Three House committees launched an investigation Monday into what should, by all means, be the story of the day/week/month/year/presidency. And yet, it's just one among a handful of new juicy corruption inquiries being launched by Democrats with new fervor.
But good god, folks, if Donald Trump doesn't seem desperate to enlist the help of foreign powers to get re-elected. On Friday, The Washington Post editorial board wrote they were "reliably told" that Trump is using U.S. military aid as a cudgel to convince Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. In other words, behind the scenes, Trump is allegedly trying to extort a foreign government to open a potentially damaging investigation into his political opponent. The claim against Biden is baseless, but the mere specter of a foreign investigation into his dealings is something Trump would pound home relentlessly to paint Biden as a corrupt politician using his office for personal gain.
You will remember this claim as the one Rudolph Giuliani intended to promote on an overseas trip that he subsequently canceled once it was all made public. Still, Giuliani openly admitted last month that the State Department aided his efforts to convince Ukraine officials to launch an inquiry into both Biden and the Democratic National Committee.
Trump allies have suggested Biden committed an infraction when he, along with other Western officials, urged the Ukrainian government to oust an allegedly corrupt prosecutor who was also investigating a gas company that claimed Biden's son Hunter as a board member. Giuliani also wondered whether the DNC had worked with Ukrainian officials in 2016 to release damaging information about Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort. Giuliani had recently been in contact with a close ally of President Zelensky on both matters, essentially trying to get a fishing expedition going that Republicans could use stateside to their political advantage.
Now the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees want to know what in god's name is going on.
In letters to both the White House and State Department, the Democratic committee chairs wrote: “A growing public record indicates that, for nearly two years, the President and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, appear to have acted outside legitimate law enforcement and diplomatic channels to coerce the Ukrainian government into pursuing two politically-motivated investigations under the guise of anti-corruption activity. As the 2020 election draws closer, President Trump and his personal attorney appear to have increased pressure on the Ukrainian government and its justice system in service of President Trump’s reelection campaign, and the White House and the State Department may be abetting this scheme.”
The press release from the Intelligence Committee also notes the recent report that the Trump administration has been threatening to defy Congress and withhold badly needed security assistance to Ukraine.
"The Committees will investigate whether this is part of President Trump’s effort to coerce the Ukrainian government into pursuing politically-motivated investigations, including of former Vice President Joe Biden and his family—all in service of President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign," says the release.
It seems Democrats have reached the sound conclusion that Trump, having gotten away once with colluding to win the presidency, is looking for a repeat. It’s likely they have finally gotten that message because Trump keeps saying and doing exactly that.