Circulating on the hill today is a memorandum released by the Republican Staff of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Committee on Foreign Affairs to Republican Members. The subject reads: “Key points of evidence from the Democrats’ closed-door “impeachment inquiry.”
In an 18-page statement, the document reads like a body of armor to prepare Republicans for battle. And frankly, they need it. Democrats will allege “that President Trump abused his authority by leveraging a face-to-face meeting with President Zelensky and U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to force Ukraine to conduct two ‘political’ investigations” the memorandum reads.
The two political investigations referenced are “the role of Vice President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on the board of a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma.” The second, is in regards to “allegations of Ukrainian interference in the U.S. presidential election in 2016.”
However, in order to combat Schiff and the witch hunt leaders, “four key pieces of evidence are fatal to the Democrats’ allegations” states the memorandum. “Stripping away the hyperbole and hysteria, these indisputable pieces of evidence show that there was no ‘Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Those four golden nuggets are:
-The July 25 call summary- the best evidence of the conversation-shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure;
-President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call;
-The Ukrainian government was not aware of a hold on U.S. security assistance at the time of the July 25 call; and
-President Trump met with President Zelensky and U.S. security assistance flowed to Ukraine in September 2019- both of which occurred without Ukraine investigating Trump’s political rivals.
Ultimately it is critical to understand the President’s justification in holding “a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption.” Highlighted next are defensive facts, such as a Politico article which detailed how a Democratic operative “traded information and leads” with Ukrainian Embassy staff members and how the embassy “worked directly with reporters researching Trump.”
Also noted is a 2018 interview of Nellie Ohr who was contracted by Fusion GPS, the firm hired to gather information about candidate Trump, “shows that Ukrainian parliamentarian Leshchenko- the same politician who said that Ukraine was ‘on Hillary Clinton’s side’ in 2016- was a Fusian GPS source for information about Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.”
The memorandum wraps up with a “conclusion” statement which reiterates that as Democrats move proceedings to open hearings, “their process is still one-sided, partisan, and fundamentally unfair.” The President is not receiving due process protection, and “Simply put, the evidence gathered to date does not support the Democrat allegation that President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate the President’s political rivals for his benefit in the 2020 presidential campaign. The evidence gathered does not establish an impeachable offense.”
Read Full Memorandum Here
