Posted: 27 November 2019 at 3:00am | IP Logged | 10
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Mark McKay wrote:
So, I’ve been trying to keep up with all of this, but may have missed something. Is there yet any truly tangible evidence linking Trump to a quid pro quo or bribery? Beyond the transcript the White House released, which is open to interpretation? So far it’s seemed like testimony from individuals, which doesn’t seem like actual evidence, just “he-said-he-said” statements. Anything tangible yet proving Trump himself asked for these things?
I’ve been reading through Sondland’s emails and the closest it gets is Trump telling them to deal with Giuliani. But that doesn’t seem hard enough for an impeachment conviction for the President himself. |
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First off, the "transcript" is not a literal transcript. Never has been. We've already heard testimony from those who heard the conversation first hand that there were key portions not included in the glossed-over account given to the House as "proof" that it was a "perfect" conversation.
Second, do we honestly need a recording (video or audio) of the president literally saying "I want a quid pro quo" to get that that's exactly what he wanted? Reporting has come out that the White House retroactively tried to make a case for withholding money from Ukraine in anticipation of this becoming an issue. Who works that hard behind the scenes to manipulate communications and decisions just to justify the whims of a madman if it's not true? Seriously.
Third, if you honestly think that the testimony given the last two weeks is simply "he said, she said" then you haven't been following along. These are career diplomats, most unimpeachably non-partisan, who raised serious concerns with how the White House was conducting itself with regard to Ukraine, specifically, and foreign policy, generally. To boil that down to simply "he said, she said" is, I'm sorry, bullshit. That's not "keeping all your options open" or "being fair" or "trying to understand both sides". It's either a willful decision to always treat both sides equally despite all evidence to the contrary or ignorance to accept the fact that Republicans are playing (have been playing) a very horrible, disingenuously dirty game for quite some time and, in the end, are happy for you to be "confused" as to what is really going on. That is the best that they can hope for. If they get that, it's a win.
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