Fox News' Judge Napolitano: What Trump has admitted to regarding contact with Ukraine is a crime
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Fox News' Judge Napolitano: What Trump has admitted to regarding contact with Ukraine is a crime
It's probably a good thing that President Trump was busy at the United Nations on Tuesday, because the frequent Fox News viewer wouldn't have liked what he heard during anchor Shep Smith's afternoon show.
Smith was joined by Judge Andrew Napolitano, the network's senior judicial analyst. His appearance came shortly before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced she directed the House to launch a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump, and Smith asked Napolitano about all sorts of scenarios involving Trump and his phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and whether they would be crimes. Trump has admitted he requested Zelensky investigate the son of 2020 presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, and Napolitano said that yes, "it is a crime for the president to solicit aid for his campaign from a foreign government."
The whistleblower who brought attention to the call went through the proper channels and was deemed credible by the intelligence community's inspector general, but acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire did not pass the complaint along to Congress, as required by law. This was a bad move, Napolitano said, and the "administration is on very, very thin ice, on the grounds on which it blocked it for two reasons." First, the statute says if a complaint is found to be credible and urgent by the inspector general, it shall, not may, be shared with the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate.
Also, it was a "cockamamie" ruling from the Department of Justice that Maguire is using to defend his decision not to pass the complaint to Congress — they are claiming that the president doesn't work for the intelligence community, therefore the complaint is moot. "Moot?" Napolitano said. "The complaint accuses the president of the United States of bribery, how can that be moot? The Congress has every right under the statute to know about it." Bribery, he continued, is "absolutely an impeachable offense, there's no equivocation. Why do I say that? Because it's stated in the Constitution. The basis for impeachment: treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." Watch the video below.
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Even Fox News says Trump is a criminal. Impeach and remove.
Just love the folk who defend the man who said ( paraphrase ) "I believe Putin before I believe my own American INTEL." Now that is rich. Really rich, ya think?
He has the nerve to call a whistle blower a traitor. If he wants the true traitor, he needs only to look in a mirror.
I wonder if fox news will start calling trump a RINO before or after his impeachment?
I think it's been fair to call him a RINO for a long time, considering he was a Democrat up until about 2012 or so when he decided he needed to be a Republican to run for president.
Perhaps, but he has an (R) after his name now and it was the Republican party that nominated him. Sorry buddy, the GOP owns him now.
Don't apologize to me. I didn't nominate him.
I didn't say you did, I said the GOP did.
He had no choice but to run as a Republican.
Democrats would never vote for someone who is racist, misogynistic, ignorant, illiterate, orange, or lies more than everyone else in politics combined. Republicans however would make him their poster boy.
He knew Hillary would be the Democratic nominee. Everyone knew that. That's why he had to run as a Republican.
Other than being orange, you can say all those things about Joe Biden. Of course orangeness, and its relative importance is in the eye of the beholder.
You think he would have won the Democratic nomination over anyone else? Wow.........
You are correct, you could say them about Biden. The difference is that you would be LYING if you said them about Biden.
Really? Ask me to prove it.
Snort!
Proof to you is aluminum foil hat conspiracies to everyone else.
Yeah, that's about typical. Attack it without seeing it and then don't even have the stones to ask for it.
Thanks for revealing yourself.
I dont see anyone preventing you from posting your proof that Biden is guilty of something nefarious in Ukraine.
It'd help a lot if you read and understood the thread before commenting.
Trump has more in common with OJ than most realize
I think it's fine to investigate it, but I don't like the enthusiasm with which people are pronouncing it a crime before they know all the facts. Considering that people have been talking about impeaching Trump since before he was even elected, it's hard to take seriously the idea that Democrats in the House are merely doing their duty.
I wasn't for impeachment and if I am honest? I am still on the fence about it. But, given this transgression? It's a clearly impeachable offense and it's not even the first one. At some point, the right thing needs to be done. Putting it off makes the Dems look weak, but failing to actually get the votes for an impeachment will be catastrophic for them in 2020. I am no fan of Pelosi, but she isn't an idiot either. No way she would endorse an impeachment inquiry unless she knows it's a slam dunk.
I am no lawyer, and I don't know anymore than anyone else here, but...my gut tells me that trump may be screwed here. Based on the facts that I know? Trump looks guilty as hell and I am not putting any faith at all in the transcripts that the WH will release tomorrow because we already know Barr will do anything and everything to protect trump. I mean, trump admitted he made the call and admitted Biden did come up. We also already know that he had the funding for the Ukraine held back 4 days before he even made the call anyway. There is a lot here, and none of it looks good for trump.
Besides... Rudy pretty much let the cat out of the bag on CNN the other day when he admitted he asked for the Ukraine to investigate Biden on trump's behalf. Seriously, maybe trump needs to pay rudy 130k to stop incriminating him on live tv.
That doesn't matter. This is a purely political exercise and it doesn't even happen often enough to say conclusively what the steps and results should or should not be. We're all going to have thoughts and opinions on it.
A lot is going to depend, I think, on how he responds and what the facts are. So far, he's at least admitting to some things, which may be in his favor. I think Trump's core failing has always been that he believes strongly that he should just be able to do whatever he wants.
Conversely, the Democrats have a history of taking ordinary behaviors and trying to scandalize them. That's not in their favor, obviously.
A key is going to be the ability to articulate to the American people exactly what it is they're accusing him of doing wrong and why they should care. For example, when Bill Clinton was impeached, there was a lot of sympathy for him because everyone can understand the desire to hide an affair and, on the surface, it doesn't seem to threaten democracy.
Telling people that Trump talked about investigating Biden isn't going to look impeachable if it turns out Biden or his son actually did something wrong. And just as we don't want the president seeking outside interference in an election, we also don't want to say that the simple fact that someone is a candidate somehow excuses them from justice.
He's terrible. I see that guy on TV and I think Trump has a great malpractice case against him.
it's a good thing Trump would never behave ordinarily,
and NEVER Scandalously !
So just like Trump, you want to make this about the Bidens.
Whose 'justice'? If this was about justice, the FBI would be the investigative agency, NOT somebody in Ukraine.
Seriously, Trump can't insist that corruption is rampant in Ukraine out of one side of his mouth and insist that Ukraine's justice system can be trusted to investigate American citizens out of the other side.
The fact is, the prosecutor for Ukraine shot down Giuliani's bullshit conspiracy theory and cleared the Bidens back in May. There are multiple news articles reporting that fact. I'm pretty fucking sure that the prosecutor for Ukraine has more important things on his plate than reopening a completed investigation merely to give Trump and Giuliani another shinny thing for distraction.
Put your head in the sand if you like, but this requires an examination of the Bidens. If Democrats are just going stomp their feet and insist on "nothing to see here" that will look corrupt as hell and you'll be doing Trump a favor.
I do think he should have communicated with the FBI over this. However, if the wrongdoing took place in Ukraine, as alleged, Ukrainian authorities would necessarily be involved.
Is that the corrupt prosecutor who was fired for being corrupt?
I'm a little rusty on my civics lesson, but doesn't the House actually have to hear testimony to determine if there is enough evidence to impeach (indict) like a grand jury does?
So just because Pelosi called for an impeachment inquiry, that doesn't necessarily mean there will be enough evidence to impeach (indict), correct?
thats when a drink a little CLR
.
I had a Honda Civic once, it was also rusty, i gave it a tetanus shot but it locked up tires anyway, i nearly broke my jaw
.
i never had civics, perhaps i was too civil...
but i believe once there is a majority in the house that go for it, there is an investigation, then a vote to impeach or not.
if they vote to go and impeach, i believe it goes to the Senate where i'm thinking 2/3's or is it 3/4s are required to have potUS removed, then about a Trillion gallons of bleach
total hearsay i heard here, or say
somewhere or no where else why would i remember ?
i am only capable of remembering to forget, don't you remember...
Why was Trump asking the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden? Joe Biden is a private citizen, and the matter has already been investigated in Ukraine.
Try to see what is front of everyone's face.
He is now, but I don't know why that should matter. Private citizens are investigated every day. Democrats had no problem with Trump being investigated when he was a private citizen. Anyway, from what I have seen, the stuff Trump was concerned about happened when Biden was VP. Have you followed the story at all?
Judging from the fact that I am more informed about this than you are, perhaps it is you who has his head in the sand. The information is out there for anyone with the intellectual curiosity to find it.
Why?
I find it hypocritical that sycophants target 'the Biden's' while Trump's family is all over the world making bank...
If the unsubstantiated allegations against Biden and his son REQUIRE an examination then the overt actions by Trump's family do too. Chinese trademark clearances, Saudi Arabian Prince has Jared 'in my pocket', sudden billion dollar bailout of Jared's 666 property. The list goes on...
The Prosecutor General of Ukraine said there was nothing to see there...
Hell, Barr just admitted that Trump didn't even communicate with HIM about this.
The 'Ukrainian authorities' did an investigation into the Burisma AND it's owner and EXAONERATED them. So did the UK. Does there have to be more investigations than Benghazi before it's made clear that this is a political hit job?
NO. He's Yuriy Lutsenko, the corrupt prosecutor that was desperate to keep his job and started saying a bunch of bullshit, which Giuliani and the Hill lapped up, after he realized that Zelensky was going to win the election in Ukraine.
First he said that there was no evidence that the Biden's did anything illegal
Note: You might want to review Kelensky's comments in the presser with Trump yesterday, he said just about the same thing that Lutsenko said in May about not wanting the Ukraine mixed up in the US election.
Yet after that interview, he started to play Trump and Giuliani to get the US to help him keep his job. Kelensky replaced him in August.
The irony is that both Lutsenko and Shorkin are now the 'officials' that Trump and his sycophants are parroting.
I'm not sure there is a more loyal Trump supporter in America than you.
Don't cry too much when Trump gets impeached, which is all but certain at this point.
He is a sitting president who attempted to use the power of his office to get a foreign government to discredit his election opponent. He can't do that. It is a high crime and misdemeanor.
Do YOU follow the news? That is a better question.
Again, you desperately try to pretend that the US investigating a US citizen is that same as the US asking a foreign nation to investigate a US citizen. WHY?
Did you get that from your secret decoder ring or do you have a credible source you can share?
I'm not sure there is a more irrational Trump hater in America than you.
There is nothing about the upcoming election and his opponents in the conversation with the Ukranian president. The name "Biden" comes up in two successive sentences about Joe's son and the investigation into him.
There is nothing in that about the election, discrediting an opponent, or anything like that. The name "Biden" appears nowhere else in the transcript.
The main thing that Trump asked Zelenskyy was to look into the Crowdstrike company which was involved in collecting data on Russian meddling in the previous election. That has nothing to do with Biden or the upcoming election.
Just a quick question: What election opponent do you think Trump wants Ukraine to investigate? Because I have read the transcript of the conversation, and nowhere in there do I see a request to do that. I do see a request to investigate a US company (Crowdstrike), but not a person. Here is a link to the transcript.
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
Just quote the part where Trump asks Zelenskyy to investigate an election opponent. If you mean the company, that's fine. But nowhere in there did he ask for an investigation into Joe Biden.
Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you ·can look into it ... It sounds horrible to me.
Note that I answered your question in exactly the way you asked me to.
Now how about YOU answer some of the multiple questions I have asked you.
You can start with the one in the comment you just replied to and work you way back to yesterday.
Yes, I don't see what that has to do with the election. He's asking about Biden's son and the lack of prosecution. I don't see anything like "investigate my election opponent."
To the best of my knowledge, yes, that's correct.
He asked about the prosecution of Biden's son AND to look into Biden's stopping the prosecution.
BTW, it's pretty obvious that Trump and Giuliani think that an investigation into Biden's son would effect the election. Go review what Giuliani is spewing on Fox. Now he's claiming to be a hero!
Yeah, "Crooked Hillary, Low Energy Jeb, Lying Ted and of course the Horse Face comments among the many others" by the DJT. Yes indeed. "The enthusiasm of it all, right?"
There are just a lot people that are yearning to 'get a piece of the DJT' when the time is right. Hell, there thousands upon thousands of folk in NJ and NY in the building industry and Casino industry
that are waiting for their just dues. In short, the Trump is a marked man. When his armor protection evaporates he will be naked.
My son in law works in construction in DC, (co-owner of a company), and he has told me many stories about trump working with the mob to get building permits where other companies couldn't. This is not a big secret. I remember...man...must have been close to 25 or 30 years ago seeing him on the Regis and Kathy Lee Show and Regis asking trump how he can get building permits so easily and he flatly said, "you just have to know which palms to grease". I'll never forget it because until that point I thought he was a pretty stand up guy. Turns out he is just a crook and a liar. Personally, I think his run of luck has finally ran out.
DJT is a liar, cheat and a fraud. Same thing he's always been.
trump and gulianni belong behind barr's big fat ass in prison.
Wtf is a silly prison? Do the inmates wear funny hats and run around with clown noses?
<snicker>
In MUVA's defense, I think he types on a phone and I know I have problems using punctuation on a phone.
No, Silly, Trix are for kids
is how i assume he intended it.
In this instance,
Dix R 4 lix, B hind Barr's DOJ, N even Barr is deserved to behind his namesake
I know. I am just having a little fun with him. I really do like him even when we disagree. Anyone who can type on a watch as small as they are has my respect.
Of course it's a crime and Trump just doesn't even care anymore that people know it openly. He expects to have lawyers get him out of this one; the same way they filed his bankruptcies, the way they paid off his mistresses, the way they filed his divorces, the way they filed NDA's against anyone who accepted a payoff when Trump knew he was losing, the way lawyers have gotten him out of every mess he was ever involved in. This one is different, he was willing to use taxpayer dollars to extort a foreign leader. That was just a bridge too far for some patriot who came forward.
Last week, I got pulled over on the way home from the store and I got a ticket for a burned out tail light. I am glad Rudy was my lawyer, he plead that broken tail light all the way down to first degree murder.