The GOP’s circus cleanup

At its heart, the Ukraine scandal has been about leverage, shakedowns — and plentiful lies once the plot was exposed. That continued Monday. House Intelligence Committee Republicans released a “prebuttal” of the committee’s full report, expected to be voted on Tuesday and referred to the Judiciary Committee for impeachment articles.

The GOP report bears little connection to reality: It says President Trump was right to look into “corruption” at Ukrainian company Burisma, where Joe Biden’s son Hunter was a board member.

It says the Bidens, mentioned multiple times on that infamous July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, came up only “in passing.”

Contrary to multiple witnesses’ sworn testimony, contrary to credible reporting, contrary to White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s own public admission, it denies U.S. military aid was held back illegitimately.

The mountain of evidence before your eyes, dear Americans, is actually a molehill of disagreements over “policy initiatives and processes.” So they say.

On cue, Trump added to the spin game by claiming that a Zelensky weekend interview exonerates him.

Actually, Zelensky pointedly said, “We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo. It just goes without saying.” Zelensky also made clear that Trump smeared Ukraine with his claim the new government wasn’t taking corruption seriously.

Focus, America. This isn’t that complicated.