Impeachment watch: Trump says asking Ukraine to investigate Biden was good for US

Donald Trump has moved on to a new defense as he tries to ward off what looks like inevitable impeachment charges: He claims his demand for an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden was actually for the greater good, not his own political benefit.

“When I said, in my phone call to the President of Ukraine, ‘I would like you to do US a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.’ With the word ‘us’ I am referring to the United States, our Country,” Trump tweeted Wednesday night. “I then went on to say that ‘I would like to have the Attorney General (of the United States) call you or your people…..’ This, based on what I have seen, is their big point – and it is no point at a all (except for a big win for me!). The Democrats should apologize to the American people!”

However, Republicans never sought an investigation into Biden when Biden was vice president, nor when Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and White House for the first two year’s of Trump’s tenure.

Instead, Trump’s demand for an investigation only came once polling showed Biden to be the Democratic presidential frontrunner — with a lead over Trump in a hypothetical general election match-up.

Not only that, Trump withheld already approved military aid to Ukraine to force them to carry out the investigation.

Here’s what else is happening in impeachment news:

• Constitutional scholars testified on Wednesday that Trump’s actions are impeachable offenses. And the one GOP-called scholar, who said the evidence for impeachment is thin, got basic facts wrong in his testimony.

• Republicans engaged in delay tactics and pushed baseless conspiracy theories at Wednesday’s hearing — as was expected.

Come back tomorrow for more impeachment news.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.