I'm waiting for *any* Republican—*anywhere* in America, in D.C. or outside of it—to explain what crime Trump had reasonable suspicion to believe had been committed, was being committed, or was about to be committed by Hunter Biden when he demanded Biden be criminally investigated
1/ For those who don't know—which I guess includes all Republicans—in America you can only initiate a criminal investigation if you have "specific, articulable facts" raising "reasonable suspicion" a crime "has just been committed, is being committed or is about to be committed."
2/ An *obsession* of the GOP for 3 years now has been the idea that despite urgent intel warnings from seven allied nations, 100+ unreported and lied-about clandestine mid-campaign Trump campaign-Russia contacts, and so much more, there was no reasonable suspicion to investigate.
3/ That claim has been reviewed by a court and rejected. And in fact subsequent events—with 200+ criminal charges brought against 25+ defendants—*confirm* that crimes were being committed during the general election campaign (and before and afterward) that had to be investigated.
4/ But suddenly, when it comes to Trump himself—the *chief complainer* about this wholly warranted criminal investigation—he can halt congressionally mandated foreign aid that has passed *every single check and condition established by the government* because of... what, exactly?
5/ If a man known to be corrupt, who never discusses fighting corruption, who opposes the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, wants to take a corrupt nation (Ukraine) and pick *one* company to probe—the one tied to a political rival—he better have *way more* than reasonable suspicion.
6/ If Trump had, through no action of his own, had an envelope appear on his Oval Office desk with a movie-like smoking gun indicting the Bidens, you *might* expect him to act. In this case, he and his gremlins *hunted* for a *year* and couldn't even find *reasonable suspicion*.
7/ The GOP presentation yesterday was so pathetic that it went on for hours—repeatedly mentioning the Bidens—and not one person who watched it could come out of that presentation explaining what even would constitute legally sufficient "reasonable suspicion" for an investigation.
8/ But it's so much more than that! The prosecutor general of Ukraine—the equivalent of our Attorney General—spent the first half of 2019 investigating the Bidens and came out announcing he'd no evidence of any wrongdoing. But I thought the GOP cared about "reasonable suspicion"?
9/ Indeed—the GOP has told us over and over and over again that seeking to initiate a criminal investigation *absent reasonable suspicion* is *proof of corruption*. Yet Trump demanded a criminal investigation of the Bidens after he'd been told *there was no reasonable suspicion*.
10/ In other words, by Trump's own standard; by the Republicans' own standard; by the legal standard in use in America; and by the results of the Ukrainian investigation of the Bidens that *actually did occur*, Trump's actions in June 2019 and after were IRREFUTABLY corrupt. /end
PS/ And now the same Republicans who've been complaining for weeks about the idea of calling a witness to develop new evidence want to call Hunter Biden after failing for a *year* to find "reasonable suspicion" he committed any offense. Some say they won't call Bolton otherwise.
PS2/ But the difference between these two witnesses *couldn't be more extreme*—literally *couldn't be*. We already know Bolton is willing to swear to events that *by themselves* could prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Trump intended a corrupt and illegal quid pro quo.
PS3/ By comparison, the GOP wants to call a witness who *years* of investigations in the U.S. and Ukraine and by journalists have turned up *nothing* criminal, not even *reasonable suspicion* of a crime, but simply the sort of corporate ickiness we see—and hate—1,000 times a day.
PS4/ But wait—it's worse than that! Because Sen. Ernst—who has to be the stupidest senator this side of Ron Johnson—appeared to reveal yesterday that the sole purpose of Trump's impeachment defense is to weaken Biden! Which helps prove his corrupt actions were ALWAYS about Biden!
PS5/ But wait—it gets *worse*! Because the House is only presenting—even the GOP agrees with this—a *fraction* of the evidence they could be presenting against Trump on Ukraine. That's right: the GOP is *complaining* that the House didn't take time to gather even *more* evidence!
UPSHOT/ Smart, educated, commonsensical folks on the left and middle have already spoken up about how insane this is and how much it's damaging America. What's needed now is for more smart, educated, commonsensical folks on the right to give up the ghost and stop defending Trump.
