Pelosi says Trump has admitted to bribery as impeachment probe intensifies

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Pelosi says Trump has admitted to bribery as impeachment probe intensifies

By Patricia Zengerle, Karen Freifeld and Richard Cowan

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint news conference with Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 13, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday President Donald Trump already has admitted to bribery in the Ukraine scandal at the heart of a Democratic-led inquiry, accusing him of an impeachable offence under the U.S. Constitution.

 

"The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That's bribery," Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, told a news conference the day after the first public hearing in the impeachment inquiry she announced in September.

 

"What the president has admitted to and says it's 'perfect,' I say it's perfectly wrong. It's bribery," Pelosi said.

 

Democrats are looking into whether the Republican president abused his power by withholding $391 million in U.S.

security aid to Ukraine as leverage to pressure Kiev to conduct two investigations that would benefit him politically. The money, approved by Congress to help a U.S. ally combat Russia-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country, was later provided to Ukraine.

 

Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

 

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that President Donald Trump had admitted to bribery in the Ukraine scandal, accusing the Republican leader of an impeachable offense under the U.S. Constitution. Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, said he learned nothing "new" from Wednesday's open hearing in the Democrat's impeachment inquiry.

 

Another central figure - former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch - is due to testify on Friday in the second public hearing in the inquiry.

 

The inquiry threatens Trump's presidency even as he seeks re-election in November 2020. If the House approves articles of impeachment - formal charges - against Trump, the Senate would then hold a trial on whether to convict him and remove him from office. Republicans control the Senate and have shown little support for Trump's removal.

 

Pelosi's comments could offer a preview of articles of impeachment Democrats might put forward. At her news conference, she also said Trump's administration had committed "obstruction of Congress" by blocking testimony of officials summoned to testify in the inquiry.

 

The Constitution states that impeachable offences include "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanours."

 

Democrats have begun to use the words bribery or attempted bribery in discussing Trump's actions. According to precedent, obstruction could be another article of impeachment.

 

Republicans have said House Democrats already have decided to pass articles of impeachment, but Pelosi denied that was the case, saying the inquiry must play out before any decision can be made.

 

The focus of the inquiry is a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and the former vice president's son Hunter, who had served as a board member for a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma. Trump also asked Zelenskiy to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory embraced by some Trump allies that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

 

Pelosi compared Trump's actions with former President Richard Nixon's conduct in the Watergate corruption scandal that led him in 1974 to become the only U.S. president to resign. Pelosi said Trump's actions to enlist a foreign power to help him in a U.S. election and the obstruction of information about that - she called it a cover-up - "makes what Nixon did look almost small."

 

TELEVISED HEARINGS

Republicans kept up their attacks on Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which is holding the public hearings. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy accused Schiff of lying at Wednesday's hearing about not knowing the identity of the whistleblower within the U.S. intelligence community whose complaint about Trump's call triggered the impeachment inquiry.

 

An estimated 13.8 million viewers across 10 broadcast and cable television networks watched the first day of proceedings, according to Nielsen ratings data.

 

Two career U.S. diplomats, William Taylor and George Kent, testified on Wednesday. Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, offered an account that linked Trump more directly to the pressure campaign on Ukraine.

 

The Intelligence Committee is due to hear on Friday from Yovanovitch, whom Trump abruptly removed from her post as ambassador to Ukraine in May. Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was working at the time to persuade Ukraine to carry out the two investigations.

 

Yovanovitch told lawmakers behind closed doors on Oct. 11 that Trump ousted her based on "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives" after she came under attack by Giuliani.

 

On Wednesday, Taylor offered a new disclosure that indicated Trump's keen interest in the investigations in Ukraine, saying a member of his staff overheard a July 26 phone call at a restaurant in which Trump asked about the probes the president had asked Zelenskiy to conduct a day earlier.

 

After the call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, a former political donor appointed as the U.S. envoy to the European Union, the staff member asked Sondland what Trump thought about Ukraine, Taylor said.

 

"Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for," Taylor testified.

 

Republican lawmakers called Taylor's account hearsay.

 

A second staffer for the U.S. Embassy in Kiev overheard the phone call between Trump and Sondland, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed source briefed on the situation.

 

Trump told reporters after the hearing that he knew "nothing" about the call with Sondland.

 

The staffer cited by Taylor is David Holmes, a Taylor aide who has been subpoenaed to testify in the inquiry on Friday behind closed doors, said a person familiar with the issue.

 

Democrats are aiming to settle the question of Trump's impeachment before the end of the year.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Karen Freifeld; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Morgan in Washington and Matthias Williams in Kiev; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-15

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[Chomper Higgot]

Pelosi’s observation is backed by evidence produced and statements by Trump himself and by statements made by his chief of staff.

 

The Leader of the House is correct in her use of the term ‘Bribery’ a term that gets very specific mention in The Constitution, check it out.

 

 

[Kelsall]

Never seen a statement where Trump admitted to bribery.

 

Pelosi needs to stay off the bottle.

[Jingthing]

It's very wise of Pelosi to use the word bribery instead of quid quo pro. 

[Scott]

Posts and replies reported and removed.  

 

[WalkingOrders]

45 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Pelosi’s observation is backed by evidence produced and statements by Trump himself and by statements made by his chief of staff.

 

The Leader of the House is correct in her use of the term ‘Bribery’ a term that gets very specific mention in The Constitution, check it out.

 

 

Wrong. The idea that Trump is guilty of Bribery is nothing but more leftist semantics. This entire Dog N Pony show is nothing more then the last ditch effort of a Democrat party about to be crushed under the weight of indictments. In this particular instance of the conspiracy to remove the President its cover for the Joe Biden crime family. The VP made $210k a year, but his son Hunter was paid about $1.5 million to sit on a board of Ukranian Burisma simply to be the bagman for the money. The same son who repeated this game with Chinese money. The same son who less then one year before Burisma was booted out of the United States Naval Reserve Officer program for testing positive for Cocaine. The biggest scandal in US history - and they want to impeach a President? The same Dem party that accused the Pres of being a Russian spy? Anyone who thinks that Trump will be Impeached by these crooked clowns is nuts!  I'll take All bets!

[Tug]

I don’t know looks to me to resemble extortion more than bribery but what would you expect from the guy that ran the rip off university or the scam charity it’s just Donald beeing Donald he needs to be removed ASAP and managed untle then

[thaibeachlovers]

You have the evidence, Nancy, so do it, stop talking about it and just do it- impeach him- just do it, please, please, please, just do it.

My guess is you won't, because you know what will happen if you do. Nah, you'll just talk and talk and talk till the election.

[xylophone]

10 minutes ago, Tug said:

I don’t know looks to me to resemble extortion more than bribery but what would you expect from the guy that ran the rip off university or the scam charity it’s just Donald beeing Donald he needs to be removed ASAP and managed untle then

Agree, he does not have the intelligence to know the difference between right and wrong, as evidenced in your two examples above, and also evident in his consistent lying.

 

There is something mentally very wrong with this poor excuse for a human being.  

[Chomper Higgot]

9 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You have the evidence, Nancy, so do it, stop talking about it and just do it- impeach him- just do it, please, please, please, just do it.

My guess is you won't, because you know what will happen if you do. Nah, you'll just talk and talk and talk till the election.

Trump’s Impeachment hearings are underway.

 

Do try to keep up.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Trump’s Impeachment hearings are underway.

 

Do try to keep up.

Nancy says she has EVIDENCE of a high crime. No need for any further investigation. 

 

Do try to keep up.

[Sujo]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Nancy says she has EVIDENCE of a high crime. No need for any further investigation. 

 

Do try to keep up.

Why. Could find evidence of further wrongdoing. Do you have an issue with congress doing its job.

[Kelsall]

29 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You have the evidence, Nancy, so do it, stop talking about it and just do it- impeach him- just do it, please, please, please, just do it.

My guess is you won't, because you know what will happen if you do. Nah, you'll just talk and talk and talk till the election.

Agree.

 

Nancy is in the unenviable position of being damned if you do and damned if you don't.  If she does impeach, the Republicans in the Senate will have a field day with this, calling the whistleblower, Biden and his son, and Adam Schiff to name just a few.  Also they will drag all this into the primary season where Warren and Sanders will have to be in session instead of campaigning. 

 

If she fails to impeach, the result is this whole mess will be recognized by everyone, even the haters, as the nothing burger it is. 

 

????????????????????????

[spidermike007]

He has more or less admitted it, his subordinates are now proving that admission, and he is guiltier than any president in history of treason and disloyalty to his nation. The man is a huge liability and a national security risk. Remove his asap. Then lock him up. 

[Chomper Higgot]

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Nancy says she has EVIDENCE of a high crime. No need for any further investigation. 

 

Do try to keep up.

The witnesses are still giving their testimony and we have yet to hear the court ruling on Trump’s efforts to withhold witnesses from the inquiry.

 

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

[xylophone]

39 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

we have yet to hear the court ruling on Trump’s efforts to withhold witnesses from the inquiry.

Why would anyone try to stop witnesses from testifying if all was above board and nothing to worry about............oh, I see, becomes pretty obvious doesn't it!! 

 

Well to all but those who think that trump is a superstar, who doesn't tell lies or steal from charities, that is.

[Jingthing]

9 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Why would anyone try to stop witnesses from testifying if all was above board and nothing to worry about............oh, I see, becomes pretty obvious doesn't it!! 

 

Well to all but those who think that trump is a superstar, who doesn't tell lies or steal from charities, that is.

Yes it's pretty obvious that obstruction of congress is going to be one of the articles of impeachment. Deservedly so. 

[Enoon]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Agree, he does not have the intelligence to know the difference between right and wrong, as evidenced in your two examples above, and also evident in his consistent lying.

 

There is something mentally very wrong with this poor excuse for a human being.  

 

He's a Sociopath.

 

A Grade A, 1st Class, textbook, Sociopath.

 

Anyone who takes the trouble to read one of the myriad, easy to digest articles and analyses, about the condition, that abound on the Internet, will see that.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Enoon said:

 

He's a Sociopath.

 

A Grade A, 1st Class, textbook Sociopath.

 

Anyone who takes the trouble to read any of the myriad, easy to digest articles and analyses that abound on the net will see that.

 

 

Do you have a qualification to be diagnosing a psychiatric condition?

If not, it's just your opinion.

[Jingthing]

If 45 and his crew actually has a facts based defense (instead of all the deflections and process whining) bring it forward! 

 

 

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

 

A post using ALL CAPS has been removed, please turn off your Caps Lock when posting. 

[muzley]

I think the Ukranians would have the best idea if they were being extorted. From Rueters, a more left leaning source.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-ukraine/us-envoy-sondland-did-not-link-biden-probe-to-aid-ukraine-minister-idUSKBN1XO1HK

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

If 45 and his crew actually has a facts based defense (instead of all the deflections and process whining) bring it forward! 

 

 

If Pelosi and Schiff actually have any facts to show ( instead of all the deflections and whining ) impeach him.

Go on, impeach.

[bristolboy]

10 minutes ago, muzley said:

I think the Ukranians would have the best idea if they were being extorted. From Rueters, a more left leaning source.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-ukraine/us-envoy-sondland-did-not-link-biden-probe-to-aid-ukraine-minister-idUSKBN1XO1HK

Sondland disagrees:

This from the right-leaning NY Post

A key witness in the House impeachment inquiry has changed his testimony to reveal that he told a ranking Ukrainian official that the country probably would not get nearly $400 million in US military aid unless it announced investigations that President Trump wanted.

In the updated testimony, Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union — and one of the “three amigos” running Trump’s Ukraine policy — said he had discussed the request with Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky at a Sept. 1 meeting between Vice President Pence and Zelensky in Warsaw.

https://nypost.com/2019/11/05/gordon-sondland-now-says-he-told-ukraine-official-aid-was-linked-to-biden-investigations/

 

[Sujo]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Pelosi and Schiff actually have any facts to show ( instead of all the deflections and whining ) impeach him.

Go on, impeach.

Why are you afraid of finding out if trump has done more wrong. Dont you want to know if the president is corrupt?

 

would be easy for him to prove innocence, let bolton, mulvaney, giuliano testify.

[Chomper Higgot]

8 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Pelosi and Schiff actually have any facts to show ( instead of all the deflections and whining ) impeach him.

Go on, impeach.

As has been explained to you more than once, the Impeachment hearings are in process, witnesses have only just started to present their evidence and the courts have yet to rule on witnesses being withheld by Trump’s instructions.

 

The Impeachment hearings are where the evidence is presented, once the hearings are complete the house will vote on impeachment.

 

Now sit back, pay attention to the hearings and give the witnesses time to present their testimony.

 

As I said earlier, if you didn’t like the behind closed doors investigations, you are just going to love the public testimonies.

 

Enjoy.

[Thainesss]

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.

 

You constantly offer up this little gem as justification for just about everything imaginable but I'm convinced you don't have any idea what you are saying, nor the implications. 

[Chomper Higgot]

3 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

 

You constantly offer up this little gem as justification for just about everything imaginable but I'm convinced you don't have any idea what you are saying, nor the implications. 

I don’t offer it as justification for anything.

 

Quite the contrary actually.

[bristolboy]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Nancy says she has EVIDENCE of a high crime. No need for any further investigation. 

 

Do try to keep up.

So in a grand jury proceding, which impeachment is directly comparable to, all a prosecutor has to do is say she has the evidence, not present it, and ask for an indictment?

[Sujo]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

If 45 and his crew actually has a facts based defense (instead of all the deflections and process whining) bring it forward! 

 

 

Hahaha, nancy owns trump yet again. Talking to him like a 5 year old.

 

trump wont care about impeachment. He will tweet that he is totally innocent and rely on people being too dumb to look at the facts. Sadly, for a small percentage of people he will be correct.