The Presidential Events: December 2019

Let's make this quick, because this is an appetizer, a snack before the real meal of The Presidential Events of 2019.


December was a surprisingly uneventful month, or better to say, one particular series of events drew an overwhelming amount of media attention to it, and we'll cover it at the end.

The President's Finances and the Courts


The Department of Justice, after ending a nearly two decade moratorium on the death penalty, asked the Supreme Court if it could rush four executions. The Supreme Court said that the DOJ must follow proper procedure.

Another judge blocked the White House's plan to redirect Pentagon funds to pay for the border wall. A second judge concurred. A House Committee requested that the Inspector General of the Department of Defense investigate whether a $400 million contract was an example of corruption.

Foreign Policy






Russia Investigation

Even before the release of a report investigating the origins of the Russia investigation by the Inspector General, Attorney General William Barr began attacking its conclusions. The Department of Justice IG, Michael Horowitz, debunked the conspiracy that the FBI's investigation into the President was motivated by political animus. He did say the FBI made procedural mistakes throughout the investigation, but that they were not partisan attempts to bias the process. Bill Barr immediately objected, and undercut the IG. The President lied about the report's conclusion, saying that the IG proved the Russia Investigation “... was an attempted overthrow...”. The FBI director, Christopher Wray, said in an ABC news interview that he respected the report and approved of the IG's message. The inspector general did not find political bias or improper motivations impacting the opening" of the investigation. The President attacked Wray after the interview as a deep state operative, and hinted at jail time for former FBI director James Comey.


Rallies, Lies, Insults, and War Crimes


After Time magazine named climate activist Great Thunberg their Person of the Year, the President attacked the sixteen-year-old in a tweet saying, “Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!”

The President commonly denies knowing people he is well acquainted with as soon as they might threaten his supposed brand. He's demonstrated the tactic with Manafort, Epstein, Parnas, Sondland and more. If Rudy Giuliani ever goes to jail he'll try it again. In December Trump denied knowing the friend of Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew. Like most of the other cases, there were photos.

The President does know a good war crime when he sees one though, and invited Eddie Gallagher, the Navy Seal accused of war crimes, to Mar-a-Lago. Secret testimony about the investigation into Eddie Gallagher was leaked to the times, and they published interviews in which Gallagher's platoon members called him “freaking evil.

Other





Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine and his Associates

The House began the process of impeaching the President in December. While they were doing this, the President's personal lawyer traveled to Ukraine.


In addition, the Committee released phone records that demonstrated that Parnas spoke with Giuliani at the same time he was talking to Solomon, and that both repeatedly called the White House on days oddly correlated with major events in Trump's attempt to demand an investigation by Ukraine into Joe Biden. Specifically, Giuliani called the Office of Management and Budget, but when asked for comment, Trump said it was “no big deal.”

While in Ukraine, Giuliani tweeted that impeachment was a farce because no aid was withheld (though it was), and that Trump pressured Zelensky because Joe Biden engaged in criminal corruption in Ukraine (for which no one has presented any evidence). On his return Giuliani reminded everyone that the President was behind his makeshift investigation, saying that Trump asked him to brief the Justice Department and Republican Senators.


Impeachment

The impeachment process concluded in the House Intelligence committee with the release of two reports: one written by the Democrats, and another by the Republicans. The first concluded that the President abused his power to pressure Ukraine for political favors. The latter claimed there was nothing wrong with the President withholding funding to an ally to force them to announce an investigation into his political foe.


While many current and former Trump officials have refused to testify even when issued a subpoena by the House, a District Court Judge ruled that former White House counsel, Don McGahn, needed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.

Withe the impeachment inquiry moving ahead, the Judiciary Committee prepared to consider the evidence. They invited the White House to participate in a hearing, but the Administration refused to participate. The Committee used the Intelligence Committee's report as their starting point, particularly the statement that, “[T]he impeachment inquiry has found that President Trump, personally and acting through agents within and outside of the U.S. government, solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to benefit his reelection.”

The Judiciary Committee heard evidence from both the Republican and Democratic counsel of the Intelligence committee, along with testimony from four constitutional lawyers. The Committee crafted two articles of Impeachment: one for an abuse of power, and other for obstructing a legitimate investigation by Congress. The Committee approved them 23 to 17, and sent them to the House. The full House voted 230 to 197 to impeach the President, with one former Republican (now an independent) voting with the Democrats, and two Democrats voting with the Republicans. Senate Democrats asked for Senate Majority Leader if they could subpoena four witnesses for the trial, and Mitch McConnell said no. In response, Nancy Pelosi indicated she would delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, while the House Judiciary Committee indicated it was open to adding additional articles of impeachment.



In conclusion:

First, that President Trump directed a scheme to pressure Ukraine into opening two investigations that would benefit his 2020 reelection campaign, and not US national interests.

Second, President Trump used his official office and the official tools of US foreign policy, the withholding of an Oval Office meeting, and $391 million in security assistance, to pressure Ukraine into meeting his demands.

Third, everyone was in the loop. His chief of staff, the secretary of state, and vice president.

And fourth, despite the public discovery of this scheme which prompted the president to release the aid, he has not given up. He and his agents continue to solicit Ukrainian interference in our election, causing an imminent threat to our elections and our national security.

Soon to follow, The Presidential Events of 2019.

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