Americans need to know if the GOP finds Trump's conduct acceptable

By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
September 20 at 5:00 PM
This post has been updated.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) put out a statement today commensurate with the seriousness of the whistleblower standoff, which reads in part:

The Administration’s blocking of Acting DNI Joseph Maguire from providing Congress with the whistleblower complaint violates the federal statute, which unequivocally states that the DNI ‘shall’ provide Congress this information. If the President has done what has been alleged, then he is stepping into a dangerous minefield with serious repercussions for his Administration and our democracy. The President and Acting DNI’s stonewalling must end immediately, and the whistleblower must be provided with every protection guaranteed by the law to defend the integrity of our government and ensure accountability and trust.

She and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) should be crystal clear. If the president extorted a foreign government to find dirt on a political opponent, the president must be impeached. Let the Republicans explain why the president’s conduct is acceptable. And because the president seems to be perfectly fine with whatever he said, the Senate trial can be expedited with a factual stipulation.

This came before a Wall Street Journal report that in a single July conversation President Trump urged the Ukrainian leader to find dirt on his opponent Joe Biden. There doesn’t need to be a quid pro quo. This is “collusion” writ large ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/20/reacting-allegations-egregious-high-crimes-misdemeanors/