/x9YIjoxWiX
— US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) November 1, 2019
If they're going to run a faith based Ponzi scheme out of the White House, it can't just be for Christians.
They will need to pardon Bernie Madoff and bring him on board too.— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) November 1, 2019
