Impeachment: Pelosi releases compelling evidence against Trump
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/10/impeachment-pelosi-releases-compelling.html
US Speaker Nancy Pelosi has released a “fact sheet” laying out the
most compelling evidence against President Trump in their investigation
of the president’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to
investigate the Bidens.
“President Trump has betrayed his oath of office, betrayed our
national security and betrayed the integrity of our elections for his
own personal political gain,” the document states in laying out how
Democrats are likely to try to make their case in the impeachment
inquiry.
The four-page document divides the narrative into three categories: the “shakedown,” “the pressure campaign” and “the cover up.”
The document first cites the rough transcript released by the White
House last month of the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky. In that call, Trump told Zelensky that he
would have his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Attorney General
William Barr reach out to “get to the bottom” of “a lot of talk” about
the business dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter
Biden.
The fact sheet then cites text messages that former Ukraine envoy
Kurt Volker provided to the House committees leading the impeachment
inquiry that show discussion between diplomats about the Trump
administration’s efforts to push for the investigation as evidence of a
“pressure campaign.”
In one of those exchanges, William Taylor, the chargé d’affaires for
Ukraine, said “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for
help with a political campaign.”
Taylor is slated to appear for testimony before the House committees on Tuesday.
The document from Pelosi then concludes that the intelligence
community whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry
details evidence of a “cover up” by White House officials to “lock down”
records of the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky by transferring
the transcript to a separate electronic system used to handle
particularly sensitive classified information.
Pelosi initially balked for months at an impeachment inquiry in the
House, but formally announced the investigation following the
whistleblower complaint about Trump’s dealings with Zelensky and the
White House’s release of the partial transcript of the call.
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