I hope the main stream press doesn’t take the bait and abet trump/guiliani McCarthy tactics in attacking the Biden’s.
That’s exactly what these guys want. Thus far there’s zero evidence that Biden or his son has done anything wrong. If that changes, put a microscope and them. If not focus on the impeachment.
When trump lied and accused Obama of tapping his phones, that was a garbage allegation and the press didn’t investigate because there was no basis for the lie.
It’s a trump pattern. Please, don’t take the bait.
12
I am waiting for the outcome of the Joe/Hunter Biden investigation. Is there any truth to the allegations? If so, then it should be brought to light.
11
I’m wondering if this has been orchestrated from the top and planned well in advance... Biden has been a terrible candidate and people wonder if he could even live through his first term if elected. Obama never endorsed him. The Biden camp knew that Hunter would be a big problem for a myriad of reasons, who at some point would make Joe unelectable... we’re there now, today. Hill and Bill have been keeping their irons in the fire, Hill’s on a “listening tour”. Why? Who does that? And the Democrat electorate is desperate for anyone to beat Trump, so desperate that Hillary could easily step in. She would exonerate the Bidens or pardon them, so they would have no problem stepping down and keeping their ill-gotten millions. The Clintons planned the whole Russia hoax, so this sort of thing is certainly not out of their league, though it will fail like the other. And, finally, the media would never bother to ask a single question about any of this. Fortunately, the American public, though busy carrying on in their daily lives and not tuned in day-by-day to the graft and corruption of their elected officials, wasn’t born yesterday.
7
Hunter Biden's financial affairs should have been investigated long ago, and his father's role in arranging and profiting from them.
17
We now have the transcript of the phone call to the president of the Ukraine. Absurdly, Trump thinks that his telling him that Giuliani, his personal lawyer, and the U.S. A.G. Barr, should be in contact with Zelensky is not an issue. He seems to actually believe that the partial transcript of the conversation exonerates him! Quite the contrary! He also dives into wanting investigation on the origins of the Mueller Report. The man truly doesn't seem to understand that what he's doing is against the law. Can he really be that ignorant or is he deluded by the sycophants who surround him and dare not contradict him?
6
All together now: "There is not a shred of evidence that the Vice President did anything wrong."
Exonerated?
5
Don't underestimate Joe Biden. Don't mistake amicability for softness.
Most Republicans wish that Trump would go away. But that will only happen if he flames out. Big. Most Republicans wish that Biden would be the next president, and I think that more than a few are willing to help make it all happen. If they can do so quietly and behind the scenes, which is exactly what Biden excels at.
Biden instills comfort and confidence in people. The folksy manner is part of that, but it's not all of it. He is a person of great strength. People speculate that this whole affair might be a trap laid by Trump, but it also might be a trap laid by Biden. Throw some helter-skelter Trump's way. This investigation might send him catatonic.
1
I read the transcript and (yawn) find no quid pro quo at all. I do understand however that VP Biden was running a criminal enterprise laundering US government money that ended up in his son's company. I also see that Biden was doing the same thing in China which is criminal. Di9d Biden get a foreign prosecutor fired for looking at his son and used US government funds to do it? YES. Biden is finished and so are the Democrats.
12
This has Putin all over it and Putin should be very worried about his re-election possibility.
1
We don't need Trump or Biden. Time to clean the slate.
12
Trump is an awful man but when people wonder why he won in 2016, they can see Hunter Biden as a perfect example of our broken and corrupt political process. No one pays someone 600K a year for 5 years and not expect some kind of return. What was Hunter Biden doing for that money? I wish Trump were gone but for Biden to say "This is personal and were still grieving for Beau Biden". Please stop it. The Democrats need to run someone who can win. Run Joe Biden in 2020 and they will lose.
18
The President has children also ....
4
How disgusting! Will we have to endure a campaign between two old men, whose kids trade on papa’ s power position, duking it out about who is more corrupt? I suspect Trump wants Biden to be the Dem nominee.
I know Trump is thoroughly corrupt and unprincipled, but even if the Bidens are wholly above reproach, this is just another argument for why I hope Democratic primary voters choose someone fresh.
8
Does Biden have "..the fire in the belly.." to be President?
I wonder.
2
It doesn't matter if Joe Biden and/or his son are corrupt and robbed a bank and killed someone in the middle of 5th Avenue. It matters that the president of the USA asked the president of a foreign country for a favor in investigating the Bidens. This is even worse given the dependence of Ukraine on USA military aid in fighting aggression from a US adversary, Russia. And we all know how Trump and Putin are "besties".
5
Amazing ! This article makes no reference to Hunter getting $ a 1.5 billion dollar investment from the Chinese Communist Party.. to his "hedge fund"... seeing that he is such an expert in the investment world.. added to his other talents as an expert in the Ukraine gas business ..
15
Dear NYT:
Joe Biden quite clearly extorted the president of a foreign country by tying foreign aid to the act of firing the prosecutor who was investigating the Ukrainian firm that paid his own son Hunter -- a drug addict who had no skills in the natural gas industry, but was paid millions of dollars by a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch.
Biden's public admission: "And I said: ‘We’re leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money.”
Hunter Biden later collected more than $1.5 billion in Chinese government backed investment funds -- after traveling with his Dad to met the Chinese leadership.
No story here? Please ....
17
Trump has stated that Biden's son is a drug head or something to that effect ,here we go to the Trump foul mouthed slander show.
Rudy "America's Mayor" must be writing Trump's script.
Biden is done! Maybe Trump as well...
4
Someone in the DNC REALLY hates Biden. This will tar him the same way the email server tarred Hillary.
This must be a Warren move, as there is no mention of her bribing Working Families for their endorsement.
7
This sadly is probably a brilliant ploy by one of Trump's nefarious advisors to bring down the one Democrat who can beat him (electoral college) in the race. Meanwhile, his base merely gets excited and more hardened. This could end up being a disaster for the 2020 and give us four more years of Trump.
6
Please, PLEASE, do not rise to the bait of False Equivalence. On the one side, we have a proven liar of monumental proportions, once again shifting stories, exaggerating, and outright inventing stuff. On the other side, we have a family member of a potential election contestant for that liar. So let's get at the liar, and once the facts are known, if there is anything left to look at with the Bidens, so be it. But not yet.
And I state this as a strong Warren supporter who believes that Biden should step aside. But not right this instant.
2
This is the same tactic Trump used with Russia. Trump told Russia how many times at his rallies - "investigate Hillary. Hack her emails" - and Trump supporters went wild with delight.
Well, now Trump is using his Presidency to coerce Ukraine to investigate Biden. Same tactic, new day.
Trump got away with using Russia to influence our elections, so he's at it again. Only this time, Americans need to stop him in his tracks. Trump needs to be held accountable for his actions.
Impeach Trump and send him back to reality TV (right after his prison sentence for tax evasion, fraud and money laundering).
2
We can’t have another ‘he said, she said’ election. Get Biden put of there and focus on Warren or Buttigieg.
3
Hunter Biden was involved in a asset siphoning scheme of $1.8 billion fro, Burisma Holdings which ended up in Igor Kolomoisky's hands. The inquiry by the Ukraine Prosecutor was into the missing $1.8 billion.
The whole story of this sleezey tale is spelled out in detail in Peter Schweizer's book "Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends"
If you are truly interested in what went out - read this book. That author has written several books on how US politicians enrich themselves.
Ore read this NYT article from 2015
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/europe/corruption-ukraine-joe-biden-son-hunter-biden-ties.html
10
Biden is done. Did Obama know he was selling his position as VP?
8
This is an opportunity for Joe Biden to show us what he's made of.
1
Biden and Bernie need a tee time. They should be playing golf together not politics.
2
It seems every approach the Democrats explore is beset by their own complicity .. . e.g. young Biden pulling down $50 large per month seems suspect for instance?
At this point, the worlds glacial ice packs are melting faster than the House Democratic Caucus is moving toward impeachment.
Nanny Pelosi i---remember when she impeached Bush/Cheney for high crimes, misdemeanors, war crimes and crimes against humanity?
Yeah, me, neither.
6
Test? Joe Biden flunked big time...this transcript is totally reasonable given the circumstances of his quid pro quo.
7
The deep state is panicking.
Their hand picked candidate is now completely toxic.
The original plan of pretending to hold a fair and honest primary, and then deep-sixing either Bernie or Lizzie with fake allegations propagated through the dishonest media, a la the fake Russian collusion scam, which were to be blamed on Republicans, if things get close is now out the window.
They may actually be stuck with one of the other wing nuts and it scares the heck out of them.
7
"Hunter Biden has operated for years in parts of the business world that intersected with his father’s career in government..."
Trump, Biden...: What else is new?
6
Hunter Biden built a career entirely by trading on his father's public position as Senator and Vice President. This creates the presumption of corruption: even if the father never spoke a word to assist his son, everyone knows that the only reason his son would be hired was the expectation that the father might do so, or that others would expect him to.
Sorry, but this is a no-win position for both Bidens. If the son wanted to ruin his father's chance of higher office, he choose the most effective way of doing so. Someone in high position must not only be innocent of acts of corruption, but must be above suspicion. The need to write this article shows that both are suspect, and will remain so.
8
It is always the appearance of impropriety that gets the politicians in trouble especially when they are trying to set an example of honesty. The kind of political payoffs that Hunter Biden has received do not need proof that his father used some form of clout to get him his undeserved international positions. This is the kind of thing just about every politician in Washington has done in one way or another for his or her family members. It is no secret that this has been going on for years and years with a wink and a nod.
6
Hunter Biden's activities in the shadow of his father's career is exactly the kind of influence peddling Ross Douthat refers to in his column yesterday. At the least, VP Biden's actions in Ukraine clearly provided an appearance of impropriety. Was he the only person available to President Obama who could deliver the message to Ukraine? The political class has for so long honed these carefully constructed relationships in and outside government that they are now blind to the ethical implications let alone the borderline legality. It is for many of us a more nuanced but insidious form of corruption.
8
I just read the New Yorker article on Hunter Biden. Just awful. I feel for Hunter Biden but it is obvious Joe Biden puts family above country and that is not a good thing. Joe Biden has too much baggage, this and many other incidents, for me to continue to support him.
9
Can we please have a call for polititians believing in a good quality of life for all?
Only Warren and Sanders seem to believe in that.
We can do so much better than we're doing. I'm disgusted with our situation.
1
“Hunter Biden, who has charted a winding career as a bank executive, lobbyist and financier, often operating in parts of the private sector that overlapped with his father’s footprint in government. They have declined to say whether they vetted...”
Hunter’s story of addiction and “overlap” with his Dad’s political career is widely available from reputable sources. Better to vet this thoroughly now.
The Trump team will be all over it in the General Election.
4
Binden is yesterday’s man, with yesterday’s perspective, yesterday’s ideas, to respond to yesterday’s problems.
6
I have supported Biden. But his son clearly has profited by family connection to public business. While evidently not illegal it is not fair to the children of the rest of us. It's unsavory cronyism. Biden will have to address that to my satisfaction or he loses my vote.
7
Pretty funny how comments here rule out Biden. He's still the one. If you drill down in the latest Iowa poll, most voters were mostly lukewarm about Warren. Many Democrats are repulsed by Warren and Sanders. My prediction: this will not shake Biden's national numbers one bit. They are the only ones that matter.
3
Anyone who takes the trouble can read about Hunter Biden in a number of publications, including The New Yorker magazine article mentioned here. I'll warn you though: there aren't any exciting secrets.
Joe Biden, unlike Donald Trump, didn't hire his son or other relatives for top government positions. In contrast, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, serves as Advisor to the President, and her husband, Jared Kushner, serves as Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor. Trump's son has also played direct roles in his sleazier campaign activities, such as the famous Trump Tower meeting with Russians.
Like most dictators, Trump puts his family to work for him. Lots of money to be made and loyalty expected. It may be hard, therefore, for Trump to imagine that most presidents of the USA haven't done what Trump's doing.
I'm sure that Joe Biden would have preferred that his son not be involved in business activities in which the Biden name might be construed as bringing special power--but Hunter Biden is a free US citizen. His father has done what he had to and should have done--stay uninvolved in his son's business dealings.
Am I wrong? Then show me something that actually happened--not more Trump Tweets or other silliness.
I say this as more of a Warren fan than a Biden fan--though either of them would be a refreshing breath of integrity and knowledge. Trump is just an aberration, a con man: we need him gone.
7
"There is no evidence that Mr. Biden, as Vice President, tried to help his son in his dealings in Ukraine" should have been the FIRST sentence in this article. All weekend Trump's lackeys tried to make the story about Biden, in defiance of the timeline of Biden's objections to corruption in Ukraine. Biden's objections regarding corruption came a full year after the investigation of the company his son was a board member of was closed.
3
Our Nation does not need a candidate with apparent conflicts of interests running against the atrocity that is Donald Trump. In an ironic and twisted way, Trump has done us a favor by bringing to popular awareness this appearance of conflict. End your quixotic pursuit of the nomination, Joe. It's time to retire.
6
This could easily get rid of Trump but also could doom the chances for Biden as well – the only moderate currently in the competition for the Democratic nomination. A lot of swing voters may be drawn away from the Dem’s in 2020 when the Republicans remind voters about the Democrats perceived stances on issues such as illegal immigration or reparations – and you can be certain they will. And the incessant talk of the “squad” probably will not help attract many of the moderate swing voters to the Democrats will need. Trump was a loud-mouthed buffoon in 2016 (and still is) but his stances on issues such as immigration earned him just enough electoral votes to win. And, don’t complain about the Electoral College; everyone knew what the rules were then and still are. 2020 may not be the slam dunk the Democrats are hoping for. The Democrats have been whining since the morning after Election Day 2016 and many voters are simply becoming bored, turned off by it or simply don’t believe anything coming either side.
1
"Mr. Biden is infuriated by Mr. Trump’s conduct..."
He should be just as infuriated by the whistleblower and the Dem Congress, who are busily trying to tear Biden down. Why - if not to help his rivals?!
Trump is raking in millions on Pelosi’s mistake...she should have made.a deal...the transcript is perfectly reasonable.
1
The weight of years of evidence will reach a sufficient tipping point within the conservative tribe of Congress. That evidence of serial wrongdoing cannot be ignored any longer in the minds of motivated Trump apologists. The head-in-the-sand practice is unsustainable. Everyone in the media must repeat, repeat, repeat the list of actionable and impeachable misconduct. That repetition is necessary to turn the Trump tribe against their chief. Its Wounded Knee is within reach. Can you see the storm clouds?
1
If Trump did enter into "quid pro quo" in his conversation with the Ukrainian president, such a remark was not included in the transcript. This transcript is just slippery enough to let Trump wiggle out of the his problem while creating a large problem for Biden. Slick, indeed. He raises doubts about the ethics of his rival while working the crowd in angry victim mode. Sadly, it looks like the Democratic leadership is taking the bait. Again. I hope I'm wrong, but this whole fiasco looks like it's going to benefit our Dear Leader. The impeachment investigation will collapse in embarrassing fashion with not enough votes in the House to indict. Can't stand Trump, but I think this is a bad move. The whistleblower's report was the bait and Trump will make Democrats choke on it.
2
The whole thing is making us ask "Where are we going?", "What does it mean to be an American?
Come on up for the rising.
The 2020 election is going to come down to a few States, especially those States in the rust belt, those states where people are angry, they were angry before Obama, they are angry now, they will be angry tomorrow, Trump tapped into that anger. Trump has been telling lies to those people for 3 years. Biden can win them over by telling the truth. People are worried about jobs and health care, the people of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio, truly have the future of this country in their hands. Biden speaks the language of these people, and he has been fighting the fight for these people his whole life, and this is why Trump feasr him. Trump accusing Biden of a crooked business deal is like Don Corelone accusing someone of being in the mob. Trump is a man who still refuses to reveal his tax returns. If we are going to talk about honesty and caring about this country Biden wins against Trump in a landslide. As voter, never make this about Biden, It's always about Trump, and Biden will defeat Trump.
1
It's much better for Biden to deal with this now than, as Trump would have it, in the presidential campaign. Trump's criminal assault on Biden and his son is a civil rights violation and the focus should be on Trump's criminality. Nonetheless, Biden needs to get ahead of this story now before reporters like New York Times reporter Ken Vogel start, as he seemed to threaten the other day on MSNBC, doing it first. When it comes to a repeat of "dirt" and mudslinging, Biden has a large capital of goodwill for all that has happened to his family over the years. Clearing his and his family's name now will only strengthen his candidacy heading into the primaries.
"I could see people who are already on the fence about him, maybe because of his long career in politics, his age, his ability to win this, kind of going, ‘Oh, great, we’re already starting this and he hasn’t even gotten the nomination..."
This comment is distressing. We should be standing behind Joe as he is being unfairly attacked, libeled may be a better, word for it. I know it is not the authors' intention to play into Trump's hands, but I think they are. Why? As they imply Trump regards Biden as his most daunting opponent. It's why he's going after him this way. This is not a time to cave in because Trump has a tantrum. What it is time to do, is to demonstrate he is lying about Joe.
1
For someone who has been in public life a long time, Joe Biden has managed to maintain a reputation that is relatively clean of corruption. I'm not sure how he's managed this because, even though he maintains a working class image, everyone around him has enjoyed tremendous success operating in areas where they almost certainly leveraged his power and connections. Look at his siblings, children, etc. and you'll find tremendous success in business, law, finance and, yes, lobbying. Somehow the press never ventured into this aspect of his life.
More than a decade ago I read an interview with Biden in, of all things, a car magazine. I was shocked by the cars that he enjoyed to driving because they tended to be in price ranges that didn't really match with the image he presented (note that he cultivated an image of a train-riding public servant). Further research indicated that he loved driving some of his brother's cars and a little more digging made clear exactly how wealthy Biden's family and friends have become.
18
Biden was losing to Warren before this scandal erupted. Trump may have helped create his worse nightmare — selection of Senator Warren as his Democratic opponent.
My prediction is that if he gets as far as the Presidential debates a year from now, that he will refuse to do a second or third debate. And once President, she will hold private citizen Trump and his family accountable for their actions, which is necessary to show the world how responsible Democracies work.
4
@Pat Choate
Warren will never win the electoral college - that is all that matters.
3
@Pat Choate
Didn't you learn anything about polls from 2016?
That said, it's still too early to tell -- and Warren still hasn't sealed the Black vote.
Another thing.
"Responsible Democracies" don't work on prophecies, pundits or projections.
So, just stay tuned.
1
Warren, Bernie and Kamala are rubbing their hands in anticipation of Biden's campaign imploding over the next few months. As outraged as one might get over the President daring to exploit a political opponents crimes abroad despite this being common practice in politics (Fusion GPS' Steele dossier, anyone?), the fact remains that Hunter Biden's activities put his father's campaign in dangerous territory during this primary. The other candidates are not saying anything publicly yet, but I'm sure they are just going to let itself play out and strike at the right time. Biden will tumble, and the raptors will pounce.
10
Biden is now presented with a face-saving way of resigning from the campaign he can not win for a job he is not physically or mentally strong enough for. He will be able to bow out to "spare the country" from the distraction and chaos of his and son Hunter's involvement in The Impeachment Story.
Trump is also presented with an opportunity for a face-saving resignation from office before heading into an election he will lose.
A win-win for the rest of us.
6
If there was a legitimate question about Joe or Hunter Biden, why not just get the FBI involved? Why go to the newly elected president of Ukraine and his brand new attorney general and request an investigation? Why extort them by withholding military funds?
Because Trump is not asking for a legitimate investigation, he is asking them to make up a story, manufacture evidence to support that story, and then maybe they will get their military funds reinstated. He can't do that with the FBI.
The sheer repetition of the investigation request makes it pretty clear what Trump wants: kompromat in exchange for military support.
5
with the transcripts released and easy to read, trump is going to win over the 20% democrats who oppose impeachment, the majority of independents that are opposed to impeachment and he will maintain support of almost all republicans. - those groups collectively constitute a majority. All of this will also provide a good tool for the republicans to target the newly elected democratic congressman in the swing districts. Pelosi impeach inquiry call to try to silence trump will cost her
7
I have been for Biden all along. I have posted here many times in his support. I am morally certain that he, himself, did no wrong and observed all the Ethical Rules. However, surely there is something unseemly about foreign companies employing the children of prominent American politicians at high salaries?
10
@Lefthalfbach. Although not a Biden supporter, I agree completely --it is unseemly for any of our politician's family members to be employed by foreign governments. Well said.
1
The ball is now in Biden's court. How he returns it is up to him and his campaign staff.
He has been handed a gift and a curse. Appropriately enough, this is a very big test. And it has come far earlier than I might have imagined.
The Gift - He is national front-page news and as Trump well knows, even bad news is good news.
The Curse - That he fails to use this moment to its fullest potential.
What Biden needs now more than ever are exceptional political strategists that not only plan well, but can anticipate all possible turbulence that this moment may present.
Warren is on the rise and Bernie is not yet in critical decline. If Bernie's support where to fall, his supporters will gravitate toward Warren and dramatically raise her numbers. Up until now, Biden is running against the two that are splitting their base. Were that base to unite behind a single candidate, Biden would be in a fight that would be difficult enough.
If Biden can't respond with "clarity" to Trump now, his presidential prospects are toast.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I am a Biden supporter.
2
In the rush to condemn and indict, let's not lose scope of the bigger picture here.
Namely that of a sitting U.S. President who once again has turned to a foreign government in order to ask a "favor" that will supposedly involve helping him to win what should be a free and democratic election.
Blame Joe Biden and his son as much as you like, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that Donald Trump is not only the one who's pulling the punches, but who has the Justice Department, the Republic Senate and the Supreme Court in his pocket.
And if something like this is allowed to go on unchecked and unabated, the only one who will be "hurting" is the United States of America -- and the Republic for which it stands.
12
The one outcome from Trump's latest fiasco is to prevent the other candidates from bringing up anything about Hunter Biden's fast and loose business practices. However, fast forward to primary season, it would not be surprising if his name will become more prominent in their attacks against Joe Biden.
3
@On the Ferry, but everyone who has tried to go after Biden on the Dem side has basically torpedo'ed themselves....
1
Biden will come out stained by this investigation and weakened as a force for transparency and honesty. He stands for nothing but the past and will not inspire Democratic voters or swing voters.
27
@Overton Window
And just what gives you the right (or knowledge) to speak for Democratic voters?
Just for the record.
This is STILL a Democracy.
2
"Unpredictable"
The outcome for Joe Biden is as predictable as the fact that the sun will rise here on the east coast, tomorrow morning.
Joe Biden is history insofar as his Presidential aspirations go; he needs to step aside and let Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren take the lead.
Regardless how successful he and his handlers may be, in keeping his sons' financial shenanigans in the Ukraine and China buried, the damage is done.
He should make a public statement indicating that he is stepping aside so the Democratic Party can focus its efforts on defeating Trump and restoring some semblance of decency back into our government.
28
I know people who support other candidates want this not to be the reality, but the truth is that The President who has the full polling resources of The Republican Party at his disposal, feared only one candidate enough to commit treasonous crimes against the United States. The candidate he feared was Joe Biden. I can only view this as Trump knowing Biden can and probably will beat him in the upcoming elections should he be the nominee and because of this Democrats need to nominate Biden full stop.
7
@Jennifer G
Do we want a president who is of sound mind, competent, and willing to do what has to be done (i.e. what the country needs), or do we want some sort of political gladiator who can beat Trump… and then what?
I will never vote for Biden (and I am not the only one to say that).
1
I look forward to the detailed story that details the efforts by the European nations and others regarding the corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor to put an end to the Trump narrative that Biden's conduct in Ukraine was an effort to protect his son. Also, it would be helpful to learn of the coordination of the Biden trip with the Obama administration and the state department. While there is an occasional mention that other counties were putting pressure on Ukraine to dismiss the prosecutor, it is time for a full story on the Biden trip. (as an aside remember that the Ukrainian leader is a former comedian. I would like to know what he told others after the Trump connversation)
8
I find the framing in this article frustrating and very much reinforcing the same false equivalency that the reporters pretend to be trying to get to the bottom of. They make the Biden campaign sound like it’s reeling, it’s getting weaker, when in fact it has had a decent summer and his popularity has been steady despite some ups and downs. The article is probing for vulnerabilities, and I worry that these young reporters, who substantially differ in age and political outlook from Biden, are unable to prevent their own biases from skewing the coverage. Disappointing from the New York Times .
8
@TMAttorney I agree. Ms. Glueck us unable to write a story on Biden without quoting an unnamed source with a negative comment or talking about what is being said "in private" in the Biden campaign.
2
Obviously Biden doesn't know how to manage his son but the democrats think he can manage the country. No way.
21
@rudolf
If there's anything "obvious" here -- it's that Donald trump is utterly unqualified to be President.
3
@rudolf
Not "the democrats", just the "republican-leaning self-styled democrats".
1
“Manage” his son? Hunter Biden is 49!
4
Unless Trump's secret plan was to ensure that Biden was the Democratic nominee, his Ukrainian hanky-panky seems to have backfired. Trump and Giuliani have made Biden an even more sympathetic character by sliming the surviving son of a man who has famously had quite a bit of family hardship.
Trump and Fox can keep spinning fairy tales about a vast left-wing conspiracy, but I don't think anyone's buying it.
6
@Joe S.
Biden's entire family of grifters was exposed a while ago by investigative journalists at The New Yorker, Politico, The Hill and other reputable news outlets.
The Uncle Joe shtick only worked because Obama was beside him. There is no Obama to save him now.
2
So we may be rid of Trump AND Biden? Makes me happy.
12
Wow! Trump tricks the House into investigating this Ukraine mess and the Biden family's unsavory connections and activities, in the process removing the one Democrat who outpolls him in key swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin. The nomination goes to Elizabeth Warren, who racks up millions more votes than Trump will or Biden would, in safely blue states like MA, CA, NY, NJ etc, but loses the Electoral College. Four more years! UFB.
17
@Richard
Since he is not in office any more, the House has no authority to investigate Biden's actions in the past.
And as we know from the transcript just released, Barr has declined to open an investigation into it.
Biden is toast. A sad end because nobody is going to believe that his son Hunter, kicked out of the Navy for failing his drug test, was selling anything but access for $600K per year. And then Biden got the prosecutor, who was looking into corruption at Hunter's employers, fired. And bragged about it on tape!
What a CoinkeyDink!
So now the Democrats must push Warren.
Hey, she will be our first Native American candidate for President just as she was the first Native American professor at Harvard!
Can she still refuse to release her employment documents?
It is unbelievable that the Democrats are fielding so weak a field that they must play IMPEACHMENT! as their last best hope.
18
30330: The amount of money Hunter Biden was making every two weeks after his father used U.S. taxpayer money to extort the Ukrainian government to fire the prosecutor looking into Hunter’s shady dealings. Now we finally understand where 30330 comes from.
18
From the article: "Hunter Biden’s work for MBNA briefly became an issue during his father’s campaign for the vice presidency in 2008, and Obama-Biden campaign officials defended it as within the bounds of ethical propriety."
"Within the bounds of ethical propriety". What weasel words and what a disgrace that the Obama campaign didn't disqualify Biden for the position of VP. When millions of Americans live in poverty, Joe Biden's son gets a $50,000/month position on the board of a Ukrainian gas/oil company. If that isn't graft and corruption I don't know what is, and if Joe Biden had any decency he would drop out of the race, today.
21
The media’s utter lack of curiosity about Hunter’s financial dealings is very telling.
Where are the NYT investigative reports on that?
26
Hunter has been forcing higher gas prices on poor vulnerable Ukraines way above market prices!
2
@JQGALT
Hunter Biden is not running for the presidency.
2
Biden is the victim of republican whataboutism! Yeah, our guy is dirty but what about Hillary, Obama, Benghazi, emails, the Gulf Stream, and Santa? Pathetic!
3
.Absolutely nothing which has happened so far makes me think Biden can not do battle with Trump. I am not so sure about the rest of the field. As the opinion piece which appeared last week in the Times and other surveys by political scientists show, the candidate who is most likely to pick up the states won by Trump in 2016 is Biden. I hope the Democrats do not decide to do battle with a candidate who is so far left that Trump will be the more appealing choice.
3
A. Whatever Hunter Biden may or may not have done nothing I've read holds a candle to Trump's own family.
B. Trump installs his family in the White House. I don't expect Biden to do the same.
4
The Dems can’t go into denial and act like Trump’s cruelty, nastiness, and criminality is the only narrative. Every political family has problem relatives—and If his dad had not been a prominent politician Hunter Biden could not have made money the way he did. This is not his dad’s fault, but it is his problem. And it is another reason that this smart and good hearted man—whom I adore and respect—should end his campaign.
15
@Cathryn
Yep. The upside is it is happening now while there is still time to choose an alternative nominee.
Apparently this is what Trump wants, i.e. Warren as opposed to Biden, but the old saw about being careful what you wish for applies.
5
I like the Ukraine’s President response that the only person who can pressure him is his son. Good one!
It's the day the Bidens knew was coming. And of their own making as well. Did they really ever expect the press to look the other way and give them as pass forever? Maybe if Joe had simply retired the press would have written it all off as old news. But, by again deciding to run, he opened the door again and the independent press knows it has an obligation to ask questions. Maybe Joe had nothing to do with his son's business dealings in Ukraine. Maybe the Biden name was more than enough in itself. But the press knows it has an obligation to dig in or else be open to charges of neglect at best, or bias and poor journalism at worst. Then again, maybe the press does not care and no longer worries about being independent and impartial. Seems like it to many.
17
Yeah, the shark might ignore Trump and eat Biden.
11
With this latest outrage, Trump has created the “emails/Benghazi/lock her up” variant for tarnishing Biden as corrupt, even though it’s classic Trump/Fox distortions and lies. People are paying attention where they didn’t before. It’s brilliant manipulation of both media and Democrats.
Will the New York Times enable Trump’s strategy or drop the veneer of neutrality and unrelentingly drive home the Trump smear campaign targeting Biden is a baseless con?
2
I understand the extreme, radical right-wing has created a task force to "defend" the odious narcissist (??). They even have a name for the group, The Ponzi-Trump Defense Scheme. Quite appropriate I must add.
Funny... Trump ASSUMES that Biden is dirty when it comes to family dealings with another country since HIS family IS ALWAYS dirty when it comes to dealing with them! Such hipocrisy. Need to get rid of this ruling crime family in the White House.
3
Well before this erupted, Politico published an investigation of the dealings of the Biden family:
Biden Inc.
Over his decades in office, ‘Middle-Class Joe’s’ family fortunes have closely tracked his political career.
By BEN SCHRECKINGER August 02, 2019
Excerpts
The pattern of dubious associations and possible conflicts of interest would continue later with Hunter’s foreign dealings, which led him to a lucrative appointment to the board of a Ukrainian oil company and to deals with firms connected to the Chinese state.
James Biden landed a new gig. Despite a lack of experience in the construction industry, he was named an executive vice president at HillStone International, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based construction firm Hill International, in November 2010.
In June 2011, the firm landed contracts worth an estimated $1.5 billion to build homes in Iraq. At the time, HillStone had little homebuilding experience. Joe Biden was leading the administration’s Iraq policy. The firm denied that the vice president’s position helped it land the deal, "
Read the full article at
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/08/02/joe-biden-investigation-hunter-brother-hedge-fund-money-2020-campaign-227407
21
Oh my god! This is snowballing!
2
Joe, as much as I like you, taking down Trump is bigger than you.
1
So long, Joe.
13
"the central message of Mr. Biden’s appeal to Democratic voters: that the country is threatened by an out-of-control presidency, and that ousting Mr. Trump is more important than any other policy goal Democrats might share."
If so, then how about Biden withdraws and throws his support to a progressive, say Warren?
Well, no, what he really means is:
1) Ousting Trump is more important than any complaints about Biden; and
2) Ousting Trump is more important than anything that progressives want, so they should give it up and accept corporate establishment Democrats.
I want to be rid of this mess, including Trump, as much as anyone. However, I think it is corporate Democrats who should suck it up this time, not progressives. It is our turn.
6
My fear and prediction:
1) The resulting intense scrutiny of Hunter Biden will result in exposure of ethically questionable, if not illegal, actions. This is based on my assumption that virtually "none" of the connected, ruling, elite business people in this country could withstand such scrutiny.
2) The narrative among Republicans then plausibly (by Republican standard at least) becomes patriot Trump heroically standing up to such corruption.
3) Republican representatives and senators, having that reed to cling to, maintain their unanimous, lock-step support of Trump, as do Republican voters.
Nixon's ouster and resulting (temporary) political realignment was a result of substantial numbers of former supporters switching sides. There was, however, no FOX "news" in 1973 and I see little to no chance of that happening this time.
Come November 2020 we'll be right where we are now: facing an existential battle between two constituencies, close to equal in number, who despise each other. The best one can hope for is that disclosures unearthed during impeachment process will at least wound Trump enough to peal off a bit of his less committed supporters thus compensating for the increased rage, energy and turnout among the true believers.
This is not an argument against impeachment, rather a cry of despair at the state of or polity.
6
What is undisputed is that Biden's son had a lucrative job while Biden was Vice President. This job was with a Ukrainian energy company, which undoubtedly could be affected positively or negatively by American policy decisions. Biden's son had no prior expertise or knowledge of natural gas or energy. His sole "qualification" was that he was the son of a sitting Vice President.
It has all the appearance of a no show job that put the son on a retainer of some sort to have influence on US policy.
This situation results in numerous issues that would be of interest to Democrats in deciding who they want their nominee to be.
This can of worms had no wide spread exposure to date. But the more it gets looked at in the context of a Trump impeachment, the more questions there are concerning how the son got this job, and what did he do for his $50,000 a month. These are corruption questions, best answered by the Ukrainians themselves looking into it.
A police officer might get investigated for mistreating a bank robber. But that does not change the fact that the bank robber is a bank robber.
Biden is among the front runners at this time in the Democratic 2020 race. Democrats concerned about corruption should want to get to the bottom of the story. But I doubt Joe himself wants more attention paid to the bottom of the story.
24
@RM
Being in Vermont, you have a greater say than most of us in choosing our next president. Think twice about Biden.
This whole mess smells of the kind of casual corruption that helped get Trump elected, not that he's any better in this regard. We need a candidate who is squeaky clean and who pledges to ensure this does not happen after 2020.
I think Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that.
7
As someone who already has a Biden for President bumper sticker on my car, I fear that Hunter Biden is an Achilles heal in the same way that Huma Abedin and her husband contributed to the downfall of Hillary Clinton and weakened her defense on email usage. Also, we women who had naively hoped the country was ready for the first female POTUS, now see on the horizon, another worthy candidate in Elizabeth Warren ( not to mention Amy Klobuchar), people who, regardless of their policies, come across as fresh, bright and much more articulate. The men are talking about "punching back", but the war of words is better won by articulate candidates. Most of the candidates in the last debate appeared more articulate, adept and nimble than Biden. I hate to say that. We have underestimated how unready the country is to be lead by a woman.
5
This article simply plays into Trump's hands by advancing his narrative and goal in this whole matter, which is to smear Biden and run him out of the race before any votes are cast, as he did so easily with Jeb Bush in 2016.
The obvious goal of Trump and the GOP is to make "Ukraine" the "Hillary emails" of 2020, the dominant media narrative with which to attack Joe Biden's character.
If successful, this will allow him to run against Elizabeth Warren, the person he feels is the weaker candidate to run against in the Midwestern swing states.
Ironically from a historical perspective, this same type of behavior is what caused the whole Watergate scandal, when Nixon used illegal tactics and dirty tricks to run the stronger Ed Muskie out of the 1972 primary race in order to run against the weaker candidate, George McGovern.
And, finally, journalists must be aware of the fierce online pushback that is occurring in the Twitterverse against any attempt by the media to employ the tactics of false equivalence and both-sidesism. There is still a lot of residual anger on the left about how Hillary was treated by the media in 2016.
7
Joe Biden simply is not the choice most Democrats endorse. He should drop out of the race. This situation underscores his baggage of years, which would not count so much against him if he did not think like a politician of 20 years ago. The USA needs change now obviously. The country is out of control with a criminal executive enabled by a nothing Senate. There is no universal health care, gap between rich and non-rich is immense and widening, our college bound and recent grads are mired in debt and the country has lost its allies. The USA is no longer a viable democracy. We need strong new leadership. Warren/Buttigieg with a cabinet including Harris, Klobucher, Castro, Booker, Beto O´Rourke even could be a great Governor or serve somewhere. But Joe Biden is the choice of none but the fearful, everybody I know from ages 90 to 16 prefers new progressive blood. To save US democracy.
4
I look forward to an age of transparency, where politicians don’t become millionaires through ‘public service’.
I look forward to any ethical way we can eliminate the wrong politician to save life on earth from becoming president.
4
Sen. Warren will be our next President. Joe Biden's bid for the nomination will not go much longer after his brother and son's corruption is exposed.
Sen. Warren is the only person who can bring the country together and get us moving forward.
3
Incisive article. The sins and crimes of the son shouldn’t be visited upon the father. Trump’s desperate attempts to highlight corrupt Biden family business dealings in Ukraine and China will fail. Family members of leading politicians and officials have a right to profit from their family connections; conflicts of interest should be overlooked on economic and national security grounds.
2
If nothing else, the Trump presidency has proven that optics matter.
The question now is whether Joe Biden's optics will be tainted by the Ukraine situation and the endless amount of ink and airtime that will be spent on it.
The basic tenets of journalism will dictate that, in their background, many stories about the Trump impeachment will inevitably feature the words "Ukraine," "corruption," and "Biden."
This will have the unfortunate side effect of keeping doubts about Hunter Biden's ethics in plain public view throughout the primary campaign (and likely beyond).
And if Trump does survive the fallout from the impeachment inquiry, you'd better believe he'll be hammering hard at the issue on the campaign trail (and his followers will eat it up).
Maybe this will have the consequence of making Biden unelectable.
And maybe that was Trump's play all along.
4
Biden was counting on Trump to stonewall , and thereby provide him with a protective cover for his very shady dealings with Ukraine. But what happens if Trump does not stonewall, and it becomes absolutely clear to the US electorate that Joe Biden - not unlike Hillary Clinton - was engaged in some pretty unsavory self-dealing while holding high US office? Biden definitely miscalculated. Because Trump is not stonewalling, and all the media collusion and coverup in the world will not prevent the voter from knowing the truth.
3
I like Biden, but there are two things that are troubling about this. First, it plays into Trump's narrative of a rigged system. Hunter Biden was paid $50,000 a month to sit on the board of a foreign company while is father was Vice President. What are the chances he would have gotten that position if he had had a different last name? And second, I really don't like Biden's attack on the press. Very Trump-like. Moreover, it's a bad move. When you attack the press the press (as it should) just doubles down on the questions. It wonders what you have to hide.
6
The more leftist elements of the mainstream press have not shied away from making vicious and demeaning comments about the President's adult children and son-in-law, so any attempts by them to tip-toe around Vice-President Biden's son traps the media in the act of being partisan. On the other hand, the behavior or career of any politicians' family members, although fair game for reporters, should never be taken as an indicator of the nature of the politician. You can pick your friends, after all, but not your family. So the candidate Joe Biden should welcome press inquiries into his son, and, instead of being offended or defending him, simply emphasize that the son's career was of his own making, and that he never had an official role in government or on his staff.
1
This isn't about Biden. It is about a President using taxpayer money as a bargaining chip to get a foreign leader to dig up dirt on a potential opponent and influence a US election.
Biden's initial reaction wasn't impressive. His comments should focus only on the illegality of the President's actions in the Ukraine communications, over and over and over and over, the same soundbite every time.
"Mr. Ducklo declined to say whether the campaign had vetted Hunter Biden’s business dealings and said the media should not be asking questions like that."
Well, now voters wonder even more than ever about Joe Biden. No influence? Just the fact that Joe Biden was VP and is potentially may be the next president may be more than enough influence to help his son and family's fortunes. It's the business of politics as usual. It's like sausage making, only worse.
7
Interesting to see how far Joe Biden's influence goes in connection to his son's lobbying efforts vis a vis the Ukrainian government. The Democrats have unwittingly opened a Pandora's box that might backfire spectacularly & provoke the mortal wound to Biden's presidential campaign. It will put an intense beam for everyone to see, exposing a political system where money translates directly into political power and a financial system where money rewards the sociopathic drive to do whatever it takes to get ahead. Hopefully people will become aware that they are ruled by a loose coalition of immensely wealthy sociopaths who are naturally incentivized to keep the public poor in order to retain rulership with one the worst electoral system in the western world and a rigidly-enforced two-party system in which both parties collaborate in a good cop-bad cop routine to advance the interests of the plutocrats who own them both. People will realize that corruption is legal in America, and money in politics has given the wealthy many orders of magnitude & more influence over US policy and behavior than ordinary Americans ever hope to have.
8
The political madness and hypocrisy has reached new heights.
Didn't the prior administration enlist the help of foreign countries to investigate candidate and President-elect Trump?
In both instances, wasn't their credible indicators of potential wrongdoing?
Here, Biden has admitted a quid pro quo -- fire your top prosecutor or no loan guarantees. How is that different than the alleged quid pro quo (of which no evidence has yet surfaced) of holding up aid to encourage assistance in an investigation?
We are in Alice In Wonderland-world, to be sure. I can only hope that both parties come tumbling down in all of this.
7
How sad that an impeachment involving Trump's hight crimes should necessitate Biden defending himself against Trump's false accusations.
Yes, and part of that test is whether or not Biden will explain what exactly his son was doing in Ukraine, and why the government and/or large corporations were putting him on boards of directors.
This is one of the reasons Trump was elected -- not that his kids are any better in this. But these are casual appointments of family in high-paying places where -- rightly or wrongly -- it is assumed that they can influence their powerful parents. It smells of corruption, plain and simple.
Americans are rightly outraged by all the activities Trump's children are up to. Even though his father apparently did nothing wrong, I'd like to see that same outrage focused on Biden's son.
6
I have been getting a very strong feeling that the Democratic National Committee is once again set up to bungle the nomination process in favor of Joe Biden. Will these people ever learn? If the Trump election has shown us anything, it is that the little people hate establishment politicians. Even some of Obama voters went for Trump in 2016.
Media is equally to blame here. Why is Joe Biden suddenly a front runner? The primaries haven't even started yet and you are prepping the stage for Biden's nomination.
This 'ramming the nomination of establishment candidate down your collective throats' is not stopped immediately, rest assured Trump will sail to victory again. And don't try telling the little people how they are obliged to vote blue through and through in 2020 if you can't even be ethical enough to allow for the primaries to decide the winner. Nuff said.
7
Sins of the son, eh? Well, I for one have had far too much of Ivanka and Jared to give any of this a free pass. I miss the good ole days of Chelsea Clinton getting in trouble for not wearing a bike helmet. That was big news for me as a 10 year old!
Great reporting. Keep digging on Trump, and while you're at it keep digging on Biden.
3
Absence of "evidence" re. the Hunter Biden topic in no way means said evidence will not be found. It is not an exoneration; merely a statement re. current factual knowledge.
2
"He and his advisers have long feared that Hunter Biden would become a target for political opponents..."
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
"Associates say Mr. Biden is infuriated by Mr. Trump’s conduct and astonished by the president’s willingness to dismiss some of the most basic ethical lines in American politics."
If you're really astonished that Trump would go after your ethically-challenged son, then maybe you aren't as ready as your claim to be President.
7
We need a young President, from FACEBOOK/ GOOGLE generation. Not the people in their seventies. They should retire and apply for social security.
2
Biden runs stronger in the national polls against Trump than all other candidates, including Elizabeth Warren.
These polls measure popular vote--and we know from 2016 that a close popular vote win for the Democratic candidate means an Electoral College win for Trump.
Trump would still be stonewalling the Ukraine material if he didn't think the release would help him by hurting Biden's candidacy.
3
"Associates say Mr. Biden is infuriated by Mr. Trump’s conduct and astonished by the president’s willingness to dismiss some of the most basic ethical lines in American politics."
Has Joe Biden been asleep for the last two and a half years?
78
@Vin
Infuriated because his son is implicated.
3
Biden is toast - no matter what happens to Trump - he will not be getting the nomination, because there will be issues with how his son was getting the work. That is why the intelligence guys did not want to talk - they knew they would be making themselves an enemy of both parties.
Prior to this disclosure, Biden would have been the obvious choice. He was, in fact, clearly the leader in the polls. I can't help but wonder, if the source of the leak was Hillary Clinton.
Without Biden, there is a good chance there will be no first vote winner at the Democratic Convention, and the super-delegates will be back in play. Don't be surprised if Clinton "pops up" to save the party.
Did you wonder who was behind the "Hillary" really won movement? Hillary, of course. She needs to take the posture that she was not really defeated, to get the nomination again.
The irony of all this, is that while he may be impeached, Trump will probably survive the Senate vote, and go on to trounce Hillary again.
Note: the popular vote counts in some other country - but not in ours. It is totally irrelevant. Losing is Losing - there is no singing and dancing around it.
35
@Peter Zenger Biden was never the obvious choice. He is simply from another era in his thinking. The US needs triage and big change.
5
@Peter Zenger Joe was in Congress for close to four decades before becoming VP. He has a lot of allies, I wouldn’t underestimate his chances just yet. Old Washington still has a lot of pull. Look at Speaker Pelosi.
2
@Peter Zenger
The same people who claim to give a hoot about the popular vote believe Brexit should not be honored.
The highest turnout in decades (72%) and yet it's considered low, and let's do it over until we get an answer we want.
Read the New Yorker article. The question you should ask yourself is how did Hunter Biden manage to make millions of dollars while having a major drug/alcohol addiction & little experience in any of the fields he pursued.
His problems started long before his brother’s health problems.
So Don Jr & Ivanka are fair game but not Hunter Biden?
(This doesn’t excuse Trump’s supposed request of the Ukrainian President. That needs investigation.)
82
@Gailmd
Since Joe Biden was a clear facilitator in his son's business dealings, if Trump merits investigation, then so does Biden.
It doesn't matter that he's not VP any more. Using your office for repeated instances of personal gain is a crime, no matter if it's the Presidency or Vice Presidency.
Of course everyone knows that Biden will never be investigated. Lutsenko, the Ukrainian prosecutor who "exonerated" Hunter's firm, will be silenced.
Lutsenko has already said that the Obama administration gave him a no-prosecution list and withheld funds from his office.
6
I don’t think I missed it; but, Biden did not address his involvement with helping to call the Ukrainian wolves off his son, did he?
Biden’s statements that he never had discussed his son’s Ukrainian business deals with him frankly don’t ring true......Hunter flew on Air Force 2 with Biden to the Ukraine when the incident in question occurred. I do it think the American people like politician nest feathering.
36
@Truthbeknown
The prosecutor in question had a such a reputation for corruption that even the Ukrainians wanted him removed.
What part of that do regressives not understand?
@Truthbeknown
The Ukrainian prosecutor had already closed the investigation before Biden and others called for his ouster. So Biden would have tried to protect his son from a closed investigation. That means that Biden wanted to oust the prosecutor because he was not investigating his son. Republicans are lying and fabricating. As usual
1
Trump did not push the House to seek his impeachment. The Democrats have wanted to do this from the day he was elected. It was an objective in search for a plausible reason. Now the Democrats think they have been able to cobble one together. They forget, however, that impeachment winds up in the Senate, and there is not much likelihood it will succeed.
Wouldn't it be better to spend time more productively? Isn't there some legislation or such that needs attention?
23
@jpduffy3
Yea, tell the republican-led senate that there's legislation that needs attention. See how far you get with that one.
3
When can we enact The Green New Deal... because life on earth, maybe all life in the universe, is in peril...?
@jpduffy3: The members of the House HAVE done their jobs by passing legislation, lots of it, but McConnell will not bring it to the floor of then Senate for a debate, let alone work cooperatively with the House to pass legislation that benefits all Americans. There is absolutely too much power concentrated in the role leader of the Senate.
1
Too late to the race once again. Thank you Gerald for all your hard work over the many decades but we need someone to steps ahead not two steps behind. Thank you for your service
1
Hunter Biden may or may not be guilty in using his father's name or contacts to enrich himself. That would not be such a departure from the practices of the political/business class in the country.But it is irrelevant to the much larger question whether Trump was using pressure on a foreign government to get information to help his own re-election campaign. That question and answer are of constitutional importance and need clarification. The rest is strictly a diversion and secondary to the larger constitutional issue at stake.
13
@s.chubin
But it is irrelevant
Of course it is, but regresives won't let it go. It's like complaining about an ant on your front lawn.
2
@s.chubin
It's actually not irrelevant, because Biden is accused of (and admitted!) of using his office to pressure foreign government to squash investigations they wanted to do, just because they involved his son.
Even the Ukrainian prosecutor who "exonerated" his son said that the Obama administration withheld funds from his office and handed him a no-prosecution list.
This is not a diversion, it's also of constitutional importance.
3
@Viv
Biden DID NOT "admit to "using his office to pressure foreign government to squash investigations they wanted to do, just because they involved his son. "
What is of constitutional importance is that the President of the United States has abused his power as POTUS, in an effort to discredit a political opponents, placing his own interests above those of the country which he is supposed to represent,
and has broken the laws of this country for his own political gain.
"Mr. Biden is infuriated ... and astonished by the president’s willingness to dismiss some of the most basic ethical lines in American politics." This sums it up. Biden still doesn't understand what he, and all the rest of you, is facing.
In Trump's world there are no ethical lines, no rules, no out-of-bounds. In it, to win it. No more, no less. Trump has understood that Americans absolutely adore winners and, once you've won no-one cares much how you did it.
In the same vein, it may be comforting to start impeachment proceedings, a claim to the moral high ground even, but Pelosi and all the others should be ready for this to get real ugly, real quick.
So it can't be a token effort: if they go for this, they should be willing to go all out. Otherwise Trump, Fox News, the docile Rep's and the ever spoiling for a fight troll army will eat them up alive and use the rebound to re-elect Donald the Magnificent and undo the 2018 House gains.
8
Trump’s move to conflate Hunter Biden’s dealings with those of his father have given permission to the Biden campaign to do the same with Trump’s adult children. The difference is that all three Trumplettes and their old man are peas in a pod — all as crooked as corkscrews.
8
@Henry Silver Noting your fear already, Ivanka is indeed the perfect choice for the first woman president - in a decade or two.
5
@L osservatore LOL. That will not happen. I know you think just cause Trump won, it's time for the dynasty now. But dynasty days are over and the old people now will be dead and gone in a few decades and the Trump name long forgotten and dismissed.
2
In order to set an example, it is critical that Vice President Biden and his son Hunter appear at Congressional hearings into the Ukraine and answer questions regarding the Millions of dollars which Hunter received from a Ukrainian gas corporate which was under criminal investigation and Vice President Biden’s role in firing the prosecutor. It’s difficult to believe that Hunter, who has a long history of illegal drug abuse, was paid tens of millions of dollars for his outstanding judgment.
67
@Common Ground
The prosecutor had already closed the investigation into Biden Jr.'s company BEFORE Biden and the world community called for his firing. So Biden wanted another prosecutor to open up the investigation again? Doesn't make sense. Republican lies and Fabrications.
1
@Common Ground
NO IT ISN'T
Trump and faux newz propaganda succeeded in planting a seed of doubt about someone who had nothing to do with this.
@Common Ground
What's difficult to believe is that your focus is on Joe & Hunter Biden,and not on Trump.
3
How quickly we forget. During the Maidan demonstrations there were clashes with the police and near the end several police officers were shot by snipers.
This violence precipitated the end of the Yanachovich presidency, even though he had already reached a compromise with the opposition to step down and call for early elections. However, the elections never took place.
The violent flair up precipitated a coup in which an interim president seized power. He happened to be the favorite of the State Department, a fact born out by a phone call intercepted by the Russian's and publicly released.
On the eve of what would have been a peaceful transition of government, the US fomented a coup to ensure that their favorite candidate would prevail. No one ever discovered who shot the police officers but some suspect they came from the opposition party who we supported.
It is against this backdrop that Biden's son just gets appointed to a high level position in the main energy company in the Ukraine.
Coincidence? Maybe. An effort for the new leaders to curry favor with the Obama administration?Maybe.
A quid pro quo? In the mirky world of power politics one hand often washes another and sometimes strong-arms another.
While Trump's behavior is sleazy, Biden's is no better. If Congress is honest in their investigation of Trump, they must also ask whether Biden's son received a powerful and financially lucrative job as a favor to the then Democratic administration.
24
@Drspock
a fact born out by a phone call intercepted by the Russian's and publicly released.
Yea, sure, interecepted by the Russians. If they have that phonecall intercepted, they have others but this was the only one the "released?"
You know you can't trust the Russians. So don't even go there.
1
@matty
That's right. The Russians derailed the most qualified presidential candidate in history.
2
The noise you hear is Joe Biden's political death rattle. Who cares what Joe Biden "backs"? What does that mean anyway? What possible weight does that carry? Is he doing a "Trump like deflection" to get the spotlight away from any dodgy dealings in Ukraine? IDK. I do know he is no longer in government (at least not in the U.S. and no one knows what the future may bring, but if the Democrats don't stop shooting each other in the feet the future may look pretty much like the present. And we we likely see the backs of likes of Biden and Warren.
22
Hunter Biden may not have done anything illegal, but taking a job for $50,000 a month absolutely reeks of influence peddling. And then Joe quashed someone investigating Hunter's company. While that may have been done for other reasons, the appearance of impropriety is obvious. Joe Biden isn't going to come out of this looking any better than Trump to the swing voter. There goes the candidate who had the best chance to stop Trump.
94
@Stan Frymann
I completely agree. For all of Trump's odious machinations, the Hunter Biden story is a problem for Biden. It reinforces Biden's long history of coziness with banks and chummy style with leaders of other countries. Further, Joe's brothers, Frank and James, have been making money off their relationship to Joe for years.
This isn't going to end well.
20
@Stan Frymann Joe did not quash someone investigating Hunter's company. He squashed someone NOT willing to fight corruption in the Ukraine. A complaint by the EU and World Bank urged the US to use leverage and we did. We got the guy out and a more serious person in. This move had nothing to do with Hunter's company and he wasn't even with the company at the time. What I do agree with is that Hunter's position with Burisma was a bad look and maybe a bad decision but it is not corrupt or criminal.
5
@Stan Frymann Yes we really need for Biden to drop out of the race. Do your duty and appear at hearings then retire. Take a nice ambassadorship.
9
Well,,,at least today Trump is no longer saying Joe Biden should get the electric chair. We're making progress.
2
Thank God. Impeachment has begun
5
Speaker Pelosi got it right: No-one is above the law! Even those who have spent a lifetime bullying, bluffing and breaking the law. Even those who think they are protected by a corrupt AG and a post-it note that says a corrupt president cannot be indicted. Conspiring with a foreign government to interfere in our elections is against the law, no matter how delusional you are.
7
Another unforced error by Biden. By far the better course was to not get involved with this, given that his son may not have ‘clean hands”....
23
Democrats, stop calling on people to cooperate with Congress. I'm begging you.
Make them cooperate. Force them to cooperate.
Fine them. Jail them.
Make this work.
You're finally here. Man up (in a gender non-specific sort of way), get it done.
I'm not talking about conviction. That's not your job.
But you must, you have no choice but to, run an aggressive, thorough, uncompromising trial.
You must bypass your egos and allow aggressive, experienced attorneys conduct interviews. You must make the best case you can.
Anything less, any distraction for politics, fashion, or personal reputation, and you will be lost.
Get. This. Done.
And keep your President-wannabes as far from this process as ever you can.
210
@oogada
Should there ever be a trial in the Senate, Senators Harris, Booker, Klebouchar, Sanders and Warren , all "presidential wannabes" will be part of the jury. My guess is that one may be the presidential candidate I doubt that such a trial may ever take place because Moscow Mitch will hold it up.
4
@oogada
YES!
Dems have piwer. Use it already.
Take off the gloves and fight. That's what we are all waiting for.
Trump has dozens of unscrupulous weapons and he never hesitates to use them.
He knew Biden could beat him. What happens? He pulls out his bag of dirty tricks and goes after him. It may bring Trump down in the end but he'll go down fighting.
Dems wait and see. Then tomorrow is a new scandal. They wait and see again and again and again.
That's why Trump calls them weak. And it works.
No more. Act now.
12
@oogada
Yes, call Hunter Biden.
This horror show is going on too long. trump should take a page from nixon's book and resign rather than face impeachment proceedings. This is a lawless president who has absolutely no right to hold office.
7
For the good of the nation, Trump should go ahead and resign. Enough is enough.
6
Just like Bill Clinton resigned, right? :-)
1
I don’t like conspiracy theories, but consider if the whistleblower did this solely to take Biden out of the race since it was looking like he was going to be the candidate.
I predict nothing comes of this’s for Trump, but that Biden is done.
32
@Jim how, from alllll of this do you get that? This boosts Biden. Who's talking about the other Dem nominee candidates in the last 24 Hours. And every time they mention the Bidens they say that none of the accusations from the right have been proven.
Will any of Joe Biden’s Republican friends in Congress join Biden in that?
These are the Republicans that Biden himself says he can work with. The same ones that will use every bit of their power, like Trump, to destroy him. Truth and abuse of power be damned.
It is interesting how Joe Biden only grows a backbone when it is an attack on him, but not all the previous attacks by Republicans on the Constitution and on due process in America.
What the Republicans are doing is wrong. They have failed their morals, for political gain. They have failed America. But when Joe only sees the light when it is himself at stake, I don’t see leadership. I see ego driving his pleas not country.
5
Biden's support for impeachment inquiry is weak compared to Warren's and several others. They demanded it without conditions. He makes it conditional on Trump "complying." How much and how does he have to comply, Joe? That gives Trump a wide opening to define compliance. Biden sounds naive. Trump complies with no one unless there is personal gain for him. How can Biden be unaware of that? Biden is already sounding wobbly.
2
yeah I noticed Joe's strange conditional language too, along with his initial hesitation. in the end there's not much difference constitutionally between Biden's Ukrainian shakedown and Trump's.
9
Even if the White House does release what it calls the transcript of the Zelensky phone call, what assurance would we have that it hasn't been doctored?
Much better -- ideal, in fact -- would be the audio recording, which could be tested for tampering by nonpartisan forensic experts, just as the Nixon tapes were. How else would we ever have known about the 18½-minute gap?
And let's see the whistleblower complaint, too. In full. No redactions. Which we -- through our elected representatives in Congress -- have every right to see. It says so in the Constitution.
This president and this "attorney general" (aka fixer) have repeatedly shown themselves unworthy of our trust. Too many lies. Too many distortions. Too many cover-ups. Too much stonewalling. Enough!
Sunlight, as Justice Brandeis said, is the best disinfectant. More than ever, we need the sunshine -- the truth -- that the Trump White House and "Justice Department" routinely block out. We're long, long overdue for a return of the rule of law.
10
Joe Biden has already done more for his country by the simple act of running for the nomination than Trump has done over his entire term in office.
9
I’m afraid this will backfire. The House may find enough evidence for a Senate trial but the Senate will find him not guilty, similar to Bill Clinton’s debacle. Trump will then tout his proven innocence and many will think it was an enormous waste of time by the Democrats similar to Republicans being blamed after Clinton was acquitted.
4
Say Biden becomes President, and the Republican Senate decides to investigate his son (and they would have a fully legitimate right to do so), and wants to question him about - oh, say the trips his son took on the government plane to China while Biden was VP.
I presume he'd be eager to cooperate?
8
@JRC
What leads you to believe that there will be a Republican Senate if Biden becomes President ?
How many trips have Trump's children taken on government planes ?!
The Trump ‘explanation’ that funds were frozen to get Europe to increase its support doesn’t wash. If this was leverage to get Europe to do more, why are we hearing about it just now? Why not use the bully pulpit to exert maximum pressure on allies? Why keep that secret? Because it never was the reason. Like everything else Trump, a bald lie.
4
So Biden supports Impeachment huh? Just amazing that a person who has been in politics all his life cannot read the tea leaves any better than this. He should be withdrawing from the race his Candidacy is Over.
25
Can you read polls Greg?
2
the ones that show Warren suddenly overtaking Biden in Iowa, yes we do, and so we must see this as a desperate act by Biden that will be exposed in the Senate in a humiliating and demoralizing experience for the Dems.
3
Hey Democrats, lets not play impeachment musical chairs. Just impeach criminal Trump today, now, this very second.
So many Democratic politicians want to be "the one" who the history books will say was the deciding factor to get the House to vote yes. Nobody cares just impeach Trump.
3
I think you're relying on too many Senate Repubs falling in line with this. Get ready for a big disappointment.
The Biden & Son brand is destroyed so why not release the transcript.
13
Biden is good but his hope that GOP will work with him or open to collaboration; will not get him my vote.
1
Seems like a thin reason to me not to vote for a great Democrat who was a Vice President.
2
Enriching his kid on the U.S. taxpayers’ dime and he’s still a great Democrat?
... Wait! You’re right... Chelsea Clinton, Christopher Heinz... etc., etc., etc., ad nauseam.
1
Joe Hunter could go to jail.
9
How do you know?
2
Maybe I just don't get it but of all the candidates running Joe Biden seems like the mostr sensible and experienced. A Biden/ Warren team can clock Trump/Pence in '20 ---- IF Warren agrees to rein in the giveaway free stuff and stick to hammering Trump's malfeasance.
5
I want our tax dollars to be invested in our health care and in our children’s education. I will not vote for Biden.
4
@Iliipofhudson Taxes which support health care, education and infrastructure are the responsibility of a democratic state. You have drunk the kool.aid. The give-aways over the past 40 years have been to the uber wealthy and corporations who have quickly offshored their gains. The USA will sink - and has sunk actually - without health care for all and educational reform, without reining in corporate greed and reestablishing the rights of workers and professionals to decent living wages.
1
Something about the way Biden was poking his finger straight in to the face of the reporters yesterday while he was making his points sure gave me the creeps.
Trump should go down and so should Biden. He should have known enough to put the kabosh on his son's tangled web overseas. What is it with Ukraine that attracts corrupt political creeps. Do they actively recruit these guys?
8
@Billy
Corruption is how things get done to the East of Central Europe. Ukraine's corrupt roots are deep.
Americans are so ignorant of things like that.
Biden will be in no position to impeach anyone.
9
Thank you for your service, Mr. Vice President. Now please retire.
10
Biden is going to be investigated also. Right?
22
@Nana
Why? It's a trumpian fantasy that Biden was up to no good.
When there's a car accident you don't investigate the mechanic how had nothing to do with either car.
A corrupt Ukranian company paid Hunter Biden $50,000 a month, “clearly to be selling influence” to his father’s administration.
That’s the real scandal – and the American people deserve answers!
35
@P&L
NO IT IS NOT
Why are you jealous when Republican lobbyists make millions per month?
Sure Joe. But I have a piece of advice: Do you see all of your Republican "friends across the aisle" throwing you under the bus over this Ukraine intervention? Graham, Cornyn, your buddy Moscow Mitch and others? You have no friends over there. Those days are over. So put up your dukes and fight.
13
Biden’s downfall
20
A rather curious and unconvincing argument by Trump. He held up aid to Ukraine because Europeans weren't helping? Doesn't that put Ukraine in more, not less, need of aid? And is there even a hint of evidence that Trump eventually gave the aid because the Europeans changed their position? Does he think us idiots? Okay, okay, are we all idiots? As the great Clown likes to say, we'll see....
3
Why is Ukraine so important to Trump and Putin? It's at the heart of Trump-Russia, as I note here https://realcontextnews.com/how-cohens-and-manaforts-ukraine-ties-tell-the-deeper-story-of-trump-russia-and-the-mueller-probe/ Also, as Giuliani embarrasses himself over Ukraine and Biden, a look at Rudy's own shady ties to Ukraine and the Russian mafia https://realcontextnews.com/rudy-giulianis-kislin-connection-raises-issues-for-his-role-as-trumps-russia-lawyer-exclusive-analysis/ And with Trump using his official power as POTUS in conducting foreign policy to target Joe Biden, we may have his most explicit attempt to make govt into his own personal political tool for hurting his political enemies, part of a trend with him/GOP I note here https://realcontextnews.com/trump-gop-destroying-the-pillars-of-democracy/ On impeachment, I believe that Trump should have been impeached some time ago, but practical considerations make this issue much more complicated, as I noted before here https://realcontextnews.com/the-impeachment-of-donald-trump-russias-victory/
4
Trump should be impeached.
And Biden should drop out.Otherwise this will become an exercise in false equivalency, and "what about XXXX? ism"
Biden should take that argument off the table by leaving a race that he is showing everyday he is not the best person to run.
And lets face some hard facts: is there anyone who really thinks Hunter Biden would have been named to the Board of Directors of a Ukrainian gas company if his name were "Smith"?
Is Biden so tone deaf that he should not have known better than to demand the prosecutor's filing knowing his son was under scrutiny?
14
@nub Yes. This is the moment for Joe Biden to drop out and for all the Democratic candidates to get behind Warren, with plenty of great talent for VP, Secretary of State, HUD, Education. I´d ask Paul Krugman of this paper to be Secretary of Treasury. That is how we can win this disaster and remake the US. We need big changes to enable a 21st C democracy.
1
Please go away Joe.
22
We keep allowing DJT to push the envelope and each time he pushes further. The House must push back to avoid being feckless. Start impeachment already and allow the process to open the collection of evidence that has been stymied so far. It is time.
4
Indication that a transcript of a phone call would be released is simply, and again, misdirection.
4
Who designed this US government with so many Federal Government decision makers being political appointees of the President? There does not seem to be proportionate power of the 3 branches of government if so many levers are controlled by the Executive branch that they can stonewall most everything.
PS- I bet it was the same designers who did not put a time limit on the Senate acting on a Presidential Supreme Court nominee...That US Constitution, with all its supporting amendments and federal statutes, needs some serious revision !
1
Although there may have been a case for obstruction of justice from the Mueller investigation there was a coherent argument against pursuing impeachment after the findings were released. In the Ukraine case, if Trump was using U.S. financial aid as a quid pro quo for personal political gain the response by House Democrats is clear. Such an act is treasonous. Impeachment proceedings must begin. The rule of law as the foundation of our government must hold.
2
Biden is a political candidate, and the issue is personal to his family. He should recuse himself from comments, lest he be seen as manipulating things.
3
The Ukrainian government no doubt has their own tape and/or transcript of Trump's conversations. Let Trump release his transcript and let the world see how it compares to the Ukrainian information. This will turn out to be the Mueller Investigation on steroids. Stick a fork in Donald Trump, because he's done. So are Bill Barr, Mick Mulvaney and "yet to be determined."
4
Note Biden's weak demand. Warren and others strongly demanded impeachment. Biden, hedges, saying it depends on whether Trump cooperates. Whoever heard Trump cooperating about anything that doesn't benefit him? Biden sounds naive. Isn't he suspicious about Trump's new eagerness to cooperate? Trump is cunning and will exploit any leeway that Biden gives him. More evidence that for a fight with Trump, Biden is not the one.
1
Biden has to be careful here before trying to push this 'impeachment' noise too far on a duly elected (much to the chagrin of the establishment bureaucracy) POTUS who has been cleared from a tax-payer funded $35 million 'investigation'.
Why is there a near instantaneous investigations into one Party but a deafening silence when investigations are called into another Party for its shady, scandalous and outright corrupt and treasonous activities?
It is quite astonishing to watch this political clown show. The childish temper-tantrums and a burn the house down attitude on a near daily basis since November 2016 is causing so much damage to the image of the country far and abroad.
When will they realize or do they even care at this point?
3
Trump reminds me of one of those boxers, the kind that is so full of bravado outside the ring, but once they get hit with one punch to the jaw, they crumple up like an accordion. Now is the time for Biden to strike, Trump so fears him, that he basically broke the law to get some dirt on him. The one thing that Trump fears the most in this whole world would be to lose the election, that's his personal nightmare, and even if the democratic leadership doesn't know it, Trump knows in his Heart that Biden is going to beat him, and the closer we get to that election, the more Trump is going to panic, and the more mistakes he will make, and it wouldn't surprise me if the polls go completely against him, that he goes the bone spurs route, and opt out before he goes to war. Keep the pressure on Joe, you have him on the ropes.
3
First draft of today's message:
"'Mr. Trump, I did this twice and it was cool. I got China AND Ukraine to provide easy-money deals to my son using federal government money and power, and nobody said anything about it.
Surely you can admit all this and it'll go away.''
5
Agree what Trump did is impeachable.
The Democrats cannot, however, let the Biden family off the hook, otherwise the false equivalence, "what about xxx?" arguments will derail the topic into shouting match achieving very little.
Is there anyone who believes Hunter Biden would have been named to the Board of Directors of a Ukrainian gas company if his name were "Smith"?
Was Joe Biden so tone deaf that he could not have known better than to call for the prosecutor's firing in Ukraine?
The last thing we need is another amateur hour Democratic response for Trump's penchant for slinging mud while wallowing in the pig sty.
1
Joe should keep his mouth shut until the whole story is known. I can't say that his own situation looks all that much more ethical.
5
Biden must be loving this, reaching for his moment in the sun.
He knows he benefits greatly from all of this, though many other candidates have been saying they'd favor impeachment for some time, while trying not to step boldly over Speaker Pelosi.
Well the spotlight may be on you soon sir, please do not blow it.
1
And we care that Biden would back impeachment because why exactly? He has no congressional role. He is a civilian He has a late-to-the-game opinion that directly affects his campaign.
Meaningless pap.
7
@Chris
"Meaningless pap."
How does one develop such an ego such that one
dismisses that which is published in the New York Times
as "meaningless pap."?!
Reminds of the day when McCain dropped everything to come back and fix Dubya's mess...
And didn't...
Events have just passed "Just Waiting for the Bus Joe Biden".
3
That Biden has heretofore been opposed to impeachment is just another mark of his political cowardice.
1
Trump and the evil GOP erased the damaging part any way that is why they were stalling . I don’t trust them he needs to be impeached.
Trump’s decision to release the transcript took a lot of air out of Biden’s news conference. And given the connection with Ukraine that both Bidens have, methinks the man doth protest too much.
4
In this process, I can’t wait to get everything there is to know of Hunter Biden’s appointment to the Burisma Group board at $50,000 / month, the real back story of a braggadocios VP Joe Biden claiming how he threatened to hold up a Billion Dollars in US aide to Ukraine unless the Ukrainian Prosecutor General who had, was, or about to investigate Burisma, and China’s Billion Dollar plus funding of a Hunter Biden hedge fund while Biden was VP.
This is going to get interesting!
7
agree that Dems' are overplaying their hand
1
The Republican Senate will see no evil, as they have consistently done these last few years. If reason prevails, it will be the end of this iteration of the party and Donald Cohn Trump.
I have little hope of reason prevailing.
Let’s be realistic about what transpired on both sides of the aisle.
There is a good likelihood Biden’s son gained cred with the Ukrainians due to good old nepotism, you know, the kind that puts Ivanka and Jared at the head of the line in certain global business ventures.
Biden himself though helped oust a criminal prosecutor who stole millions of dollars from Ukrainian citizens, and he did it while the USA was helping maintain Ukrainian sovereignty in the face of Russian subterfuge and aggression.
Trump on the other hand has portrayed Biden as being guilty of crimes which would get him the electric chair (!!!) and has spun an absurd narrative all the while trying mightily to conceal his actions to wreak havoc with Biden’s candidacy.
Anyone who sees an equivalence here is simply not working with facts, and in the face of lack of cooperation, the Democrats are on solid ground to begin impeachment process.
3
I respect Biden and the other candidates for taking a stand on this issue, but it begs the question for Democrats - if the next election somehow did end up being against President Pence instead of President Trump, who would we want the candidate to challenge him to be?
1
‘Now that the president’s lawlessness will affect me personally and professionally I MAY favor impeachment.’
Way to show leadership, Joe. Thank heaven there are two much more credible candidates.
4
Maybe Pelosi should wait, and determine if Trump as a candidate is the easiest Republican to defeat. Still investigate, but not yet impeach.
Joe Biden Will Back Impeachment --- IF Trump Does Not Comply With Congress? Oh, so if Trump complies in this case, then no reason to impeach? So we have to put up with him and just vote him out? Seems like a mild remedy. He needs repudiation, to preserve the democracy.
Now Biden will get more sympathy and support after Trump's insult to him, and he may very well be our next president.
After the Mueller report wasn't 'enough', seems we're doing everything possible to avoid impeachment.
Trump's abuses on top of prior abuses----the GOP and future swamp creatures are watching this whole thing, to see just how much abuse our democracy will put up with. Then they'll know how far they can go for power.
Let's stop saying 'if'. Stop tolerating abuse. Start the impeachment inquiry---call it an inquiry or whatever, but start it.
1
Apparently Pence is also complicit in Trump's Ukrainian 'misadventure.' As is Giuliani of course, whose reported meeting with a Ukrainian official in Madrid to this end has somehow got lost lost in the shuffle.
And to remind re another role of Giuliani: attorney for Purdue Pharmaceuticals who engineered a $600 million dollar settlement without admission of guilt!
3
Congressional aides could, already, write standup articles of impeachment. So, do so. And circulate that work product to members. Trump’s sociopathy grows by the day, grows by each timid response. Trump understands only black eyes. So give him one.
2
So what?
Somebody wake Joe Biden and let him know what year it is.
And then tell Joe Biden that he is no longer a U.S.Senator from Delaware nor Vice President of the United States.
20
If this goes on, both Trump and Biden will loose. Biden will not get the Democratic nomination and Trump will loose in 2020.
1
@Kodali
good.
1
Trump must be one of the least sympathetic people in politics and in the world.
Is there anything about this man that elicits warmth and caring?
Does he even have a soul?
8
And what about the need for us to understand his own behavior when he was VP, regarding his son and the Ukraine? I mean, it's all on tape, Biden recounting it all. No ambiguity there.
9
Stop Making Threats and Take Action Joe, and convince both parties in Congress to do the same!
Kind of ironic, really. Just when the politically experienced Joe Biden needed a boost in the polls to look more presidential than the other go-getter Democratic presidential contenders, what do you know, Trump handed it to Biden on a silver platter. This is Joe Biden's moment in history. Will he handle it?
Whatever Biden says, it feels like the long-awaited tipping point with Trump going too far and acting beyond the pale as a president finally has been reached.
The momentum is shifting away from the antics and tweets of Trump, and the will-she-or-won't she political calculus of Pelosi, and it is "barreling" (Time's word) in the direction of Trump's impeachment based on the Constitution and the future of law in this country.
While the Constitution and future of law should be bipartisan, the question is will it? This is presents a huge challenge to the GOP, although it really shouldn't be. What will the GOP do? Country over party, or Trump over party and country?
Sort of a final civics exam for the GOP.
32
@PB
Sadly, every indication from the G.O.P. has been that it will choose Trump over the United States.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid this will just harden the issue along partisan lines. Do you think for a second that ANY Republican member of the Senate would back something that might help Trump's likely 2020 opponent?
6
@MCW We already know the republicans are not removing Trump. That is not the point.
1
When someone as moderate, cautious, and proud of his bipartisanship as Biden finally joins the majority of Democrats in supporting an impeachment investigation, you know that there is no credible basis for a delay in starting the investigation.
One major failing in our system of government is the lack of a reliable method for removing a bad actor (such as DJT) should one cheat their way into the presidency. Let this be a warning. We need serious changes to prevent anyone from engaging in the kind of antics which have become routine under DJT.
38
Mueller couldn't indict the president. But it is Congress's responsibility to hold him accountable. The complaint must be released, and by Thursday. Impeachment hearings must begin. The time for wavering and waiting for the election is over... this president must be checked now.
19
Biden's remark is a bold one - in and of itself.
But is that the pressure that the Democrats (and all those still-unnamed Republican opponents) need for moving toward a concrete decision? How would the resolve take shape - and how long will it take to work it all out if the Articles of Impeachment are the way to go? - and then will it (unintentionally) collapse into a big, mere media fiasco - just to satisfying Trump as a consequence...? Democrats and Independents (and all those still-unnamed Republican opponents) have to take a more PUBLIC stand - in order to REALLY persuade the voters. It's that simple. We need some new profiles in courage.
5
With Boris getting his in the UK, and Trump getting closer to the edge could this be the week we begin the march in earnest to restore sanity, dignity, integrity in the English speaking world?
13
There's already been more than enough grounds for impeachment since the moment this man somehow entered the White House. If Obama had done even one of the things Trump had he would never have been elected.
8
Like the immortal Bryan Cranston in Argo: "This is the best bad idea we have sir."
Yes, Trump wants to be impeached. Yes, he will use it to his benefit with his base.
But he abused his power to try to hurt a political rival, and the DOJ is breaking the law by not turning the whistleblower complaint over to Congress. This is after Trump got away with asking for and receiving Russia's help in getting him elected in the first instance.
Maybe with impeachment under way, his ability to abuse his power to get re-elected will be at least slowed down.
At least they have to try. It's the best bad idea.
24
He must be confident in the dealings with his son in Ukraine - this episode is bound to reveal all there is to know on both sides.
Encouraged to see Biden finally stepping up to the plate to take it to Trump.
Let's see what you got Joe.
10
confident or oblivious
4
Interesting that he supports impeachment only after it affects him and his family. No problem with Trump's attack on our environment, his looking the other way when a WashPost reporter was killed, him having a foreign head of state (Modi) here essentially campaigning for him, him separating children from their families or breaking our asylum system, his attacks on Muslims or our own congresspeople , his attacks on our press or his blatant corruption - using our government and his position to enrich himself and attack those who do not support him...
And as an aside, even if the situation in Ukraine with Biden's son was not illegal - it is part of what we non-elite do not like about those in power and that is the constant step up they get no matter how little work they've put in and how little qualified they are.
5
The House has been ineffective about whether or not to impeach the president.
Perhaps Joe Biden can light a fire under them. This is a full-blown, five-alarm fire that’s burning down the national house.
5
Brilliant move. Let Trump obey the laws or force impeachment.
3
Biden’s support for impeachment is a calculated political move to puff himself up as Trump’s biggest nemesis. He’s trying to steal the thunder from other Democrats who more bravely called for impeachment long ago and with good reason.
5
Biden be careful what he wishes for. If elected, this will come back big time to bite him where it hurts.
3
The root is this brouhaha is a scandal involving Biden’s son and the former VP’s efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government into dropping an investigation of him for corruption. The thing about would be demagogues is that they are always guilty of what they accuse others of doing. Biden demanding investigation of Trump is laughable on its face. A debate between those two would be a real hoot!
16
@Richard Mays Hunter Biden getting as much as $50,000 a month in what can really only have been an attempt at influence peddling is not laughable. Particularly when his dad got the prosecutor investigating Hunter's company fired. (For whatever reason.)
More like Biden will recommend impeachment if Trump doesn't have the Ukraine back off from investigating Hunter Biden.
1
@kr. some of our politicians had their rotten relatives, Roger Clinton,Billy Carter,the Rev Wright,actually not a relative, hilarys brother,and now the corrupt hunter, hunting for money. these folks couldn't do physics,organic chemistry, math, and no musical talent or empathy, so they went for the easy money. all they had to do was look handsome and do what their donors wanted. the public be dammed.
Makes Watergate seem so tame. Trump and his minions are real deal...As John Dean said," I began by telling the president that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and that if the cancer was not removed the president himself would be killed by it". In this case the cancer is Trump himself...running the show.
2
Of course. He has to protect his own carpet bagging clan. Trump's against his. That is the state of our nation, just before Wall St collapses and both clans bail themselves out again.
5
You trust these people to release anything that hasn't been censored? Did you forget about the records from the Helsinki news conference? They edited Putin's comments right out of the video records.
Based on past-history anything they say is suspect.
1
Who will win the prize for the most corrupt shoot off? Biden or Trump? Both contenders want to lose this contest, but both have real baggage that could make winning a real possibility.
As the lesser of two evils battles it out, it makes me more than a little sad that this is what it's come to.
1
Unlawful acts by a president demand action. Failing to act will only embolden a person already convinced he is dictator.
2
The game is quite obviously set up by the President and Giuliani. Giuliani's open trip to Europe to lobby the Ukraine Government was the start. This White House bunch thrives on controversy and inducing an impeachment keeps their outrage machine on the front page. Meanwhile, most Americans will become disgusted with the disgusting politics that his base thrives on and this Evil Man may be re-elected.
Please, we cannot have a 76-year old former vice president take on Donald Trump. What is wrong with everyone? Not to mention his son was (unethically) cashing in by defending Putin-connected Ukrainians, just the same as Manafort.
Joe Biden didn't do anything illegal, but he allowed his own son to sully his family reputation by defending Russian Ukrainians. If you can't control your son, a beholden son, you can't run this country.
Democrats can do better than this!
14
@Marco Philoso California polls have Warren leading. Biden needs to drop out and support the winners.
2
Hey Joe, Just assume that Trump won't cooperate.
2
Joe Biden Jr. needs to gracefully bow out of the democratic primary now. Articles like these from respected media sources take away valuable coverage from the candidates most reflective of our near future voting majority. Stating the obvious, Joe represents the establishment and all of the perils that go with it for Trump to manipulate as the latest attack illustrated. The venerable NYT should know better and yet is eager to ramp up the false drama by writing recently "a preview of what is likely to be an extraordinary general election contest if Mr. Biden were to win the nomination."
11
While Biden’s stance is laudable where are the Republicans of yore like Lowell Weicker and Howard Baker who put country first? Republicans in Congress can wave the flag all they want but they are a singularly cowardly and unpatriotic lot.
5
Too weak, Joe. Why say "if he cooperates"?? He is a corrupt, lying, venal man. Call it out for what it is. He does not cooperate. If you don't know this by now, you are unfit for office and should get out of the race.
2
Better late than never.
I would also add, though, that someone (maybe the Times which has looked into this before) should investigate the cushy jobs Biden's son had in the Ukraine.
Foreign countries and companies don't pay the sons of vice presidents tens of thousands of dollars without some expectations of something in return.
Let's also get that out in the open to put an end to that part of the story.
2
@avrds
Remembering (also, too) that Hunter's appointment to Burisma Holdings happened only a few months after his discharge from his position in the US Navy Reserve (his acceptance to the Reserve in the first place having been engineered by Good Ole Joe) -- for cocaine use.
During that time frame, Victoria 'Our Man Yats' Nuland (wife of neocon Robert Kagan), John McCain and others oversaw the Ukraine coup. Then Biden publicly came on board, having no doubt been involved behind the scenes for some time. The Crimea Peninsula 'annexation' was entirely predictable: was Russia really supposed to just let go of its only major warm-water port in the Crimean city of Sevastopol ? (Historically Russian and defended at great cost by the Russians against Germany in WW2, Crimea had been 'assigned' to Ukraine only relatively recently, by Khrushchev, mainly as an administrative move since it was much closer to Kiev than Moscow.)
Let's get the whole story out there. It's complicated !
5
@irene
I've only seen bits and pieces of this story so all of this is important for the Times to report on (in some cases again).
I maintain that the reason Trump was elected was because of this casual level of corruption -- sons and daughters getting high-paying jobs or sitting on boards or getting patents or whatever because of their parents and their connections.
One thing the Democrats must do (and I think Warren has a plan for that!) is be sure that none of that happens on their watch. And none means none.
2
Biden finally felt the wind on the moistened finger.
Biden thinks this?
So what?
1
Joe said this:
“I said: ‘We’re leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Mr. Biden recounted at a 2018 event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.
He did that to get a job for his kid in the Ukrainian gas giant’s board.
Impeach Joe.
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@AutumnLeaf
"Impeach Joe."
What, exactly is the process of impeaching someone who is not in office ?
The truth is that Biden's son was doing things in the Ukraine that he shouldn't have been doing when his father was VP which was a true conflict of interest that should have been investigated at the time but was not.
The American people support investing this link now that Biden is running for President.
The Democrats obviously don't want this investigated, but if they actually consulted voters, they would certainly want to know this.
Meanwhile, the Democrats nominated Clinton, even after this book was published about Clinton corruption.[1]
It was the Democrats and not the Republicans stopped Amazon from creating their HQ2 with 25,000 promised jobs in NYC.
The Democrats have to stop attacking Trump and instead change their policy.
[1] Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GZS3A02/
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This will be quite an affair...."Never Wrestle with a Pig. You Both Get Dirty and the Pig Likes It".
Welcome to the impeachment party, Joe - you're a little late, as usual !
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Breaking news! Who cares. This guy is a bought and paid for phony.
6
This is probably the stupidest thing Biden could have done. The best thing would have been to say nothing.
11
Hunter Biden, who had zero experience in either the energy industry or the Ukraine, was placed on the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, one of the Ukraine's largest natural gas companies, in 2014.
Burisma Holdings paid Hunter Biden a reported $50,000/month, while his hedge fund received additional payments.
Ukraine prosecutor Shokin began investigating Burisma Holdings for corruption.
Vice President Joe Biden threatened Ukraine president that the USA would withhold $1 Billion unless the Ukraine fired Shokin within 6 hours!
SOURCE: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived
(note: there are more current sources, but this April 2019 article does the best job explaining everything.)
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Hunter Biden has extensive education and experience if you researched you would know this. He was paid 50k some months. That’s at maximum 600,000k/annum. Compare that to the run of the mill CEO. It’s just unbelievable that a narrative is just swallowed whole with no critical examination!!
1
@Brenda -- "Compare that to the run of the mill CEO."
Hunter Biden was not a CEO. He was a young recovering drug addict whose father was VP of the US (and claimed to them to be in personal control of a billion dollars of aid).
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@99percent I read the article you recommend and others that are highly sourced and I don't understand your conclusions. Shokin was fired because he wasn't tough enough on rooting out corruption in the Ukraine which was a requirement of the international community at the time. It did not happen over any 6 hour period and the Hill article states that. If you are upset with Hunter Biden getting a preferred sweet position in a large corporation, then you better learn how the revolving door of Washington works. You also could start with the 35 Chinese trademarks awarded Ivanka Trump after daddy was elected and the Russian and Saudi business the sons are doing. I don't like this system and think it should be changed and will vote for anyone who has a solution, but I can't tolerate people picking and choosing who to smear while they themselves are doing it.
For those Democrats who can't stand Biden; he is making a good point. Also, this is a centrist who is calling fro impeachment. Just remember, despite the efforts to make the Democratic Party to move as far left, as the GOP is far right, there are still a majority of Americans who are in the middle of the political spectrum. Biden's stand gives more legitimacy to the idea of impeachment; not less.
Biden is in unison with most of the presidential candidates, that impeachment is the only answer. This si finally sinking in to the Democrat leadership.
20
Considering that Trump's manipulative dealings with the Ukraine were intended to hurt Joe Biden, it is not surprising that he is taking a firm stand towards impeachment.
“ When your Enemy is destroying Himself, Do Nothing “. Impeachment is a mistake. That is Exactly what Trump wants, it’s exactly what he NEEDS for re-election.
Remember this, in a year.
13
@Phyliss Dalmatian Except that, doing nothing means that the Bidens look guilty and Trump will use other international connections to attempt destruction of other Democrats. Somebody has to stand for law and order, and it won't ever be a Republican.
5
@changesandchances. Except that the Biden's are suspect and it appears that, based on Joe's own words, he also engaged in unethical/illegal behavior on behalf of his son when he was Obama's VP. Sure investigate Trump's actions but if you are intellectually honest you should also want Biden investigated.
SOURCE: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/436816-joe-bidens-2020-ukrainian-nightmare-a-closed-probe-is-revived
2
I don't buy it. His majority disapproval and minority approval ratings have barely moved over a roller coaster three years. Impeachment proceedings aren't going to change much there. However, it does rack up more factual evidence and official condemnation against him.
1
That's nice but has no basis on anything as ex-VPs aren't members of Congress.
It's good to see Democrats across the board being vocal about this, it stands in stark contrast to the silence from Republicans who have made themselves complicit Trump's dangerous and irrational actions.
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My gut tells me the transcript of the phone call will not show a specific quid quo pro: "If you investigate Biden's son we'll release the money"
Trump, obviously, knows there is no quid quo pro on the call.
So he's letting swing district Democrats and candidates go out on an impeachment limb knowing full well that when the transcript is released in a few days it will not show an impeachable offense.
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@John That has never been the standard for convicting anyone of corruption, ever, anywhere.
Do you think bribery monies are required to be delivered in a burlap sack with dollar signs on them?
2
@John
The transcript doesn't have to show a quid pro quo. Trump has no business discussing an investigation of Biden or his son with the president of the Ukraine and if he even mentioned it while at the same time withholding aid, which he has already admitted he did, then that's enough to establish his guilt.
9
I think you are correct that no one should expect or predict that particular quid pro quo in the transcript. Democrats should not make this like the Mueller report, and count on a smoking gun. But Trump merely asking 8 times for this political favor is illegal and impeachable.
1
The year Trump got elected and the following year were one of the most dismal I recall since 9-11 and and on a personal note he sort of robbed the Cubs of their recent fantastic game 7 win in the World Series some 40 hours earlier. That’s not a big deal to many but it pretty much sums up how that year went.
However the man has simply accomplished nothing under his leadership and the tax cut for the wealthy and corporations was a bust from the get go and I get the strong feeling that money will be back in US Treasury in a matter of a couple of years, especially if Warren in president. But in the mean time I’m just going to sit back and watch the clown car drive itself off a cliff. You just can’t make this stuff up,
Joe "It is over" Biden helped make this mess by not considering even obvious grievances at the final s'Electoral College count and dignifying vile-GOPers with legitimacy.
This won't clean it up, but I welcome his urging of Congress to get something done if the loser won't even make a token attempt to respect them or the basic rules of government.
Impeach and convict, that is what needs to be done. If anyone had any doubts that there wasn't sufficient evidence to remove Trump from office that argument is now moot.
The Democrats should impeach and if there aren't enough votes in the Senate to convict then the Republicans will bear that mark of shame and will suffer the consequences in 2020 and beyond. This is no time to be weak kneed.
17
Well, of course. Trump is overdue for impeachment. If we weren’t so she’ll-shocked by this guy who doesn’t give a darn about protocol or law or precedent, he would have been impeached long ago. Trump has altered our perceptions because we keep being stunned by his corruption. And being stunned is an animal’s first step toward its slaughter.
We need to shake it off and attempt to reclaim normalcy. Trump is a blot on our history and constitutional law; he needs to go as soon as humanly possible.
1
I think the trajectory is inevitable now. If Obama did 1/100th of these things, what do you think the outcome would be?
31
Trump has not complied since he was elected. Why give him another chance now?
I threatened my ex for years that I would leave if he didn't quit drinking.
He never did. When I was packing my bags, literally, he quit.
By the way he went right back to it once I was gone.
5
@LFK
How is is possible that you were married to an alcoholic for years, yet believed that an alcoholic could stop drinking if you threatened to leave him ?
Apparently, you made no effort to educate yourself about alcoholism, for had you done so , you would have known that your husband COULD not quit drinking in response to your threats.
Your husband didn't quit drinking when you were packing your bags, as evidenced by your having written :"By the way he went right back to it once I was gone."
Three Comments:
Hopefully Nancy Pelosi and the senior Democrats scheduled to meet with her this afternoon hear this.
Trump may have to skip his scheduled UN activities this afternoon in order to focus on his coming tweetstorm. Maybe we’ll be able to call this Orange Tuesday.
If Biden had anything to hide involving the accusations of malfeasance Trump has leveled at him and his son, Hunter, I sincerely doubt he would call for impeachment.
13
Biden finally showed courage to go against Republicans. I guess if your tail get caught in the mud, survival instincts takes over.
1
People living in glass houses should probably listen and hear words on their record player.
10
Democrats need to secure enough votes in the House for an impeachment. Then move it to the Senate and FORCE all Senators to vote their position for the record. Voters deserve to know where their elected officials stand on the corruption of this disgrace in the White House!
3
Weren't these the same Dems who a week ago were calling for the impeachment of Justice Kavanaugh, based on the flimsiest of allegations? Or, calling for impeachment of Trump for the failed Russian collusion narrative? They don't have much credibility anymore in calling for impeachment.
8
please actually read the Mueller report before you opine.....
2
@R.P. Actually there are grounds to impeach Trump, Kavanaugh and McConnell. It is a criminal administration.
If not now, when?
1
Yes, Mr. Biden is right to call for impeachment if 45 doesn't comply with the law. And it's encouraging to see other Democratic candidates for President strike the right note of defending the Constitution.
Democratic presidential candidates, note Jennifer Rubin's excellent suggestion: you should appear together in an ad targeting swing states and calling for ALL of Congress to do its impeachment duty:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/24/democrats-are-starting-wrong-place-encourage-impeachment/
6
Last time I checked, Biden doesn't have a vote.
1
yes he does, as a citizen, but also as defacto leader of the democratic party, he can absolutely give his opinion
1
All the Democratic candidates should get behind impeachment.
I'm not a Biden fan but the way Trump is trying to weasel out of this self-inflicted nightmare by smearing and trying to criminalize Joe and Hunter Biden is similar to the way Trump spent the 2016 casting aspersions on Hillary Clinton, including saying to her during a debate "If I were president, you'd be in jail."
Within weeks of taking office, Trump also began accusing President Obama of illegally wiretapping him in Trump Tower and threw mud on various fine public servants. By the end of his first two years, Trump had tried to sully the reputations of James Comey, Andrew McCabe, John Brennan, Jimmy Carter, John McCain and many others.
Trump continued maligning John McCain after McCain died of brain cancer. During his illness, John McCain once again exhibited the courage and dignity that had defined his life.
Trump has no inkling of why McCain - or any of these people - are widely admired and, in McCain's case, widely lauded as a national hero.
Trump's sullying of his office by trying to pressure a foreign country into doing opposition research against Joe Biden is beyond the pale. Trump has dirtied our democracy repeatedly and should be removed from office forthwith.
I for one am exhausted with this criminal president who has wasted many hours of his time in office insulting and trashing many great Americans.
Trump isn't fit to shine Joe Biden's shoes.
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@fast/furious: Trump tangled pronouns. He should have said, "If I were president, I'd be in jail."
"Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. "
8
This S show has to have played it’s last act. Only the equally corrupt and incompetent could vote against impeachment.
2
A leak of the Trump-Zelensky telephone call would serve the interest of the public and both parties.
in adddition to holding trump accountable, congress needs to jail those called before it for contemp for failling to answer questions.
22
I'm sure the right wing noise machine will try to paint this as something like, "Joe Biden wants to deflect from his illegal activities on behalf of his son in the Ukraine!"
I hope and pray that the legitimate news media doesn't feel the need to paint this as a "both sides" issue so that they can appear fair -- whatever "fair" means.
The news is not supposed to be fair. It's not supposed to be balanced.
It's supposed to tell the truth and hold politicians' feet to the fire.
13
@Von Jones To the swing voter, it will look very much like a both sides issue. Hunter Biden was clearly selling influence peddling. He is not worth $50,000 a month for anything else.
3
Good work, Joe!
4
Hopefully!
Biden will go the right thing....after other have already stuck their necks out trying to do it.
Not exactly bold and courageous.
Too bad he's not as brave as Warren...
6
Hurrah!
3
If Prez Mayhem's administration does not obey the law about turning over the whisteblower's report to Congress, then he has commited an impeachable offense, and investigations should start right away. Simple.
2
Biden's sorid secrets will come to light, that's for sure. His capaign is finished.
17
@Dinner Times And what "secrets" are those? Joe has been upfront about his position on pretty much everything. And, while I don't always agree with him, he has been honest about where he stands.
4
@Dinner Times
I suppose you can thank your leader Trump for his patriotism in this matter.
3
So Congress moves to impeach, the senate refuses. Trump laughs all the way to dictatorship? @johannaclear
Impeachment yes, but Biden should not be a spokesperson for it. He should sidestep this “as a question for the HOR. As a candidate for POTUS I will not make a statement for or against”. Is it so hard to see how and what to do? These people are supposed to be veteran politicians. Let Pelosi take the laboring oar and put together the right team in Congress to investigate and make the case and forget bipartisanship in the process. Key is not to grandstand and just focus on facts!
140
@Al Cafaro This is absurd. Candidates for POTUS can weigh in on the biggest political issue of the day. They can weigh in on the fitness of the current POTUS.
30
@Al Cafaro I disagree. He is absolutely the best spokesperson for impeachment. Biden is now turning the tables on Trump, which will place Trump in an very awkward spot. Trump will not be expecting this. Because of his outrageous lies about Biden and Biden's son, Trump has made himself fair game. Biden should go for the jugular. Trump will be rattled and beside himself.
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@Al Cafaro. Not to mention his own Ukraine connection and that of his son complicates his involvement.
3
Good for Joe! I have my doubts about his ability to inspire change, but I agree. Congress needs to set limits to what they will tolerate from this lawless crew and then they need to drop sanctions. Barr also needs to be impeached. His job is not to shield Trump from his legal woes.
110
@Dr. Girl that’s a very fair and very overlooked point. If you have read the Mueller report - and I have- it is plainly obvious that Barr flat-out lied to the American public.
1
We are witnessing a profile in courage.
30
@Mkm
Ha. I assume the sarcasm, I hope so.
3
No. Courage would’ve been to fight for impeachment once the Mueller Report was released. Joe waited until it was safe, and he even added a disclaimer. Enough with the old conservative, timid Democrats already. They’ve gotten us nowhere in over 40 years.
2
@Mkm, we are witnessing a profile turning with the political winds.
3
Warren got it right. The Mueller report was enough. No need for further investigations which will go nowhere because Trump and administration are ignoring subpoenas and stonewalling and grandstanding if they do testify. And that is the threat to our democracy, after all. The articles should be only about obstruction of justice as Mueller outlines and obstruction of Congress, which are clear on the face. Make it simple and make it Mitch McConnell's problem.
262
@abigail49 Obviously, the Mueller report was not enough. And why make it about only obstruction of justice when there's tons of stuff- election law violations, obstruction, acceptance of foreign meddling, solicitation of foreign meddling, emoluments and corruption, etc.
15
@abigail49
Did any voter actually read the full Mueller report?
I know Warren did, but I wonder if even most congressmen have?
13
@Dan B
You're right, there's more than enough there, but
it's also worth recalling that the subpoena for the unredacted Mueller Report was served back in April.
12
Honestly this is unreal. This was the Democrats election to lose - and they overplayed their hand massively. People don't like Trump, a reasonable candidate could have beat him. But instead the Democrats went massively left, even toying with the idea of banning red meat among massive new taxes and giveaways. And they just can't wait for 2020, they have to try and force Trump out of office over a phone call. Sad.
74
@Dave. not sure if you are intentionally trolling the Dems or not. They are not suggesting banning meat. That's a GOP talking point. And are not suggesting massive new taxes unless you are worried about Warren's tax on your 50 million in savings. Do you have 50 million?
122
Your judgment may be right. Or may be wrong. Depends on the transcript of that call. Hopefully there’s audio. So we’ll see.
2
@Dave
The only thing that is sad, is that the vast majority of Republicans in both houses of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with a mob-boss, while ignoring his high crimes and misdemeanors.
112
biden will see a surge in poll numbers if he takes the fight directly to trump, and as a former vp, he is uniquely qualified to do so.
although he currently is not my first choice for the democratic nominee, i will consider supporting anyone who can take down 45.
show us what you got, joe.
187
@Beckjord
'show us what you got, joe.'
Yes please, show us what you got.
In fact, come clean about your role in Ukraine, tell us what you did and did not do, what your son got out of it.
And tell us how this:
“I said: ‘We’re leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor’s not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Mr. Biden recounted at a 2018 event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations.
Is any different from what Trump did. At least in his case Ukraine did not investigate your son any further. But when you pressured them, they fired the prosecutor investigating your son.
So yes please Joe, tell us what you got. Come clean.
12
For some time, it has been apparent that 45* is acting like a kid in class who wants to be sent off to detention, and will engage in any sort of misbehavior which he thinks will accomplish his goal.
It is not necessary to determine why Extremely Stable Genius 45* is acting out in this manner, other than to note that it is (obviously by now) his nature.
Dems have sworn Oaths to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, which 45* is trampling, counting on Complicit Republicans in his Cabinet and the Senate to protect him.
This script was foreseen and predicted from the day the King of Bankruptcy became the Republican nominee; the only questions have been how long would it take to arrive at this point, how much damage would be done to the country in the process, and how lasting that damage would be.
Though the U.S. Senate has never in history convicted a POTUS on a House referral of impeachment, that should not stop the House from upholding the rule of law.
50
@R. Law "Though the U.S. Senate has never in history convicted a POTUS on a House referral of impeachment,..."
We can hope that there is always a first time. But if not, it will show (at least some people) where the loyalties of the Repubs in the Senate lie.
4
I agree with Biden - the time has come.
And kudos to Pelosi for waiting until the evidence was clear and she has the possibility to bring along vulnerable Dems in swing districts and possibly some Republicans. This should not be an activity taken lightly b/c the ultimate goal is replacing Trump and getting a Dem in the White House - if we fail at that, there will be untold damage to our Nation, democracy, the environment, women etc.
43
@BMD The ONLY reason Pelosi is bothering to act this time is because Trump crossed a sacred line with her:
That line being interfering with her party's anointed Special Man Biden.
For her, her investment banking family, party, and big donors come way before any hint of having a general duty to the country.
2
By now, most are familiar with trump's playbook: deny, blame the democrats, dissemble, minimize, then challenge the validity or interpretation of law on a charge, then suggest he may have done something, "but it is all legal" while refusing to comply with lawful requests for transcripts, tax forms, truthful answers to questions...all in the name of hoping to run out the clock and exhaust the resources and patience of those charging.
Then counter sue.
Biden continues to operate as if Republicans are interested in working with Democrats and Independents.... on anything.
149
@macdray
A perfect summary, thank you.
8
@macdray
Can’t wait to see whether his personal attorneys on the SCOTUS will intervene on his behalf.
3
@macdray,
Biden continues to navigate as if Americans care about their country and do not do truck with foreign corn.
3
With this much skin in the game, this is as good of time as any for Biden to demonstrate how he will be able to sit-down and work with Republicans in Congress towards achieving a beneficial outcome for the country.
187
@AM Murphy Merrick Garland would like to have a word with you. So would Mitch McConnell..."we will work to oppose everything the Democrats propose... "and will work to make sure Obama is a one-term President."
Yeah, sure.... sit down with "you lie!" Republicans.
Some people have a very short memory.
57
@AM Murphy
In calling for transparency in this, I sure hope Biden is also willing to be fully transparent about what his son was up to in Ukraine. Companies and countries don't put the sons of vice presidents on their boards without some expectations of payback. I am definitely not a Trump supporter, but I hope the Times will do a follow-up story on this, sooner rather than later, get it out in the open, and (hopefully) over with.
27
@AM Murphy, Biden is neither a member of the House nor the Senate. So, according to the Constitution he has no role in the impeachment process. He has every right to present his views (as does everyone else) and he will likely be asked to testify to the House or one of its committees. But he has no vote in this.
15