11-16-2019, 09:35 PM
I watched the witness testimony videos today. As expected, it's a highly partisan proceeding with plenty of grandstanding, especially by Republican Reps. The media outlets are, for the most part, also in their predictable partisan camps.
Putting that bullshit aside, to me, the witnesses (Taylor, Kent, Yavanovitch) came across a very credible professionals who had legitimate non-partisan reasons to be concerned about what was going on in relation to the U.S.'s dealings with Ukraine.
The witnesses clearly shared the whistle-blower's concern that crucial officially-approved aid was being withheld from our Ukrainian ally because Trump wanted a political political/personally-beneficial favor from the new Ukranian President first, and that nutty Rudy Giuliani was the non-appointed and non-elected conduit on behalf of the President.
Pelosi knows what she's doing, in my opinion. She doesn't expect the Republican-majority senate to vote for impeachment under any circumstances. But, she is making sure the public (most importantly Democrat and Independent voters) sees the Democrats carrying out their oversight responsibilities by investigating a legitimate concern about a possible violation of the Constitution by President Trump and putting the evidence on the table.
So far, it looks to me like the impeachment inquiry is going as planned for the Democrats.
Putting that bullshit aside, to me, the witnesses (Taylor, Kent, Yavanovitch) came across a very credible professionals who had legitimate non-partisan reasons to be concerned about what was going on in relation to the U.S.'s dealings with Ukraine.
The witnesses clearly shared the whistle-blower's concern that crucial officially-approved aid was being withheld from our Ukrainian ally because Trump wanted a political political/personally-beneficial favor from the new Ukranian President first, and that nutty Rudy Giuliani was the non-appointed and non-elected conduit on behalf of the President.
Pelosi knows what she's doing, in my opinion. She doesn't expect the Republican-majority senate to vote for impeachment under any circumstances. But, she is making sure the public (most importantly Democrat and Independent voters) sees the Democrats carrying out their oversight responsibilities by investigating a legitimate concern about a possible violation of the Constitution by President Trump and putting the evidence on the table.
So far, it looks to me like the impeachment inquiry is going as planned for the Democrats.