In the House Judiciary Committee's continuing impeachment debate, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal asked the question most of America has been wondering about: "Forget about President Trump. Will any one of my colleagues on the other side say that it is an abuse of power to condition aid on official acts?. Forget about President Trump. Forget about President Trump. Is any one of my colleagues willing to say that it is ever OK for a president of the United States of America to invite foreign interference in our elections? Not a single one of you has said that so far."
Not one Republican has so far answered Jayapal's question. House Republicans present have expressed outrage at the methods by which Trump's actions were discovered. They have lied about the evidence. They have claimed that the witnesses, testifying under oath, are all enemies of Dear Leader. They have claimed that the efforts to obtain evidence from a White House claiming "absolute immunity" to be unfair.
But none are addressing the actual topic of impeachment: whether we are now claiming that those in the office of the presidency are allowed to condition military aid to a nation on that nation's government doing favors of personal benefit to that president. It is transparently corrupt when stated plainly, which is why not one Republican on the committee is willing to state it plainly.
This is not about Trump. If it were, the drive to remove him would be bipartisan and quickly successful. This is about the Republican Party, about its members, from Nunes, Meadows, and Jordan to McCarthy and McConnell, who have devoted themselves steadfastly to allowing Donald Trump, his family, his staff, and his appointed officials to break the law. It is their corruption, not his, that has put the nation into constitutional crisis.
And so Jayapal's question remains unanswered.