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"He had to announce the investigations. He didn't actually have to do them, as I understood it." (Original Post) EleanorR Nov 2019 OP
Of course, he was going to pull a Hillary Clinton on Biden RAB910 Nov 2019 #1
They say HUNTER, I say IVANKA, DONNIE JR, ERIC flor-de-jasmim Nov 2019 #2
This is very daming Johnny2X2X Nov 2019 #3
It is damning, because a hint of wrong-doing is all the Right-wing Baitball Blogger Nov 2019 #4
I've been saying this all along frazzled Nov 2019 #5
Don't say Republicans never learn gratuitous Nov 2019 #6
Hell, that was their MO in the 90s JHB Nov 2019 #12
Yep...from a tweeter: Leghorn21 Nov 2019 #7
In the RW echo chamber, the accusations are enough... Wounded Bear Nov 2019 #8
True. All they wanted was the announcement of an investigation in a CNN interview. PSPS Nov 2019 #9
Very key point oswaldactedalone Nov 2019 #10
Because Trump just needed a video clip to smear Biden with; investigations into actual corruption tblue37 Nov 2019 #11

RAB910

(3,445 posts)
1. Of course, he was going to pull a Hillary Clinton on Biden
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:29 PM
Nov 2019

it wasn't an actual crime (as there was none), but the investigation that hurt Hillary

Johnny2X2X

(18,742 posts)
3. This is very daming
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:33 PM
Nov 2019

Describes intent clearly as not the intention to investigate corruption, but rather to simply give the appearance that Biden did something wrong.

Trump's fallback defense through part of this is that he wanted Ukraine to investigate all corruption, this shows he didn't want an investigation at all, just a statement for political effect.

Baitball Blogger

(46,573 posts)
4. It is damning, because a hint of wrong-doing is all the Right-wing
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:38 PM
Nov 2019

mud-slinging social network needs to begin their muck-racking.

They do the same thing for every election.

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
5. I've been saying this all along
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:40 PM
Nov 2019

And it makes sense: everybody was telling the Occupant that this was all bull, conspiracies, untrue. That is never a deterrent to DT. He didn't care if there were investigations: the presence of a conspiracy theory was enough to make him want to use it for effect (just as he did for years with the birther claims on BO).

The minute I heard the testimony that the requirement was that Zelensky make a public statement, on TV, I felt assured that that was all he cared about: put it out there, evidence or validity be damned. It's his MO.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
6. Don't say Republicans never learn
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:45 PM
Nov 2019

Remember the endless Benghazi hearings and investigations and so forth? Every time the House went ahead trying to run that story to the ground and make some kind of nefarious connection to Obama administration fecklessness, it came a cropper. The only thing they've ever gotten out of all their effort is that in the earliest hours after the attack was launched, some people pondered whether the attack might have been ignited by that dipshit Florida "pastor" and his spurious video about Mohammed. The theory was quickly discarded as more facts came to light, and it was apparent that the attack was long planned. But when that's all they had, Republicans repeated it ad infinitum as if it were true.

Their utter inability to generate an actual scandal taught them a valuable lesson: When you're ginning up a nontroversy, don't spoil it with an actual investigation. So in regard to the Ukraine mess, all they wanted was for Zelensky (safely away from any inconvenient oversight by the House) to announce he was investigating Hunter Biden. The Republicans would do the rest through innuendo, implication, and explosive allegations ungrounded in reality, but tethered to Zelensky's announcement. The less reality intruded on the spurious allegation, the better for Republicans.

JHB

(37,128 posts)
12. Hell, that was their MO in the 90s
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 02:07 PM
Nov 2019

How many "Clinton scandals" did they churn up? How many of them turned out to be puffed-up horseshit? (hint: just about all of them.)

Hell, why does FOX constantly "make a mistake" and put a D next to the name of an R under investigation or being indicted?

It's all about having a constant stream of images and headlines about Democratic corruption so that it becomes the take-away for millions of people who don't pay close attention. Bush did the same thing by shuffling talk of 911 and Saddam together (though scrupulously never explicitly linking them -- that part was left to pundits and other outside the administration).

Continued during the Obama admin: Solyndra! Fast & Furious! Golf! Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi!

Leghorn21

(13,520 posts)
7. Yep...from a tweeter:
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:47 PM
Nov 2019

“He had to announce the investigations. He didn't actually have to do them, as I understood it." - Sondland.

This is key. It was never about corruption. It was about tarring a domestic political opponent.”

Wounded Bear

(58,437 posts)
8. In the RW echo chamber, the accusations are enough...
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 12:52 PM
Nov 2019

after all, remember the last 10 days in 2016.

"Oh, new evidence has been found on a laptop. We'll have to re-open the investigations of Hillary."

8 days later.

"Oops, nothing there. Sorry about that."



The more things change, the more they stay the same. As long as there is "legitimate" indication that an investigation is going on, the RW echo chamber will blare it from the rooftops.

PSPS

(13,512 posts)
9. True. All they wanted was the announcement of an investigation in a CNN interview.
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 01:07 PM
Nov 2019

The RW Wurlitzer would take it from there.

oswaldactedalone

(3,489 posts)
10. Very key point
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 01:57 PM
Nov 2019

Glad it was made. Please drop the “find dirt on Biden” or “manufacture dirt on Biden” memes and call it what it is. More lying and cheating by the Retrumplicans.

tblue37

(64,979 posts)
11. Because Trump just needed a video clip to smear Biden with; investigations into actual corruption
Wed Nov 20, 2019, 02:00 PM
Nov 2019

we're not of interest to him.

Oh, and also he needed ammo to claim Russia didn't interfere in 2016.

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