Asking Ukraine for investigatory help is their basis for impeachment. That is the narrative being brought forward by Team Pelosi. Team Pelosi has team captains Cummings, Nadler, and Schiff hard at work.
They are asking Ukrainians for help to investigate someone who is their political rival which they claim is unacceptable unless you’re a Democrat. Then it’s OK.
Rah, rah, rhee, kick ’em in the knee
Rep. Adam Schiff is the head of the House Intelligence Committee. He’s a team captain. One might assume his coach knows what he is doing. A guy who was fooled by prank callers claiming to be Ukrainian bigwigs. Their claim was possession of some dirt on POTUS.
According to Fox News, the January 2018 call featured Russian shock-jocks. They were posing as the former speaker of Ukrainian parliament Andriy Parubiy. Think Howard Stern in Russian. Schiff is now attempting to move the impeachment inquiry over a Ukraine call.
He is asking Congress to take this up in an expedited manner.
Schiff himself is perfectly willing to get information on his political opponents from foreign sources. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Are you offering to resign Mr. Schiff? Hypocrisy Alert! Warning! Hypocrisy Alert!
Fox News reported, “The Russian radio hosts, Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Kuznetzov and Alexey ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov, who have close ties to the Kremlin, told Schiff that the Kremlin had naked photos of Trump and that ‘Parubiy’ could provide audio of [Russian journalist Ksenia] Sobchak and [Russian model and singer Olga] Buzova discussing the photos… They also told Schiff that former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn had met with another Russian to talk about how to prevent the photos from going public.”
If you knew it was a prank is this how you react?
Schiff claims he knew it was a prank. That explanation seems incongruent with his actions. Hypocrisy Alert! Warning! Hypocrisy Alert!
“So, you have recordings of both [Russian journalist Ksenia] Sobchak and [Russian model and singer Olga] Buzova where they’re discussing the compromising material on Mr. Trump?” Schiff said to “Parubiy.”
“Absolutely,” replied Kuznetzov, who was posing as Parubiy.
“Well, obviously we would welcome a chance to get copies of those recordings,” Schiff said.
Instead, we have a copy of this phone recording, care of Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. As it turns out, Schiff was then the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He was more than willing to talk about the details of the alleged recording. Now Schiff seems to think that the mere act of asking for dirt on your political opponents from a foreign power is evidence of malfeasance. Come on, how hypocritical is that? Schiff should resign.
Why lie about the call and your response?
Here’s what Schiff said, “What we have seen in that call record is a president of the United States use the full weight of his office … to manufacture dirt on his opponent and interfere in our election.” Well no, actually that is an inaccurate statement, sir.
There are things we can argue with here. There are 34 words in the Schiff statement. POTUS did not “use the full weight of his office” and no one was asked, “to manufacture dirt.” There’s no evidence of a quid pro quo in the call. It simply does not exist.
It’s not what you know it is what you can prove
There is no evidence the Ukrainians were aware that the military aid was being withheld. Further, asking the Ukrainians to investigate sketchy dealings in Ukraine by the Bidens is not manufacturing dirt. Manufacturing implies someone is making stuff up. Now someone in this impeachment tale is making stuff up. But so far it does not appear to be POTUS. Any other guesses who may be making stuff up… oh, that’s a parody… right and the congressional record if the equivalent of the Onion… right. Hypocrisy Alert, Warning, Hypocrisy Alert,
The gist of Schiff’s statement was: Accepting dirt from Ukraine is very, very bad. Captain Schiff insists, unless it is him doing it. Schiff says he knew that it was a prank call. Schiff says he informed law enforcement. “Before agreeing to take the call, and immediately following it, the committee informed appropriate law enforcement and security personnel of the conversation, and of our belief that it was probably bogus,” he said in a statement. Did you catch that? He just contradicted himself. He did not make a report to law enforcement. Instead, what he said is the committee informed the appropriate law enforcement and security.
But wait, there’s more
But wait, then why would he say that he was interested in the information? Let’s say that Schiff was under the impression he was being put on by the Russian Jerky Boys. He could have, a) Hung up the phone, b) Said he wasn’t interested in the information, or c) expressed interest in the info and discussed details of it with the pranksters(which he did). It seems, well, unusual for someone who knows he’s being put on. Would you have handled the situation as Schiff did?
Conclusion
Are you one of those people who believe the quid is enough? Do you believe we don’t need a pro quo in order to nail Trump? If that’s your position then because getting information from a foreign government on a political opponent is illegal; you probably should take a close look at Adam Schiff. Are your favorite media outlets doing that? At least we will always have this prank call to remind us of the hypocrisy. Hypocrisy Alert! Warning! Hypocrisy Alert!