House Democrats move forward with formal impeachment proceedings
Pelosi announces plans to go forward; Mike Emanuel has the details.
We've grown used to radical Leftists, in Congress and the media, having their soup de jour, the accusation of the day. But this latest one has actually prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to announce a formal impeachment inquiry. What is the accusation?
President Donald Trump called the Ukrainian president to congratulate him on his election and discussed several things, including the investigation of alleged illegal conduct on the part of the son of a prominent American politician.
This is just another fail. Within the past few weeks, the Left has floated impeaching Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, criticized Vice President Mike Pence for an extended stay during a visit to his foreign, historical family home, melted down over the President’s invitation of national leaders of the G7 to one of his properties, and most ludicrously, blasted him for allegedly stealing pancakes.
The media wonders why its credibility is in the dumpster. The Left wonders why the President has the approval of most Americans, higher than former President Barack Obama at the same juncture of his term.
More from Opinion
The standard bearer of the latest effort to impeach President Trump is Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., of the House intelligence Committee. You will remember him for his zealous advocacy for reliance on the Mueller Report. Schiff promised that evidence of Russian collusion was real, present, and would be confirmed in the Mueller Report. Oops.
The Mueller investigation did not support Schiff’s promised conclusion. In fact, it found that there was no collusion, cooperation or coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.
So here we are again. The Democrats desire to get the transcript of the conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This seems wholly unwarranted based on the allegations of an unknown person, who probably did not even hear the conversation. This individual apparently heard about the conversation from someone else. Such testimony would never be allowed in court because it is inherently unreliable.
Ukraine's foreign minister says there were no threats on the call. There was nothing untoward or out of the ordinary in the conversation.
And, it reveals something about the way things work in the White House. It seems that the President has no private conversations with leaders of foreign countries. I suspect that the leaders of other nations understand that those conversations are scrutinized by the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
But I also believe that foreign leaders do not anticipate that Americans are so cavalier as to transcribe these conversations and then pass them on to Congress, which seems to have the loosest of lips. In fact, foreign leaders probably do not realize there is a threat that their conversations could be leaked, if given to Schiff, a person that former Congressman Trey Gowdy has described as leakier than a screen-door on a submarine.
What do the Ukrainian leaders have to say about the content of the conversation? Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko says there were no threats. There was nothing untoward or out of the ordinary in the conversation.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
But, in a bid for moral equivalence, let’s consider the Bidens, who were the purported object of at least part of the phone conversation.
Joe Biden once bragged that he had been in Ukraine and demanded that its leaders fire a prosecutor who was investigating allegations of wrongdoing of an international energy company, or else. Oh, by the way, Biden’s son, Hunter, sat on the board of directors of that company. Was it out of line to inquire of an American who was under investigation by the Ukrainians?
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
How about the projection of the Left? They projected a false narrative for years, creating a division in our nation that may not heal for a generation, that the Trump administration is illegitimate because of Russian “collusion” in the 2016 election. But, it turns out, that Ukrainians donated tens of millions of dollars to the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign and the Democrat National Committee. In fact, the Ukraine government voted to investigate that.
Prediction: the Left will persist in its quixotic quest to remove President Donald Trump. And, when the Ukraine telephone gambit fades, look for the next stolen pancake allegation to consume our misguided friends.
Best of Opinion
Get the recap of top opinion commentary and original content throughout the week.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.