Thread by @mayawiley

1/ My thread on #GOP defense of #Trump: General defense amounts to 2 arguments: 1. #Trump was genuinely concerned about #corruption in #Ukraine; 2) not enough evidence to #impeach. We have no evidence on the first & evidence to the contrary. Legally, there’s enough evidence.

2/ The strongest args #GOP makes - #Trump not caught on tape saying he was abusing his office for his personal gain. Ukraine history of corruption & publicly denied pressure. But you have to suspend reason & ignore a boatload of evidence to conclude he did nothing impeachable.

3/ #GOP on 7/25 call -#Trump didn’t reference reelection, Ukrainians happy it happened. #Volker didn’t see problem, NSC not complaining. Discounts #LtColVindman. Ignores #Pence aide thought it was “unusual” & #LauraCooper said Ukraine asked abt aid status same day after the call

4/ #GOP has no evidence of #Trump raising #corruption in ‘17 when he committed military aid, & Congress approved missles & rocket launchers. Or in ‘18 as Congress added military asst $. This is meaningful evidence in a court trial! bit.ly/2LjHQaV

5/ #Trump said #Ukraine shld investigate Bidens & asked China to as well! This is evidence that he was only concerned with the #Bidens, not with corruption in Ukraine. Public stmt that shows his intention. bit.ly/2LkdQf0

6/ #GOP focuses on #whistleblower complaint, which has largely been supoorted by witness testimony. The attacks on it are nit-picking petty - like claim that #Trump praised Lutsenko not substantiated cuz call summary didn’tvname Lutsenko.

7/ #GOP correctly says #Volker testimony on #Trump having concerns abt corruption in #Ukraine in 9/17. #Yovanovitch said #Trump Raised corruption w/ Prez Porshenko in ‘17. BUT none of it prevented his support of millitary aid in ‘17! That’s they key issue. bit.ly/2r8p3Ze

8/ #GOP spends time on #Ukraine bad mouthing #Trump. True. It was before Prez Zelensky. Also itrelevant cuz #Trump didn’t claim this as justification for holding up aid. Pettiness isn’t impeachable but he claimed it was corruption.

9/ #GOP points to 3x #Trump invited Zelensky to White House “without conditions” & May 23 mtg Trump sent them to #Giuliani wirhout mentioning conditions. True. Except that #Sondland & #Volker both testified to working thru #Giuliani to get #Trump conditions met.

10/ Volker denied seeing a connection betw #Giuliani demands & military aid. He has major credibility problems bit.ly/2DFjpR7: 1 in depo said #Sondland didnt raise investigations in 7/10 white house mtg then changed his tune; 2 Claimed didnt see #Burisma as abt #Biden.

11/ #Burisma & #Biden were linked in public reporting @thehill as early as 4/19 bit.ly/2OLEik7. Witnesses reference the news articles on the debunked conspiracy theories so #Sondland & #Volker are literally the only “experts” who testified who didn’t.

12/ #Sondland credibility problems are well documented. So I won’t spend more time on them. bit.ly/2Ligp1m Most recently the “no quid pro quo” call with #Trump appears to be in question. bit.ly/2Liharb

13/ Defense that witnesses didn’t SAY #Trump committed a crime. They were fact witnesses, not jurors. But also #Impeachment 4 #abuseofoffice doesn’t require a criminal act. President Andrew Johnson was not accused of any crime but of usurping Congressional power.

14/ What the #GOP #impeachment defense report makes clear is that they can only raise doubts abt evidence.They can’t offer anything new. #Dems need to pull in the public record of admissions in, while stressing the disloyalty of this #POTUS to national security interests.