The stakes in the Washington "game of thrones" are rising.
Democrats in the House of Representatives began holding hearings on the pressure of Donald Trump on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Congressmen managed to listen only to the former US Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Walker, and found that the aforementioned Walker “advised the Ukrainian authorities not to try to influence Washington’s policy.” Translated from a bureaucratic language into a human language, this means that Walker simply put the poles in the wheels of Rudy Giuliani, who, on Trump's instructions, is investigating the Ukrainian corruption footprint of Joe Biden and his family.
In addition, Volcker conceived the congressmen that Donald Trump, it turns out, considered Ukraine a completely corrupt country, "full of terrible people." Frankly speaking, not far from the truth - but in the framework of the “political orthodoxy” prevailing in the USA, one cannot say and even think such things, because everyone knows that Ukraine is a brave young democracy that shares Western values and opposes the terrible totalitarian Putin's Russia.
Hearings in Congress had unpleasant consequences for Walker. The media found out that he was engaged in Ukraine in covering up his little gesheft. The notorious Javelin, whose supply to the Ukrainian army was presented as a sign of strategic support for Kiev by Washington, was produced by a company that funded the McCain Institute, whose director was who? Right: Kurt Walker.
True, only until yesterday. As soon as publications began to appear in the media hinting at his involvement in Ukrainian corruption, he quickly resigned.
But what a walker! In essence, a small fry. But Adam Schiff, chairman of the committee of the House of Representatives for Intelligence, substituted himself, as they say, in full. First, he fabricated quotes from Trump's telephone conversation with Zelensky, speaking to his committee, that is, speaking the legal language, he lied to Congress.
Here's what Schiff said:
“The president’s response - well, that sounds like classic organized crime. In fact, President Trump reports (Zelensky. - K. B. ) the following: “We were very kind to your country. Fine. No other country has done as much for you as we have. But you know what? I do not see much reciprocity here. Do you understand what I mean? I hear what you want. Although I want a favor from you. And I will say it only seven times, so better listen well. I want you to smear the dirt of my political opponent, you know? A lot of dirt on this and this. I'm going to introduce you to people, and not just to some people. I’m going to connect you with the US Attorney General - my Attorney General Bill Barr - behind him is the full power of the US law enforcement. And I'm going to introduce you to Rudy, you will love him. Trust me. You know what I'm asking, so I'll only say it a few times, in a few more ways. And don't call me again. I’ll call you myself when you do what I asked. ”
Of course, Trump did not say anything like that. A transcript of his conversation with Zelensky is published, and everyone can see how Adam Schiff tried, depicting a normal conversation between two politicians as a godfather monologue from the gangster saga. So Schiff lied the first time.
It soon became clear that Schiff was lying like he was breathing - during an interview on MSNBC on September 17, he lied to all Americans, saying that he had not met with the notorious whistleblower and hadn’t talked to him before the scandal surrounding Trump and Zelensky’s telephone conversation began to gain momentum.
Journalists quickly found out that the mysterious informant met with Schiff's assistants and that it was Schiff and his Democratic friends from the intelligence committee who suggested the whistleblower (it’s rather difficult to translate the whistleblower into Russian) to write his denunciation, from which the current round of anti-trump hysteria began.
“This is a complete lie ... we know that it is not!” Wrote the journalist Glenn Kessler, whose responsibility is to verify the facts published in his newspaper. What is surprising here is that Kessler does not work for Fox News and not for Breitbart, who more or less sympathize with Trump, but in The Washington Post.
“The California lawmaker said he did not speak directly with the informant,” The Washington Examiner wrote. - It's a lie!"
Well, Donald Trump reacted to Schiff's lies in his usual manner by publishing a short tweet:
“Adam Schiff must be impeached!”
But the US president did not stop there. Here is another trump tweet in which he calls for impeachment of all Democrats involved in conspiracy against the head of state:
“Nancy Pelosi knew how much Dodgy Adam Schiff lied and fraudulent in the face of Congress and the American people - both in the form of fraudulent speech delivered by a ruthless con man and in illegal meetings with a very partisan whistleblower and lawyer. This makes Nancy Nervous just as guilty as Adam Schiff is guilty of serious crimes and even treason. This means that they with all who maliciously conspired with them should be impeached! ”
Impeaching a congressional speaker is strong.
Trump is bluffing, of course. It is not in his competence to somehow influence the situation in Congress - the principle of separation of powers that is steadily observed in the USA reliably protects American lawmakers from any arbitrariness on the part of the executive branch.
Therefore, Trump's call for impeachment of Pelosi poses no real threat to her (and even to Schiff). Why, then, did Trump write a few tweets calling for an obviously impossible procedure? It seems that the US president is simply trolling his political opponents.
The fact is that the inability of the Democrats to ensure the impeachment procedure even in the House of Representatives, which they control, is becoming increasingly apparent. In any case, they cannot provide an official impeachment vote, as evidenced, for example, by an interview with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, representing the Michigan House of Representatives, on Fox News.
Dingell said the Democrats in Congress "have a good reason not to hold an official impeachment vote": before starting to take any action, Congress needs to collect as many facts as possible. “Let's continue to disseminate information (about Trump’s allegedly illegal pressure on Ukraine. - K. B. ), making it as open as possible. There is a lot of classified information (information - K. B. ). And it is not only a matter of protecting (Ukrainian. - K. B. ) the informant. I think this is important for this country (Ukraine. - K. B. ), but we also have our national security, which we must ensure. ”
As the Americans say in such cases, blah blah blah.
But Fox News host Bill Hammer was persistent.
“If the Democrats have repeatedly said that they have votes (for impeachment. - K. B. ), why not vote?” He pressed.
“I think we can do this ... in the future,” Dingell barked. “But I don't want to pour kerosene into bonfires that are already burning.” I think that within a few weeks we will deal with the facts - we will see where they will lead us. ”
And in the end, she stated that she had never called for impeachment of the president.
It turns out that the support of the supporters of the impeachment of Trump even in the lower house of Congress is not as unconditional as Schiff, Pelosi and especially the ultra-left "Detachment" headed by Okasio-Cortes would like. And Trump, of course, understands this. Therefore, he is engaged in the good old trolling: “Are you threatening me with impeachment? Do you want to try impeachment yourself? ”
Typical poker bluff. None of the opponents can (yet) bring their threats to fruition, but constantly raises the stakes - in the hope that the other one will not be able to withstand the nerves sooner or later. It is no coincidence that Trump in his tweet called Nancy Pelosi "Nancy's Nervous." The US president himself has nerves in order - which means he has more chances to win in this poker.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.