On a day when 80-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) instructed House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.) to write articles of impeachment on 73-year-old President Donald Trump, former Vice President and Democrat front-runner Joe Biden said he refused to testify. Trump insisted that if the impeachment went to trial in the Senate, he’d have his attorneys subpoena Biden to testify. Biden finds himself in the center of the controversy, where Democrats accuse Trump of abuse of power, violating his oath of office for his July 25 phone call with 40-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) compiled a 300-page report, summarizing weeks of testimony, concluding that Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors withholding military aid until Ukraine produced information on Joe and his 50-yuear-old son, Hunter.
Biden wants no part of any impeachment trial, especially if he’s cross-examined for his role in 2014, while Vice President, in landing Hunter a $!50,000 a month job on Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings board. Hunter has already admitted Oct. 15 he wouldn’t have gotten the job without his father’s help. He also said, in hindsight, it was probably not a good idea. Joe wants to pretend he’s not at the center of the Ukraine controversy where Democrats accuse Trump of bribery and obstruction of Congress, essentially abusing power pressuring Zelensky to dig up dirt on the Bidens. Schiff’s 300-page report draws unwarranted conclusions from weeks of closed-and-open-door testimony, finding that Trump tried to manipulate the 2020 by seeking information from a foreign government on a U.S. citizen. Democrats leaped to the conclusion that Trump wanted to manipulate the 2020 election.
Not one witness could state with certainty Trump’s motives, often admitting under cross-examination that they were speculating why he withheld $391 million in Ukraine’s military aid. Democrats on the Intel Committee insist Trump jeopardized U.S. national security keeping funds from Ukraine. But Democrats wanted no part of any discussion that suggests withholding the funds was routine for a foreign government seeking Pentagon cash with a history of rampant corruption. Biden says he won’t participate in any Senate trial because he wants to keep House managers focused on Trump. “No, I’m not going to let them [House managers] take their eye off the ball,” Biden said in Iowa Falls. “The president is the one who has committed impeachable crimes, and I’m not going to let him divert from that. I ‘m not going to let anyone divert from that,” Biden insisted to reporters.
If the House sends articles of impeachment to the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised to conduct a fair impeachment trial. Trump’s attorneys will be allowed to subpoena anyone they like to defend the president. If Trump’s case revolves around investigating corruption in Ukraine, he’s got to show that Biden and his son Hunter were part of the problem. Biden was asked by former President Barack Obama to lead an anti-corruption task force in Ukraine, only to find Hunter a $150,00 a month job. If Trump’s afforded his 14th Amendment Due Process rights, he’ll be allowed to call all witnesses that could exonerate him, including the Bidens. Joe can’t arbitrarily refuse to testify, while, at the same time, accuse Trump of stonewalling Congress. Deciding to writes articles of impeachment, Nadler knows that all bets are off when it comes to witnesses.
Trump has been warning House officials that a Senate trial could embarrass a lot of people, now jumping on the impeachment bandwagon. “The president wants his case made fully in the Senate with a full trial and that’s a point we’re going to make consistently,” said Eric Uleland, White House legislative affairs director. “The underlying impeachment rules of the Senate afford the president a full suite of rights to argue his case on the facts and on the merits,” Ueland said, insisting the president needs the full set of options, including calling witnesses to testify. Biden wants to continue the biased House Democrat case against Trump, something that won’t happen in the Senate trial. Schiff and Nadler had their say in their partisan hearings, now they face a different test, proving their case under cross-examination. When the dust settles, it’s doubtful they’ll convince the GOP to back their case.
Spending months building a one-sided, partisan impeachment case against Trump, Democrats face a different hurdle, convincing GOP senators to back their impeachment case. So far, not a single Republican has shown any inclination to back their case. Democrats won’t be happy with Trump’s witness list, especially if it includes Joe and Hunter Biden. ”The president wants his case made fully in the Senate with a full-tirial and that a point we’re going to make consistently,” said Ueland. Unlike Democrats that called only prosecution-friendly witnesses, Republicans will call exculpatory witnesses once the Senate trial begins, giving Trump his Due Process rights. House Democrats have kept Trump’s lawyers out of the impeachment process, letting his detractors build a one-sided case. Democrats, like Joe and Hunter Biden, want to avoid the witness stand but Trump will get his day in court.
