Among the ever-shifting grab-bag of impeachment defenses thrown against the wall by President Donald Trump and his supporters, one stands above (or perhaps below) the rest for its brazen falsity and recklessness: his vicious attacks on the whistleblower whose complaint first brought to broad public attention Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.
Trump surely is entitled to defend himself against his fast-approaching impeachment by the House, but his relentless assault on the whistleblower — eagerly parroted by his most dedicated acolytes — is wrong, irrelevant and dangerous.
First things first: The whistleblower nailed it. His or her account of the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky matches up remarkably well with the summary transcript of the call released by the White House. The whistleblower alleges in the complaint that, during the call, Trump pressured Zelensky to investigate the Bidens (check) and the Crowdstrike conspiracy theory of the 2016 election (correct) and that Trump asked Zelensky to meet or speak with Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr (yes and yes).
Notwithstanding this reality, Trump stubbornly continues to insist that “the whistleblower gave false information.” Yet neither Trump nor his supporters have pointed to a single relevant fact that the whistleblower got wrong. Trump simply asserts fiction as fact and ignores reality.
Best In Moderation
Article URL : https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/05/opinions/whistleblower-wrong-target-cross-exam-honig/index.html