Investigations are essential both to uncover House Intel Committee Chairman @RepAdamSchiff's intrigue in engineering the whistleblower complaint and to expose the solid reasons Trump had for asking the president of Ukraine to help the U.S. investigate the Bidens.
Ciaramella met with Ukrainian prosecutors at the White House in January 2016, when he served on the NSC as a Ukraine expert. The prosecutors were concerned about Hunter Biden's lucrative board position on the corrupt energy company Burisma, which was a target of an investigation.
Ciaramella isn't an unbiased informant like whistleblowers should be. He was aware of the Bidens' dealings in Ukraine in 2016 and now he has a leading part in the Democrats' playbook to protect them.
Graham's investigation also needs to examine why intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson rated the suspect whistleblower complaint "credible" and sent it to Congress -- the trigger required for Schiff to launch an impeachment investigation.
Schiff refused to release Atkinson's testimony, even to the Senators during the trial. A stunning concealment.
Schiff shuts down any questioning about the whistleblower. Don't be fooled. That's Schiff protecting himself. No law shields whistleblowers from a congressional inquiry
Schiff shuts down any questioning about the whistleblower. Don't be fooled. That's Schiff protecting himself. No law shields whistleblowers from a congressional inquiry
Weeks ago, Senate Finance Committee staff interviewed an IRS whistleblower who says he heard secondhand that senior Treasury officials meddled in the IRS audit of the president or vice president's tax returns.
That IRS whistleblower also lacked firsthand knowledge of misdeeds.
That IRS whistleblower also lacked firsthand knowledge of misdeeds.
Yet House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, a Democrat, used that whistleblower complaint to make his case for the release of Trump's back taxes. Concocting phony whistleblower complaints is the Democrats' new weapon of choice.
That's why Lindsey Graham is right to insist the whistleblower who launched impeachment be grilled in front of the Senate.
The post-impeachment inquiry also needs to dig into the Biden family's corrupt Ukraine dealings -- precisely what Trump asked Ukraine for help doing. Democrats claim allegations of Joe Biden's wrongdoing have been "discredited." Not true.
Graham insists: "I am going to bring in State Department officials and ask them why didn't you do something about the obvious conflict of interests Joe Biden had? Joe Biden's effort to combat corruption in Ukraine became a joke."
What isn't a joke is putting the nation through impeachment to cover it all up.
