How serious were the charges against Donald Trump?

[kentuck]

Was it just "inappropriate", as Lamar Alexander said?

Or was it much more serious?

Was it really "urgent", as the Intelligence Community Inspector General said?

Were AG Barr and Justice Dept correct in trying to bury it at that time?

Or was it a threat to our national security?

How serious is it to ask another country to assist in your re-election campaign, by creating false rumors and slander on your political opponents, and by propagating it thru the cable news media?

And then withholding military aid until the favor was done?

Is that just "inappropriate"?

[Harker]

1. Depends upon what one's political affiliation is.

As of now, it's about on the level of diddling an intern and lying about it.

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. Seems to me that it is much lower on the totem pole of importance

according to the repugs. They didn't ignore the dress.
And not that it matters, but I don't think President Clinton "diddled" an intern.

[Harker]

8. Perhaps 'behaved inappropriately'

would have been a better choice.

I hope the perfidious republicants never recover from the aftermath of this sham 'presidency' and the phony trial.

[malaise]

3. I no longer know what it will take to remove an impeached president

from office - a sham fails to describe this travesty of justice

[gulliver]

4. What Trump did was an outrage against the Constitution

Republicans swept it under the rug, largely because their party is to blame for him. They didn't so much acquit Trump as rig an "out" for themselves.

[2naSalit]

9. +1

[crickets]

10. This right here.

[jmg257]

5. "The executive will have great opportunitys of abusing his power"

"Guilt wherever found ought to be punished".

Mr Randolph - Debates on impeachment at the Constitutional Convention July 20, 1787

[dalton99a]

6. Inappropriate is when you fart in public

or tell a dirty joke at a funeral

[Maeve]

7. More important is the obstruction of Congress

But let's just let them talk about the damned phone call....

[Mr. Ected]

11. What Trump did/does was/is illegal. Full stop.

Politics has nothing to do with it.

Had a Democrat done what Trump was accused of, I would have led the charge for impeachment.

A Democratic Vice President would have become President.

It was never about politics.

And even if it was - and it WASN'T - haven't we heard a zillion times recently that impeachment is a POLITICAL remedy?

I should only hope that if the Democrats, en masse, ever pulled such a stunt - and they WON'T - that we at DU would be so thoroughly disgusted that we would push for impeachment as hard as we just did for Trump.

[smirkymonkey]

12. +1000

Thank YOU!

[Brother Mythos]

13. Agreed.

As per the U.S. Government Accountability Office:

"Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law. OMB withheld funds for a policy reason, which is not permitted under the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). The withholding was not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that OMB violated the ICA."

The House of Representatives Impeached Trump for both Abuse of Power, and Obstruction of Congress. He is clearly guilty on both counts. But, the above statement from the U.S. GAO clearly identifies one of the specific laws he broke.

[ooky]

14. If he had not been exposed when he was, he could have had

Zelensky announce the investigations and then withheld the aid. The same nightmare scenario Bill Taylor testified to having when he wrote "...and I quit".

That would have been a big assist to Russia in Putin's desire to occupy eastern Ukraine. Maybe not the technical definition of treason we always are corrected about when we use the "T" word, but damn sure a traitorous act.

How does anyone know that wasn't his real intentions before he got exposed by the whistleblower?

To me, undermining our foreign policy was a huge issue with what he did and was underplayed by M$M.

[kentuck]

15. I think that is exactly why he was holding the aid from them.

As a favor to Russia. It would not have been the first time.

[shockey80]

16. What Trump did was one of the worst high crimes you can commit.

Trying to rig the presidential election, using the peoples money and attempting to bribe a foreign government, risking the national security. If alive, The founding fathers would be calling for a revolution. I have no doubt.