The Trump Impeachment Inquiry: What Happened Today

The Republicans in Congress who have leadership qualities, rather than sheep-like follow-the-herd qualities, have started to show themselves. Rep. Rooney is showing himself to be a leader, and is willing to lead his constituents toward the truth despite their blind faith in Trump. We will soon see if the Republican "leadership" is more like sheep or more like Rep. Rooney, Rep. Amish, Senator Romney, and the few others who have chosen truth and country over loyalty to our would-be autocrat.

Trump should resign NOW. We know he has declined both physically and that mentally he has been ill for years. He needs care before he bursts a blood vessel during these awful sick rants he is prone to.It is obvious that he cant control himself. He is a pitiable figure.

Joe, pack it in. Too much distraction. Sadly, you're candidacy requires your most dedicated supporters to suspend belief that the Obama presidency will be resurrected by you. It won't; I'm afraid your followers will not face the reality that your time has past and get behind a candidate that will spark the enthusiasm needed to defeat DJT.

Let's look at the entire congress and see if any of their children got special treatment because of their connections. Then let's also look into Ivanka, Jared, Don Jr and Eric. I wonder what we could find on them. I don't think it looked good that Hunter had a job at Burisma for $50,000 a year. It isn't a good look but not illegal. We all know Trump and his grifter clan are profiting from his presidency. He now is going to have the G7 or G8 (Russia) at his Doral resort. What? There is no other resort in the entire United States that would be good enough for all these leaders. Of course not! Trump wants taxpayers to pay for his failing hotel in Miami. Is that a good look? Is it even legal? Trump doesn't care because he is our lawless president. "Get over it" as Mick Mulvaney would say!

This con man has been a criminal his entire life. Everyone knew that when they elected him in 2016. Now, in the 3rd year of his presidency, any man or woman with any integrity has left the White House. Several have left because they are now in prison. The ones that are left, including his Cabinet are all self made grifters or lobbyists for bigger grifters. Pompeo, Barr, Mulvaney, Mnuchin, Ross et al, have not an ounce of patriotism amongst them. I'm in my 70's. I've seen a lot of administrations come and go. This is, by far, the worst US president in my lifetime. It is a daily crime scene.

Maybe Mick Mulvaney is trying to get himself fired so he can jump off this sinking ship, the same way a coach gets himself ejected from a game when his team is getting blown out?

"Mr. Kent, now of the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said he told the official that Hunter Biden’s position could look like a conflict of interest, given his father’s role, and would complicate American efforts to encourage Ukraine to clean up corruption." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/us/politics/hunter-biden-ukraine.html? And there you have it: A statement about the obvious, and one that Democrats studiously avoided during Tuesday's debate. It was the elephant in the room, first brought up by Anderson Cooper and he alone had anything to say about it. No follow-ups from the other candidates, which demonstrated at the very best a show of common unity but at worse an evasion of a huge political liability. The appearance of undue influence on his son's appt to the board of Burisma via Biden's political position as VP has been there since at least 2015 -- if we can believe George P. Kent, bowtie wearing career diplomat subpoenaed by the House. Trump is having an "I told you so" field day with the revelation because the Democrats didn't address the problem beforehand. The whistleblower did Biden no favors but he / she might have saved the election for Democrats because it's now plain to see that Biden -- as likable and "moderate" as he appears to be -- comes with lots of excess baggage. Time for a less-compromised frontrunner.

“This is kind of bothersome.” said Representative Rooney. And THAT'S what is now referred to as brave?!

Impeach, remove, and prosecute all of them to the fullest possible extent.

George Kent was concerned that Ukrainians might believe they could curry favor with the father through the son. That concern was valid, and he was correct to raise the issue. My impression is that Kent approached Biden’s office offering more of a warning than an accusation. If Kent thought actual wrongdoing was resulting from Hunter Biden’s appointment, wouldn’t he have approached John Kerry or Loretta Lynch? We’re beating a dead horse, here. It’s sort of like Hillary Clinton’s e-mails. It’s mud for Trump to sling and he’ll keep doing it as long as base will buy it.

Mr Kent warned a senior Obama White House official "...that Hunter Biden’s position could look like a conflict of interest, given his father’s role, and would complicate American efforts to encourage Ukraine to clean up corruption." No reasonable person would dispute the above. Nor would anybody dispute that it was unwise for Hunter Biden to hold such a position, but there is still no evidence of actual corruption on the part of the Bidens. Unless something truly slimy comes to light the Bidens' indiscretions don't hold a candle to what the tRump regime has already admitted to.

Enough of this side show. Nepotism is one thing, pure corruption is another. Using the office of the president to force foreign governments to meddle in domestic politics to dig up dirt on political rivals is pure corruption. Time to clean the swamp.

If our political and media institutions believe Trump is illegitimate and not worthy of respect as a US president then they should not expect him to accept the responsibilities and double-standards that come with this lofty position. In this case, it regards the viewpoint that his opponents may dig for political dirt against him, but he should not do the same.

Beyond maybe a requirement to disclose the relationship, are there restrictions around the business dealings of a government official's grown children? This is a trumped up diversion, pun intended. We should know better by now.

Interesting that a warning about Hunter Biden's activities was issued in 2015 while Joe was still VP. I can't believe that Joe did not know about Hunter's activities. Also of interest is that Joe publicly bragged on camera about canning the Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating the firm Hunter worked foe which paid him big bucks when he knew little about the firm's business. Joe is the only real moderate Dem running and had a good chance of beating Trump. At this point, though, Joe's ship may be sinking.

Shouldn't it be easy to determine whether the Ukrainian prosecutor that was investigating Biden's involvement was stopped because he/she was not serious enough OR because he/she was too serious about it? Quite a big difference there. Since it was apparently the Obama/Biden administration pressing to stop this prosecutor, my guess is it would be the latter.

The answer is the end of Washington old guard and politics, as usual. The answer is a corruption-free government. No Trumps, No Bidens, No Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, No Rick Perry, no State Department employees willing to look the other way. The answer is to take America back from the NRA, Big Pharma, Wall Street, tax dodgers, etc. The answer is Elizabeth Warren 2020.

I think nepotism is deep rooted in American politics and this is not new. New thing is that now we are openly discussing about it and this is a positive development. If you work for government on a tiny project they make you sign bazillion documents to make sure that there is no direct or indirect conflict of interest (COI). But the irony is that if you are the government (senators, congressman, etc.) then there is no COIs and everyone in the family\friends can reap benefits. Moving forward we should require that the government is honest and all COI are properly reported. We cannot go back and change the past.

Despite all of his own issues and problems, Trump has managed to outmaneuver Biden politically and thereby eliminate the biggest threat to his 2020 campaign: the Democratic front runner. The drip drip drip on Biden & Son will have damaged Joe enough (in addition to his lack luster debate performances) that he has lost first place in the primary or will eventually drop out due to poor fund raising, Whatever else Trump is good at the character assassination even while shooting himself in the feet.

No one should stray from the fact, trump is withholding military support that Congress approved, and did so to get political dirt on a potential adversary. Wrong. Impeachable. Period

Please report on all pandering of office whatever the individual. This gets to the heart of the task truly before us, proper oversight of government. Just and impartial government?--price is eternal vigilance.

The damage has already been done ; not a fan of Joe but even the suggestion of a possible impropriety as printed by The Washington Post , is enough to make it smell like corruption . False accusations or even a suggestion of looks like does enormous damage . Meanwhile , Trump has been in your face denying he has done anything wrong ( he has ) and gets way with it . I question the ease with which politicians use their position that enables nepotism . That leads to the muddying of the waters whether there is impropriety or not . People will believe anything .

Cool. Now do Don Jr. Eric, Jared and Ivanka.

With revelation of this sort, Joe should just drop out of the Democratic party nomination race. There is just too much baggage.

Let's be honest - It is possible that both Hunter Biden and Trumps cabal can 'both' be unethical. This false dichotomy, this false choice of 'Biden or Trump' in the assignment of culpability (whether it legal, ethical or moral) is silly and speaks more to our, at least I hope, shared contempt for Trump and a desire to defend opposition to him and his emolument violating family. But, it's simply not rational or logical to presume an either or position when so very much of our government and, in the United States, children of privilege are given undo and unfair advantage. Whether it Felicity Huffman or Hunter Biden the fact is those with money and power do not play by the same rules. I don't think it makes Trump any more tolerable to admit making 50k (or whatever it was) as a board member consulting for a company one has zero - no - expertise in passes the smell test unless the acceptable aroma is one of money and privilege. PS; Failure to acknowledge these things will hurt us with voters who are sick and tired of Trump but remain Republicans willing to vote him out of office.

I think it’s completely legitimate to question Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma and whether he was trading on his father’s name. It’s also appropriate to dig into whether VP Biden acted (or failed to act) in ways that were inappropriate. But ... we shouldn’t fall into the trap of false equivalences. What is clear at this point is that Trump was using taxpayer money to involve a foreign nation in support of his personal political objectives. That’s far worse than anything that either Biden MIGHT have done. Fairly investigate both the Trump administration and the Bidens, provide transparency to the process, and let the chips fall where they may. No one in either party should get a free pass.

Mr. Kent, of the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said he told the official that Hunter Biden’s position could look like a conflict of interest, given his father’s role, and would complicate American efforts to encourage Ukraine to clean up corruption. Mr Kent's behind is duly covered, but how did he respond to the news Paul Manafort, actively promoting and up to his eyeballs in Ukrainian corruption, was appointed to the role of Trump's campaign manager?

Like flies, it’s clear that all types of people with connections and special interests were flying around the Ukraine. While, not illegal, Hunter Biden’s role in the gas company does have a strong swampy whiff. However, this is not what’s stagnating VP Biden, but his own performance. He waited too long to respond to this charges, for instance. Then there are the allusions to record players, etc..

If Hunter and Joe Biden acted improperly, then it will hurt the Bidens. That does not give the Trump regime the right to pressure the Ukrainian government with taxpayer dollars to influence the election. Bidens may or may not have done something unethical. Trump regime did something overtly illegal and unconstitutional. It's more icing on this corruption cake of an administration. Impeach!

An appearance of impropriety ain’t good but it’s not a high crime or misdemeanor. Let the facts come out. But please resist the race to false equivalencies. The Bidens would have to fall so far to come close to the corruption infecting the Trump administration.

What an odd attack for Trump to make against Biden when Ivanka and Jared are beneficiaries of blatant nepotism in having official White House duties for which they have no qualifications and for which they would not have received security clearances, but for Trump’s intervention. His kids continue to mix official duties with reaping personal benefits, e.g. Ivanka’s 34 trademarks issued by China since Trump took office; Jared’s seeking an investment of $100 million from a private fund backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE for a real estate start-up he partly owns; Kushner Companies’ loans from Israel’s largest bank; Don, Jr.’s deep involvement in Trump hotels and projects in Indonesia, Scotland, India, etc.

Good to see the Times reporting on Hunter Biden and the 2015 report by one of the diplomats. Honest reporting is something we all appreciate. Now that said, how about reporting in detail on some of the Trump families current dealings with countries like Saudi Arabia, China, Russia,and any others that can influence our democracy. And lets keep track of the next G-7 conference planned for Trump's "Failing Doral" property. Have any threatened to cancel yet. Please keep your readers posted.

If it is true that the impeachment proceedings do not damage the Democratic members then the house should proceed with the vote and turn it into a real impeachment program which would take all the argument out of the "inquiry" and end the Republican complaint that the inquiry is not constitutional.