The large number of Trump supporters living on Colorado’s western slope no doubt vehemently oppose his impeachment. This blog is to help them understand why impeaching the President is imperative to protect our country, our democracy and our national sovereignty.
Trump has broken important U.S. laws, multiple times. In so doing, he has demonstrated that he poses a profound threat to our country. One of the laws he violated protects our country from foreign interference at very high levels of government:
Soliciting foreign interference in our elections
Trump has repeatedly invited foreign interference in our elections to benefit himself, an act that violates 52 U.S. Code § 30121, titled “Contributions and donations by foreign nationals.” This law states it is illegal for a person to solicit or accept “a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value” from a foreign national, “or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election” with a foreign national.
On June 13, 2019, Ellen Weintraub, Chair of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in Washington D.C. explained (pdf) why this law is so important to our country:
Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept. Electoral intervention from foreign governments has been considered unacceptable since the beginnings of our nation. Our Founding Fathers sounded the alarm about “foreign Interference, Intrigue, and Influence.” They knew that when foreign governments seek to influence American politics, it is always to advance their own interests, not America’s.
Trump didn’t invite a foreign country to interfere in our elections just once, or by accident. Rather, he has over time demonstrated a clear pattern of openly and repeatedly soliciting foreign interference in our elections to benefit his own personal political fortunes. This is an out-and-out betrayal of our country. Trump made these solicitations in very open public venues, too, making the fact that he did it impossible to refute.
Here are the occasions in which Trump violated U.S. law and compromised America’s sovereignty and security:
During is campaign, on July 13, 2016, Trump asked Russia to help him with his campaign, in his famous “Russia, if you’re listening” speech regarding Hillary Clinton’s illegally-hacked emails. Watch the speech in which Trump asks Russia to intervene in our election:
The second time Trump solicited interference from a foreign national in our election was in a July 25, 2019 telephone call (pdf) with Ukraine President Zelensky. In the call, President Trump urged President Zelensky to investigate former U.S. President Joe Biden, one of Trump’s 2020 political rivals. Trump framed this as a request to do us a “favor,” and Trump did this while he was simultaneously withholding $391 million in military aid which Congress had allocated to Ukraine to help it defend itself from Russian aggression on their country’s eastern border. Russia is a foe of the U.S., and thirteen Russians have been indicted for efforts they made on behalf of the Russian government to aid Trump’s campaign for president in 2016.
The third time Trump solicited interference in our elections was on October 3, 2019, as he was waiting to board a helicopter on White House grounds. Trump said to a reporter, on camera, that he hoped Ukraine would open an investigation into former VP Joe Biden, and then Trump also urged China to open an investigation into Joe Biden as well. Announcements of investigations into his political rival would have been of great value to Trump in the 2020 election by making his rival look bad, and so it is considered a “thing of value” under U.S. law. Watch as Trump asks the Ukraine and then Chinese governments to open investigations into his political rival:
It is irrefutable that Trump has invited not one, but three foreign countries to corrupt our elections. If these countries actually did as he asked, like Russia did in 2016, it would interfere with American citizens’ right to freely and fairly choose their own leaders without influence from foreign countries. America’s Founding Fathers feared the possibility that an American president would do this when they wrote the Constitution. That’s why the Founders built into America’s founding document, the Constitution, a way to recognize and defend against the corrupting influence of foreign money and power on our country, and particularly on the president. The defense they provided is impeachment and removal of a president who engages in such behavior.
This is why the House has no choice but to impeach President Trump, and it’s why the Senate has a clear reason to remove him from office.
U.S. Code § 30121, titled “Contributions and donations by foreign nationals refers to RECEIVED gifts of monetary value. Information is not a received gift and withholding “Aid” which is, by the way, a donation not a purchase (there is a difference) is exactly the way every politician, previous administration, state government, local government and low life lawyer uses to get things done. As for the solicitation of information…. I believe you refer to it as Trumps invitation to interfere with our national elections. A liberal mindset could only remove the truth and reword to suit their definition.
Trump is, even by my definition a creep. So is every politician and president that has ever been. The truth is this, you don’t like him!!! Neither do I, but I don’t like yours either…. Tell yourself the truth and write truths. Help the readers make their own decision. Instead you think the best path to take is the one guide us to. In the end, you too are scum…
Nice summary. However the people who need to read it will not read it. And you won’t change their minds anyway. See you at the rally on Tuesday evening in support of the impeachment
And I use your quote. “During is campaign, on July 13, 2016, Trump asked Russia to help him with his campaign, in his famous “Russia, if you’re listening” speech regarding Hillary Clinton’s illegally-hacked emails. Watch the speech in which Trump asks Russia to intervene in our election:” the ought right ignorance on your part is unbelievable, if you are so stupid to not recognize a jab at an opponent who was, and still is breaking the law, you are a fool. You have a very severe case of TDS, I urge you to get help before it is too late. After the conclusion of the 2020 election and Trump is reelected by a landslide, those of you with sever TDS are susceptible of having your little heads explode.
John Williams: Except for the fact that Russia WAS listening and within 5 hours did as Trump asked. A “jab,” you say?
Anne, you poor misinformed hater of the right… It was already known that the DNC server had been hacked by “someone” (we’ll never know if it was Russia). The server was offline when Trump jokingly said: “Russia if you’re listening…” Truly, what person would, if they really wanted Russia to spy, announce it to the whole world? Do you leftists have a sense of humor? Do you understand sarcasm? Do you get that Hillary was so much more involved in Russian collusion than Trump ever dreamed? Can hardly wait for the Supreme Court to add another conservative Justice after 2020 and watched you squeal for another 4 years. My only true wish is that you were equally judgemental about your own party as you are for the Republican party. However, with your own search to justify your own narrative, that won’t happen.
Brad, it’s amazing the pretzel logic that you trumpers use to defend the lying Chickenhawk Traitor that is your president. The GOP in general is engaging in lies, obfuscation,, changing the narrative, discredited conspiracy theories, and shouting when they cannot dispute the facts. Time will tell how the the president will treat you, his deluded supporters, when he finally goes down; but if you think that he will be interested in anyone else’s well being besides his own, you are in for a big surprise, because he is, and has always been, about himself and no one else.
David, I agree. Brad’s logic is really off the wall.
…and you have proof right? Not just something you heard on MSNBC or CNN and not some editorial you read from the NY Times or Washington Post. You factually know, and I sense that in your writing. I am so convinced that you guys are on point, that I am willing to follow you like sheep to the slaughter. I am guessing that there are many just like me out there.
I admire your unwavering optimism that maybe one Mesa County republican would read past the beginning of this post and consider that what you have written might not only be true but be very important to the future of the country.
I sincerely hope that Mesa County Republicans read this with an open mind. It’s no longer about who is most popular but about right and wrong and the rule of law. For those who support our local law enforcement, consider this to be law enforcement on the Federal level. And it is critical that we stop this behavior in its tracks.
Please contact your Senators constantly as they grapple with the Senate Trial. You may use Resisbot to do so. It only takes about 5 minutes.
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Exactly so. In a better world, there are 14 other Articles of Impeachment that could and should have been presented, but by ANY objective standard, these 2 MUST be passed. Or our entire system of government is just another Potemkin village.
Do you seriously think that every president and politician that has been in office lives to the standards you are advocating?