1. The call
on July 25, in a telephone conversation, the president Trump asked his newly-elected counterpart Ukrainian Volodímir Zelenski investigate allegations of corruption in that country’s former vice president Joe Biden, the favorite to become the democratic candidate for the presidency in the elections of 2024, and their son Hunter. The conversation, , whose registration was filed for the White House under a security protocol more strict that was, it was thanks to the complaint of an anonymous informant: an ex-officer of american intelligence, which found that the president “used the power of his position to seek the interference of a foreign country in the elections of 2024”. The informant did not listen to the conversation: his accusation, of nine pages, is based on information provided by “more than a half-dozen of the officials of the Government.” The complaint, filed by the usual procedure, and released later as a transcription is not literal but about the call, it is that has led the democrats to open up the process of impeachment. The “favor” that Trump asked Zelenski may involve a number of irregularities: in the meantime, the federal law prohibits “soliciting or accepting” any “contribution or donation of money or other thing of value” to a foreign citizen “in connection with an election”. Over the years, Congress has established that the “crimes and misdemeanors” required by the Constitution to eject from office a president in office, through impeachment, including the exceeding or abuse of presidential powers, as well as take advantage of position to obtain improper benefits.
MORE INFORMATION
The Congress vote in favor of the process of ‘impeachment’ to Trump the opposition of the republicans see the full text of the conversation declassified between Trump and the president of Ukraine
2. The Biden
Hunter Biden, son of vice-president Joe Biden, has been criticized for taking advantage of your surname in his professional career. In Ukraine, entered in 2014, in the board of Burisma, one of the largest private companies of gas in the country, charging $ 50,000 per month. He remained five years at the company. At that time, his father, the vice president democrat Joe Biden, who president Barack Obama commissioned a coordination of the foreign policy in Ukraine, lobbied successfully to remove an unpopular prosecutor general. Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, suspect that Biden’s father made it to torpedo an investigation against Burisma. What is certain is that the former vice president himself maneuvered against the tax, as did other international diplomats and experts of various organizations in anti-corruption, but did so precisely by being too tolerant of corruption. Hunter Biden was never accused of anything by the Ukrainian authorities. And the research to Burisma was filed before the former vice president did nothing.
3. Alarms in the Administration
colonel Alexander Vindman became this Tuesday in the first active member of the White House to testify against Trump. He assured that he listened in live to the call and worried about both the content that alerted the National Security Council, to which it belongs. “Didn’t think it was appropriate to ask a foreign Government to investigate a U.S. citizen,” he said. Vindman he said, also, that the transcript of the call omitted relevant elements, such as the statement from Trump that he had recordings of Biden talking about corruption or the mention by Zelenski for the company name gas company Burisma.
4. The ‘quid pro quo’
Even if “apply” or “ok” contributions “of value” to foreign citizens “in connection with an election” already violates the federal law, to prove that Trump offered something in exchange, Zelenski would strengthen the arguments of the impeachment. That’s why the president has insisted that “there was no quid pro quo”. But the testimonials point to the contrary. According to various diplomats and very keen and articulate former Government who have testified, the president used two things to press Zelenski: a visit to the White House that longed to the newly elected president Ukrainian, and a package of military aid worth 391 million, approved by the Congress and vital for Ukraine can defend itself from the territorial ambitions of Russian, that Trump ordered freeze shortly before the telephone conversation. This was stated by, among others, the respected diplomat, William Taylor, chief representative to Ukraine, in an explosive written testimony. There is also documentary evidence: it is an exchange of text messages in which american diplomats were debating the advisability of such alleged pressure campaign.
5. The parallel diplomacy
the testimony also suggests the existence of a sort of parallel diplomacy launched by Trump to Ukraine. Was created, in the words of Taylor, a channel is “highly irregular”, to the detriment of the diplomacy officer, “which included the special envoy Kurt Volker, ambassador [to the European Union, Gordon] Sondland, the minister of Energy Rick Perry and [the staff attorney of Trump, Rudy] Giuliani”. All emphasize the starring role of this last, staff attorney Trump without any position in the Government. The exembajadora in Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch accused Giuliani of orchestrating “a concerted campaign” against her. Fiona Hill, former member of the National Security Council, testified that John Bolton, his chief until the 11th of September, referred to Giuliani as a “hand grenade” that could make it fly around. And Michael McKinley, exasesor of the secretary of State, said he resigned out of frustration that he produced to see how they snatched the policy on Ukraine to the channels official.
