Mark Levin, the conservative radio and television pundit, recently urged the President to fight tooth and nail against House Democrats, because he believes the impeachment inquiries are an attempted coup. Nobody knows where the evidence may lead, but there are plenty of facts to support Levin’s (and many others) position.
“What they’re attacking is the transition of power [from] the Obama administration to a Trump administration. The President sets foreign policy [and] it doesn’t make a damn’s worth of difference if you don’t agree with it, [especially] what a former Obama ambassador [to] Ukraine thinks.” Levin is right in one regard. The framers of the constitution gave plenary power to the President (Trump) as the singular diplomatic voice of the USA – with the plenary power to appoint proxies (Giuliani) at his discretion.
The Democrats’ Quid Pro Quo argument hangs by two threads, which must hold to prove the President’s requested “favor” was a high misdemeanor. The first thread is the President’s quid intent; whether he would actually deny aid that had been approved by Congress. The second is the President’s quo intent: whether he wanted information on any corruption – or just damaging evidence on Joe Biden.
It is a fact that $250 million in military aid was released to the Ukraine in early September, which is evidence Trump did honor the will of Congress and protect America’s interests. Absent a Trump confession, there is no way to prove he intended to put his self interests above Ukrainian security. And – the overarching argument against this quid claim is what the President did before Zelensky became Ukrainian president.
In December 2017, President Trump approved “lethal weapon” sales the Obama administration had denied; including Javelin anti-tank missiles (which Russia fears). This is important because Congress had approved this aid in 2014 – only to have Obama withhold it – and it provides insight into Trump’s mind: how he truly felt about Ukraine and Congress. Moreover, Republican Steve Castor asked diplomats Kurt Volker, William Taylor, and Marie Yovanovitch to speak to this.
Castor asked Volker to describe the Obama years and if “lethal arms that have been provided to date been helpful… visibly and materially helpful? Volker said, “The Obama administration did not want to send lethal defensive arms to the Ukraine [and] I fundamentally disagreed. [The sale of lethal weapons] has been very helpful” and he can “absolutely” see a material improvement.
Castor asked Taylor if “the Trump administration had a package of aid to the Ukraine…including lethal weapons…and financial assistance…that was an improvement over years prior?” Taylor answered, “yes…yes…yes…yes.” Yovanovitch admitted the same: “In terms of lethal assistance, we all felt it was very significant that this administration made the decision to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine.”
And there you have it: (1) Congress approved and Obama denied Ukraine’s request for lethal military aid, (2) Trump approved lethal military aid to Ukraine his first year in office, (3) nobody knows Trump’s mind as it pertains to slow-walking aid in 2019, (4) Ukraine did not know aid was being withheld, (5) Ukraine never agreed to investigate any matter on Trump’s behalf, and (6) the Ukrainians got their military aid. Where’s the high misdemeanor here?