WATERGATE PROS DUMP ON TRUMP

“Oh, Pu-Pu, I’m so sorry.  I must have butt-dialed you instead of Volodymyr.  My bad, let me call you back so we can chat about our Make Syria Great campaign.”

Veteran special prosecutors, who investigated Watergate have now gone on record stating that many of the same articles of impeachment against Nixon fit Trump as well.  The 17 prosecutors joined with the Washington Post to publish a co-op-ed over the weekend.

The heart of the Post/Watergate 17 piece’s argument for impeachment appeared also in Vox.com assessment of the opinion piece.  Here’s Vox’s take:

The White House’s partial transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In the transcript, Trump asks for a “favor” right after his counterpart requests military aid. That has led many to believe the president wanted a quid pro quo: Look into the Bidens before the US delivers the long-promised support.  Click Vox.com’s transcript here.

 New evidence showing that US government employees were in on the aid-for-probe scheme. Text messages that just-resigned special envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker gave to the House last week showed that he, US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, and US ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor all coordinated to pass the message on to Ukraine’s leadership.

Trump’s own public statements. They specifically mention those calling for China and Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a top 2020 political rival for the president. It’s these comments that mainly led House Democrats to open an impeachment query against the president.

What former special counsel Robert Mueller found in his Trump-Russia probe. Mueller outlined 10 episodes that may have amounted to obstruction of justice. The former special counsel didn’t say Trump broke the law, but he didn’t clear him, either.  

 Trump’s refusal to cooperate with the House-led impeachment inquiry. On Tuesday, the White House sent a scathing letter to Democrats saying they considered the investigation to be a political hit job and wouldn’t work with the probe in any way.