Lesko’s defense of the president works ... in Wonderland
Congrats to Arizona’s own Rep. Debbie Lesko who recently made national news, outing herself as ...
... Well ... Debbie Lesko.
We in Arizona know her well, but the Republican from Peoria had heads scratching across the nation on Friday when she insisted in an interview that President Donald Trump never pressed a foreign country to investigate a political rival.
While other Republicans offer explanations for Trump’s request to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that he investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Lesko embraced her inner Alice in Wonderland, flatly insisting it never happened.
Cue CNN’s Manu Raju: “Why is it ever OK for an American president to ask a foreign power to investigate a political rival? Why do you think that’s OK?” Lesko: “He didn’t. He didn’t do that.” Rajo: “He did ask. He did ask Zelensky.”
Lesko: “No, he did not do that.”
Pressed on the issue, Lesko then pivoted to explain why the request – the one she’d just said didn’t happen – was legit.
“That was because, I think, logically, more likely than the Democrat story, is because he wanted to vet out the corruption,” she said, before audio of the interview was abruptly cut off.
Reached later, Lesko’s spokeswoman tried to clarify.
“What Congresswoman Lesko was saying is that President Trump’s purpose for asking about Biden was not as
a political opponent, but about possible corruption with Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Joe Biden,” Heather Smith told The Republic’s Ronald J. Hansen.
The fact that Joe Biden just happened to be a Democratic front-runner in the race to challenge him in next year’s election?
In the fantasy world where Lesko lives – a wonderland of rabbit holes where down is up and white is black – politics and the 2020 election never even entered the president’s mind. Not one bit.
For those who don’t know her, Lesko was in the Arizona Legislature for nine years before she catapulted into the seat left open two years ago after it got out that then-Rep. Trent Franks was running around asking female staffers to have his baby.
While in the Legislature, Lesko was perhaps best known as the chief water carrier for the American Legislative Exchange Council.
She was the brains behind a bill to offer credit-challenged Arizonans the golden opportunity to borrow money at the low, low interest rate of 164% and various bills undermining the constitutional right in Arizona for voters to go around our leaders and make laws via initiative.
She also was the sponsor behind the bill to dramatically expand school vouchers — a law that voters subsequently slapped down before it could take effect.
Lesko was elected to Congress not because of her genius grasp of issues but because she had an R behind her name.
During a 2018 Arizona Republic editorial board meeting, she was touting her vote to allocate $25 billion for a border wall and technology when she was asked where the money will come from. Lesko’s reply: “From our budget.”
When asked what she would do to shore up Social Security, the congresswoman had nothing — other than the fact that she opposes tax increases and doesn’t know whether she would raise the retirement age.
“It’s something that I would have to study and meet with all the stakeholders and that type of thing,” she said.
So, yeah, not the person Republicans should be putting in front of the cameras to recite the party’s talking points on impeachment, even if she does sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
For Lesko’s benefit, here again is what Trump said, according to the White House’s own rough transcript of the July 25 phone call, when he asked Zelensky for a favor.
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that (Joe) Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.”
And here is what he said in October on the White House lawn when he repeated the call and upped the ante: “I would think that if they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the Bidens. It’s a very simple answer and by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.
“So I would say that President Zelensky, if it were me, I would recommend that they start an investigation into the Bidens because nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked.”
So back to the question posed by CNN’s Manu Raju: “Why is it ever OK for an American president to ask a foreign power to investigate a political rival? Why do you think that’s OK?” Lesko: “He didn’t. He didn’t do that.” At least not on her side of the looking glass.
As the Queen of Hearts once said: “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”