Posted on 11/14/2019 7:56:17 PM PST by Kevin in California
There are plenty of post mortems on day one of the impeachment hearings against President Trump.
There’s a summary in The Huffington Post, this left-sided take is from Rolling Stone, and here’s a view from the right-side in The Washington Examiner.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, I’ll highlight a few interesting sections from each of the two witnesses.
George Kent, Deputy Asst. Secretary of State testified that the Obama administration pressed Ukraine to investigate the Ukrainian energy company Burisma long before President Trump sought an investigation.
Kent agrees today that Burisma should be “fully investigated,” as President Trump has asked.
Kent explained the history of Burisma corruption. He alleged that Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky, formerly part of the pro-Russian Ukrainian government (2010-2012), was guilty of self dealing and corruption. Zlochevsky then went on to found Burisma, the largest private gas company in that nation.
Kent stated that in December 2014, a bribe was paid within Ukraine to make an investigation into Zlochevsky’s crimes “go away.” Kent says the bribed official fled Ukraine as the U.S. pressed Ukrainian officials to answer why prosecutors closed the case.
Kent stated that about the time the bribe was paid to shut down the investigation of Burisma in 2014, the corrupt Zlochevsky invited a series of new, prominent individuals to serve on his board. They included the former president of Poland and the son of Vice President Biden, Hunter. Hunter Biden was reportedly paid upward of $50,000 a month to serve on Burisma’s board for the corrupt Zlochevsky.
Kent testified that he was so concerned about Burisma corruption, that in May of 2014, when he learned Burisma was trying to co-sponsor an essay contest with the U.S. Agency of International Development, Kent asked the U.S. to bow out, saying we should not co-sponsor anything with a company that has such a bad reputation.
Kent said that in 2015, he expressed concern about “Hunter Biden’s status as a [Burisma] board member” amid the corruption questions because it “could create the perception of a conflict of interest.” He said he did not raise the issue with the State Department, which did not seem concerned, but did raise it with the Vice President’s office. Kent stated he has “no idea” what the Vice President’s office did about his concerns.
In Spring of 2016, Vice President Joe Biden threatened to withhold U.S. military aid from Ukraine unless the Ukrainian president agreed to fire its chief prosecutor within six hours. The prosecutor was investigating corruption including Burisma, where Biden’s son still served on the board. Ukraine’s president agreed and fired the prosecutor. (Biden has said he got the prosecutor fired because he was corrupt.)
Kent defended Biden’s action and stated it was accordance with U.S. policy.
When asked, Kent agreed that it was unprecedented for a U.S. official to give a foreign president a six hour deadline to fire a prosecutor as a condition for receiving U.S. aid.
Kent says up until today, the U.S. has not gotten a satisfactory answer to why the Burisma case was closed.
Kent testified that Burisma corruption still needs to be investigated because U.S. tax money was involved, and he says he would like to find out the name of the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor who took the bribe. Kent says he expressed this desire in 2015.
Kent says the new president of Ukraine and new prosecutor have agreed to review the old crimes never brought to justice, but that often people are “never held to account” in notoriously corrupt Ukraine so there is “lots to review.”
Kent stated that Vice President Biden made six visits to Ukraine, though Biden stated he’d been there 13 times.
When asked if someone, such as Biden should be immune from investigation because he is currently running for political office, Kent stated “no.”
When asked, Kent agreed it’s appropriate to look at foreign assistance in terms of levels of corruption within the receiving country.
William Taylor, Acting Ambassador to Ukraine said he found a “weird combination of confusing and ultimately alarming circumstances” involving the newly-elected government in Ukraine. He said there appeared to be two U.S. diplomatic channels for communicating with and about Ukraine: “regular” (which he had control over) and “irregular.”
It’s sure good to know, that often people are “never held to account” in countries like Ukraine because the corruption is so notoriously rampant. Thankfully, that never happens here.
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I was watching this part of Kent’s testimony live, and was struck that one of Schiff’s “star witnesses” was so clearly laying out the case that Trump was 100% correct in demanding Zelensky investigate Burisma and Biden.
I think it was Schiff, looking even more bug-eyed than normal, who was the next questioner. He asked Kent to confirm when Zelensky left office. 2012 was the answer. “So it was some 7 years prior to the event which prompted this impeachment hearing?” was his next remark in an attempt to be dismissive.
Hoping Republicans can keep using these hearings as a forum to lay out Biden & son’s corruption.
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“If this ever goes to a senate trial, RINOs seem to be against calling any witnesses that have anything to so with the Bidens (Graham? Who knows). But in that case Trump’s attorneys could call the Bidens and maybe Brennan and Clapper.”
I think the plan may be to turn the impeachment inquiry in the Senate into a revelation of the silent coup (currently ongoing) against Trump. Think about it, power to subpoena ANY witnesses, and its all on live TV! It would be brilliant.
She wouldn’t have been allowed to write it at See?BS!
Thanks to the Democrat party, the FBI, the CIA, the DEA, the Department of State, and the mainstream media, the US runs a close second.
Nope!
AG Bill Barr: "..Immediately after President Trump won election, opponents inaugurated what they call 'The Resistance' and they rallied around an explicit strategy of using every tool and maneuver to sabotage the functioning of the executive branch.."
👇👇pic.twitter.com/IeKd4ZYX37— Winston Covfefe Rocks (@WinstonCovfefeR) November 16, 2019
.......and now she’s doubling down on impeachment... openly pushing it, knee-deep in the "get Trump" farce.....
====================================
REALITY CHECK-----The Mach One impeachment roll-out, every Dem and his cousin in place to impeach.... the intricate scheduling, the minute details, the impeachment script....that took months of meticulous planning.
Yet no-no Nanzi allover TV kept “saying” there’ll be no impeachment…......lying to Americans....even as she was planning every frickin’ detail to get Trump.
Nanzi and the Dem mob are running the House like a classic “Clip Joint”....taxpayers are being tricked into paying good money and receive in return nothing but poor Congressional services that are fatally hlawed.
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