Impeachment rules vote has now passed the House of Representatives and moved to the Senate. What are the dangers and benefits for Democrats and Republicans moving forward? Dr. Bart Rossi is on WINK News to discuss.
It is difficult to not be aware of the arguments that have been brewing on Capitol Hill between the Democrat-led House, the White House, and Republicans.
From what the public has come to know to date, it is fairly unanimous that the President engaged in a Quid Pro Quo with the President of Ukraine. Especially after his acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney admitted as much in a press conference. Some argue that this rises to High Crimes and Misdemeanors for Articles of Impeachment, while others argue that is doesn’t.
But before we even get there, the most recent debate has been about process. The House committees have been conducting investigations, including closed-door deposition testimonies. The Republicans stormed the secure deposition room recently in protest to what they say was the Democrats shutting them out of the process.
In reality, more than 40 of the Republicans that took part in storming the closed-door session, were actually members of the committee undertaking the depositions. Thus, they weren’t shut out of anything. They were engaged and participating in the on-going deposions. SO to say they’ve been shut out is inaccurate.
Moreover, closed-door hearings didn’t seem to be an issue when the Republicans held them during the Clinton impeachment, nor during the Benghazi hearings.
Many claim the Republicans have made an issue of the process because they can’t defend the substance of what the Trump administration has been engaged in. With more information coming out almost daily [from the testimonies] to date, the story is emerging. It seems to suggest that the President and his closest allies were actually engaged in a pressure campaign against Ukraine. They insisted that almost $400 million in military aid and a White House visit was contingent on them publically announcing that they were opening an investigation into Joe Biden, Birizma (the company Hunter Biden was on the Board of), and the 2016 election hacking of the DNC server.
This was all playing out as Ukraine is engaged in holding off Russian-backed incursions into their country.
Some are making the case that this amounts to not only a Quid Pro Quo to the personal benefit of the President but also extortion and bribery. The latter is listed in the Constitution as grounds for impeachment.
To further add complications for the White House, Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal attorney, was engaged in a private effort to pressure Ukraine leaders. The Southern District of New York has now opened an investigation of Guiliani on the heels of indicting two of his associates. The New Yorker wrote a piece on what it could mean. There is a lot of money that exchanged hands, and now claims of campaign finance violations.
Impeachment Rules Vote
The House of Representatives this week introduced and passed a resolution laying out the Rules for the impeachment process. It passed along party lines.
Now, the House intends to bring the process into the public sphere with public hearings this month.
Thus far there have been many officials from White House, military, and career diplomats that have testified. To date, all of the claims in the whistleblower complaint seem to have been verified. Yet, the White House and their allies continue their efforts to “out” the whistleblower, in defiance of the law.
In this episode of WINK NEWS, political psychologist Dr. Bart Rossi, Ph.D. discusses what it all means.
A Winning Campaign 2, Valentines Day Romance, Politicians And Drugs, U S Prepared Cyber Warfare, The Security Plans Of President Trump, Trump State Union Body Language, Trump Clinton Slugfest Campaign Trail, Florida Moves To Curb Opioid Crisis, Article of Dr.BartRossi
