2 min readDec 18, 2019
- Trump was not demanding an investigation to release the funds. He was demanding an ANNOUNCEMENT of an investigation on CNN or some other network that would reach the US. Real law enforcement does not proceed by press release, but to answer your question directly, Trump needs to be soliciting a thing “of value.” Oppo research is “of value” in that every campaign has to pay for it.
- I have not read the transcript and neither have you because it has never been released. I have read the summary that was released full of (…) and what it inspires is the question if that summary was what they think is exculpatory what in the world was in those ellipses?
- While I personally have no objection to a Biden investigation, it is customary to tell the investigators what they are looking for. Nobody has accused Joe Biden of anything except those who conflate Biden threatening to withhold aid on behalf of the US and the EU with Trump doing the same on behalf of his campaign. Hunter Biden is an addict with a colorful history and how much of him you want to hang on his father is, I suppose, a philosophical matter. Still, Hunter Biden was put on the Burisma board with several other westerners to the end of demonstrating the company was turning over a new leaf and having these board members from whence the criticism was coming would make political cover. When he accepted, he did so subject to a memo he wrote about the things from which he was recused — that is, he attempted to build a firewall between himself and his dad. I think the whole thing stinks to high heaven and anybody with the IQ of a houseplant should have known better. Still, Joe Biden has not been in a position to do any favors for Burisma while Hunter Biden has been on the board so, once more, what are the marching orders for an investigation? What Mr. Trump wants is a news story that he can turn into a meme like Hillary Clinton’s emails. It is not customary for the FBI to investigate violations of foreign law that happened in a foreign country, but it has been done in terrorism cases. What is required is an order from….Donald Trump. But he does not want an investigation that could be over in a week. He wants a slow simmer like FBI agents going crosseyed reading all those emails for classified material.
