(CNN)On Capitol Hill the case for impeaching Donald Trump has sharpened into a clear picture of abuse of power. Simultaneously, at the Justice Department, the inspector general demolished a conspiracy theory Trump has cited to justify his effort to destroy public confidence in American national security agencies. But if you expect the President and his backers to turn off the fog machines of lies and distortions, don’t.
Up is down. Black is white. The American people are being told, despite the evidence, that the FBI is crooked, and that House Democrats are only interested in undoing the 2016 election. In Trump — and Trump alone — the GOP Trust.
Moments after the IG reported on Monday that the FBI had properly opened an investigation into Russia’s election meddling on behalf of Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, Attorney General William Barr demonstrated that he knows how to speak the President’s language. Barr said the IG had found “a clear abuse” of the system for authorizing sensitive investigations. In fact, the IG concluded the opposite.
Barr’s distortion of the IG’s findings showed how little he seems to respect the office he holds. His predecessors, including Jeff Sessions, generally held themselves above the partisan fray, but not Barr. Still, his distortions were minor when compared with the efforts of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to confuse anyone trying to understand the Democrats’ case for impeachment.
In summary, as the Democrats’ lawyer, Daniel Goldman, touched on, the evidence shows:
- Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani has promoted a debunked conspiracy theory that blames Ukraine and not Russia for the cyber-attacks on the 2016 election.
- In spring of 2019, Giuliani began pressing Ukrainian officials to announce investigations into the conspiracy theory and unfounded charges of corruption against Trump’s presidential rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
- Trump handed Ukraine-America affairs over to his private attorney telling top officials to “talk to Rudy.”
- For months Trump held-up nearly $400 million in war-fighting aid to Ukraine because he wanted the country’s new president to do him the “favor” of investigating the Biden family and the conspiracy theory about the 2016 election. (Trump denies any quid pro quo.)
- In refusing all requests for information, Trump committed obstruction of Congress as it sought to investigate him.
macko
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/10/opinions/gop-trust-trump-ig-report-dantonio/index.html