Pounding the Table

I’ve never been a baseball fan though when I was a kid I watched a few televised World Series games but I have to tell you I sure wish I’d been at the game played Sunday. All the fun happened before the first pitch when Donald Trump was introduced and the crowd booed then started chanting “Lock him up”.

Included in Trump’s World Series entourage was Congressman Matt Gaetz who last week led a group of 30 or so Republican House members to violate the security of closed door hearings involving the impeachment inquiry. Gaetz and his followers ranted about the unfairness of the closed door hearing claiming that Republicans were left out. As usual Republicans have problems with reality, also known as telling the truth, since 12 of the 30 or so in the group are members of the committees meeting in the secure area and were in fact eligible to attend those hearings along with the other 35 Republicans also on those committees.

Last week’s column was about the facts showing Trump’s demands that Ukraine President Zelensky publicly announce an investigation into Joe Biden and his son’s membership on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company named Burisma before the U.S. would release funds, previously approved by Congress, for weapons to defend themselves against Russia’s current aggression.

Since then there has been additional testimony some confirming the nature of the “quid pro quo” and some attempting to obfuscate it. For the moment let’s pretend that there was never a connection between Trump’s demands that Zelensky initiate an investigation and the military assistance funds. Trump’s demand in itself is a violation of both campaign finance law and the constitution he and his enablers are sworn to protect and defend. Regarding campaign finance law, it is illegal to solicit or accept a campaign donation from a foreign citizen, foreign company, or foreign nation. Just asking politely for Ukraine to dig up dirt on an electoral opponent is soliciting a donation since opposition research is considered a campaign expense and is therefore a “thing of value” and therefore a campaign donation as defined by campaign finance law.

As to violating the constitution Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 states: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." Emoluments in the case of this clause broadly encompasses any kind of profit, benefit, advantage, or service, not merely gifts of money or valuable objects. Having a foreign nation provide a campaign advantage is obviously in the scope of the prohibitions established in the constitution.

Gaetz and his cronies haven’t given up on claims that impeachment process hasn’t been fair and even now that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced a vote on future procedures for holding open impeachment hearings and releasing all the transcript from the closed door hearings they find other reasons to complain. This is typical legal wrangling rather than any focus on substance, in fact there’s an old legal aphorism that goes, "If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table."

Trump, Gaetz and Republicans in general are going to continue to pound the table as they have neither the facts nor the law on their side.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - November 1, 2019

Quid Pro Quo by Any Other Name

Around 43 years ago I was introduced to the phrase "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" in Shakepeare’s Romeo and Juliet by Isaac Musselwhite, my high school English teacher. Mr. Musselwhite often reminded us that being able to quote Shakespeare was an indicator of refinement and sophistication; he claimed it would impress girls.

I can’t say that I was an especially good student and I’m still unsure that even if I had been it would have improved my chances for a date. What I can say is that Donald Trump apparently never read Romeo and Juliet and I’ll bet he can quote even less Shakespeare than I can. I’m certain of it because while he has professed “no quid pro quo” since he released the readout of his conversation with Ukraine’s President Zelensky each new document and testimony proves that he was demanding a corruption investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden and withholding previously approved and promised military assistance until he got it. Trump’s demands smell just as sweet as “quid pro quo” no matter what he names it.

First there were rumors of a whistleblower report, then rumors of its contents. Next Trump released the readout of the call with Zelensky which he called perfect but anyone actually reading it saw as strong tactics or extortion and yes, quid pro quo. National Security Advisor John Bolton suddenly resigned. Then came further evidence in the form of text messages between Ambassador Gordon Sondland and Special Envoy Kurt Volker confirming the details of a larger, coordinated effort, dare I call it a conspiracy, that also involved Rudy Guiliani and Attorney General William Barr. Next congress heard testimony from former National Security Council member Dr. Fiona Hill who said Bolton warned her that he would not get caught up in what he referred to as a "drug deal" being cooked up on Ukraine by US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Out of the blue news broke that two of Rudy Guiliani’s Russian cronies had been arrested on campaign finance violations involving channeling Russian money to Republican candidates and are also implicated in the effort to pressure Ukraine into providing dirt on Biden. Then there were rumors that our former governor, now Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was involved and within days he suddenly announced his resignation.

On Tuesday the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, testified in closed door hearings. Taylor’s fourteen page opening statement has been released to the public. I’ve read it and if there was ever the slightest doubt that Trump and his cronies were engaged in a conspiracy to extort political dirt on Joe Biden from Ukraine’s president in return for military assistance and a meeting with Trump that doubt has been removed. Taylor provides a very specific timeline and first person testimony regarding many conversations, verbal and written, with various members of the conspiracy. Media reports indicate that committee members and staff at the hearing gasped several times during Taylor’s testimony. I find it hard to imagine what could be more damning that Taylor’s opening statement.

Trump’s demands by any other name still smell like “qui pro quo” and since they involve him accepting a thing of value, dirt on an election rival, from a foreign nation those demands violate both the Emoluments clause of the U.S. constitution and federal campaign finance law. Attorney General William Barr’s efforts to stifle the investigation into the whistleblower complaint constitute a coverup.

It is past time for the House to impeach Trump.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - October 25, 2019