USA TODAY International Edition
Opposing view: Democrats keep trying to undo the 2016 election
Democrats are trying to impeach President Donald Trump just 13 months before the American people go to the polls. They are doing it because they know they can’t remove President Trump otherwise.
It’s not for lack of trying. Democrats put the nation through three years of the “Russia collusion” hoax, only for those allegations to completely unravel. Democrats have spent the past 10 months embarking on a series of partisan fishing expeditions, all in a concerted effort to take down a duly elected president. Now Democrats are accusing President Trump of orchestrating a quid pro quo to pressure the Ukrainian government.
Here’s the problem: Democrats are basing these latest allegations on a whistleblower complaint full of secondhand, hearsay information about a call with the Ukrainian president. The whistleblower was not on the call. The call transcript, released by President Trump, shows no quid pro quo of any kind. And as for the allegation of pressure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Nobody pushed me.”
When we began to interview people with firsthand knowledge, the Democrats’ narrative fell apart. Ambassador Kurt Volker, the U. S. special envoy to Ukraine, was very clear in his testimony last week: He was aware of no quid pro quo, and the Ukrainian government never raised concerns about a quid pro quo. He testified that the U. S. officials were working at all times in the best interests of the United States and for the success and security of Ukraine.
But Americans won’t hear these facts from Democrats. Democrats have already prejudged the case, and now they need to deliver for the left- wing special interests hellbent on impeaching President Trump.
That’s why House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff publicly misrepresented the contents of the call between President Trump and President Zelensky.
That’s why Schiff hid the fact that his committee staff had been contacted by the whistleblower this past summer.
And that’s why Schiff released selective text messages from Ambassador Volker without the important context that Ambassador Volker offered in his testimony.
President Trump displayed unprecedented transparency by releasing a transcript of his call with a foreign leader. However, the Democrats’ impeachment push is shrouded in secrecy. Americans deserve more. Americans deserve to know exactly how Democrats are misusing their authority to undo the results of the 2016 election.