[Three fact-filled pieces, getting beyond the partisan demagoguery — including, alas, particularly awful demagoguery endemic among Capitol Hill Republicans. For the full stories, follow the links embedded in the headlines.]
John Bolton has patriotic duty to testify (Nov. 14). Former national security adviser John Bolton should save the whole country weeks of turmoil by agreeing to testify at the House impeachment hearings.
For weeks, the testimony of other witnesses, plus leaks of messages originally promulgated by his own lawyers, have made clear that Bolton had first-hand conversations with President Trump concerning Ukrainian matters. A first-hand account such as Bolton’s would be much harder to explain away than the second-hand accounts of others. If Bolton testifies, it would allow House investigators to “cut to the chase,” so to speak, providing needed information to the public much sooner….
State Dep’t official explains why Biden was right, but Trump wrong (Nov. 13). Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent on Wednesday directly contradicted one of the key talking points President Trump’s defenders have made on social media for two months. Despite those attempted defenses, Kent said, Trump’s pressure on Ukraine was absolutely not of the same sort that former Vice President Joe Biden used to force the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor seen as corrupt.
Trump, of course, is accused, with plenty of corroboration, of refusing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or to release legally mandated U.S. military assistance to Ukraine unless the government announced investigations into Biden. Biden, meanwhile, not only admitted but boasted about conditioning certain loan guarantees to Ukraine on the latter’s firing of prosecutor Viktor Shokin.
In no uncertain terms, Kent said the two situations were not analogous. … [Kent is absolutely correct.]
Evidence and logic entirely contradict Trump (Nov. 14). When it comes to the facts on which impeachment hinges, what are we even arguing about, anyway? The most material facts are plain as day, as is the logic that should accompany them.
Those facts and logic condemn President Trump [and it isn’t even close. So, let’s review the nine most salient facts]…..
