There’s a cold wind blowing here, but not as cold as the one in Washington, D.C. Congress has voted to proceed with the impeachment hearings over the President’s dealings with the Ukraine and consequential national security concerns. Just to remind us, the Ukraine has been fighting against attacks in eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed forces after Russia took over Crimea. As a result, NATO allies, including Canada and the U.S., agreed to supply the Ukraine with military aid and training. Apparently, President Trump delayed the transfer of American aid to the Ukraine on the condition that the Ukrainian administration investigated business dealings by Joe Biden and his son. Such activities would have occurred during Biden’s stint as vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. This request was made despite the fact that the current Ukrainian administration had earlier investigated matters related to state corruption and found no evidence of any direct link to the Biden’s.
Although the President has denied that there was no “quid pro quo” arrangement with the Ukraine concerning the matter, closed-door testimony by white house officials before the congressional committee appears to contradict the President. Hopefully, the upcoming public hearings will help clear the air as to what actually took place. The American public needs to know the truth one way or another.
Yet, here’s the clincher. With Trump, his intervention in Ukraine appears to have been an abuse of his powers, but, conceivably, not a crime. The debate about the criminality of the President’s behaviour with regard to Ukraine, on some level, will always remain a theoretical matter. Trump’s lawyers will argue that such dealings between heads of states are just a normal part of foreign policy initiatives. Nevertheless, Trump proceeded to use his position as President to have a foreign government look into what is obviously a matter of politics in light of the upcoming presidential election. Does such a move represent an abuse of presidential power and a real threat to American national security? That will be up to Congress to shortly decide and American voters to eventually judge at the polls.
Whatever comes out of the impeachment hearings, there is little doubt that Trump and his administration and the Republican Party are on the defensive. Congress has a right to defend the constitution and no president is above the law. The rest of the world is closely watching and is deeply concerned about the subsequent consequences and greater instabilities. Things most likely will get nastier and partisan divisions will grow even wider in American governance. God help the United States of America!
FROLITICKS 