- 13 Nov 2019 12:43
#15048240
Amb. Taylor pointed out, in his earlier testimony, that giving Ukraine an existential threat also undermined the commitment to the Rule of Law we have had for centuries.
It does it in a number of ways.
This post is something of a placeholder. I'll talk more about it later. But I can start now.
Trying to get a foreign country to meddle in our elections undermines both rule of law and the legitimacy of the Republic. Face it, the more corrupt elections are, the less democratic we will be.
We have tried to help a lot of countries establish Rule of Law. We even tried in Russia, but it didn't take. Our lawyers had a lot of trouble getting Russians to think of contracts as binding, and not just a way to make a quick buck.
Ukraine is in a shooting war, witholding aid (and we did withold aid) was an existential threat. That's serious pressure. It also subverts the postwar world Ike and Truman set up after WW2. It also benefits Putin. In short, it's disgusting.
Trump did not have the authority to withhold aid. There is a procedure to do that. But Ukraine passed the tests, so there were no grounds for halting aid, not that the Trump crowd was competent enough to use that process.
Ukrainegate doesn't stand by itself. They had tried the very same 'offer you can't refuse' with the previous president. They also leaned on, and got, an under the table deal so that political donors could get an energy contract for less than other standing bids.
This hostility to the Rule of Law has been ongoing for a few years. The Trump campaign had about a hundred contacts with Russians and their intermediaries. Every one was supposed to be reported, which would have prevented most or all of the subsequent meetings. As you know, that did not happen. They went on to lie dozens of times, denying the meeting happened. They then lied dozens of times more about the nature of those meetings.
They went so far as to repeatedly try to set up backchannel communications that American intelligence couldn't listen to. In case you're wondering, that's against multiple laws.
It does it in a number of ways.
This post is something of a placeholder. I'll talk more about it later. But I can start now.
Trying to get a foreign country to meddle in our elections undermines both rule of law and the legitimacy of the Republic. Face it, the more corrupt elections are, the less democratic we will be.
We have tried to help a lot of countries establish Rule of Law. We even tried in Russia, but it didn't take. Our lawyers had a lot of trouble getting Russians to think of contracts as binding, and not just a way to make a quick buck.
Ukraine is in a shooting war, witholding aid (and we did withold aid) was an existential threat. That's serious pressure. It also subverts the postwar world Ike and Truman set up after WW2. It also benefits Putin. In short, it's disgusting.
Trump did not have the authority to withhold aid. There is a procedure to do that. But Ukraine passed the tests, so there were no grounds for halting aid, not that the Trump crowd was competent enough to use that process.
Ukrainegate doesn't stand by itself. They had tried the very same 'offer you can't refuse' with the previous president. They also leaned on, and got, an under the table deal so that political donors could get an energy contract for less than other standing bids.
This hostility to the Rule of Law has been ongoing for a few years. The Trump campaign had about a hundred contacts with Russians and their intermediaries. Every one was supposed to be reported, which would have prevented most or all of the subsequent meetings. As you know, that did not happen. They went on to lie dozens of times, denying the meeting happened. They then lied dozens of times more about the nature of those meetings.
They went so far as to repeatedly try to set up backchannel communications that American intelligence couldn't listen to. In case you're wondering, that's against multiple laws.
Facts have a well known liberal bias