The refusal of the US Senate to support Congress’s decision to impeach President Donald Trump will show that the personal interests of the head of state can prevail over the interests of the nation. In addition, it will undermine the credibility of the United States in the eyes of American allies in the world and damage the national interests of the country. This position is set out in the memorandum of the House of Representatives. The day before, the document was published on the website of the intelligence committee of the lower house of Congress.
It is reported that the document was submitted to the Senate for consideration. Seven congressional Democrats will represent the House of Representatives during the Senate impeachment hearings. The accuser group includes Adam Schiff, head of the special intelligence committee of the House of Representatives, Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the judicial affairs committee, Zoe Lofgren, head of the administrative affairs committee, and congressmen Hakim Jeffries, Val Demings, Jason Crowe, and Sylvia Garcia.
Political motive
As noted in the memorandum, Donald Trump first used his official powers to force a foreign state (Ukraine. - RT ) to intervene in American elections in order to obtain personal political benefits, and then "tried to hide his illegal actions, hindering an appropriate Congress investigation."
“The Constitution provides for the following measures in case of such serious abuse of power by the president: impeachment and removal from office,” the authors of the document remind.
- Office of the energy company Burisma Holdings Ltd in Kiev
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
At the same time, the authors of the document argue that the suspicions raised against Biden did not have any real ground. In addition, in their opinion, there was no reason to suspect the Ukrainian side of meddling in the 2016 US elections in favor of the Democratic Party, the congressmen are sure.
Recall that in a conversation with Vladimir Zelensky, Trump asked his Ukrainian counterpart to also understand the situation around CrowdStrike. The company was investigating a 2016 hacker attack on the server of the National Committee of the Democratic Party. Trump subsequently criticized Democrats for not providing the FBI with access to the attacked servers.
In a conversation with Zelensky, who became the basis for the launch of the impeachment procedure, Trump also mentioned that CrowdStrike's servers could be located in Ukraine.
“If the Senate allows President Trump to remain in office, then he and subsequent leaders will more boldly welcome, or even request, foreign intervention in the elections of the coming years. When the faith of Americans in elections is undermined, and their results raise questions, the basis of democratic self-government is also called into question, ”the memorandum says.
The authors of the document are confident that the refusal to remove Trump from power by the Senate will mean that "the personal interests of the head of state can take precedence over national interests," which will cause concern for US allies and give confidence to American opponents.
“American leadership is based on the power of the example that we set, and the sequence with which we approach goals. However, due to the actions of President Trump, both of them are now in question, ”the memorandum emphasizes.
According to experts, the arguments presented by the Democratic Party are weak, and its attempts to impeach the head of state are dictated by political motives.
“By stating that preserving the presidency for Trump threatens US national interests, the Democrats are trying to strengthen their position. But in reality it only emphasizes the weakness of their arguments, it is a set of ceremonial threats, not specific facts. The whole story of impeachment from beginning to end is not very convincing, like the previous case with Mueller’s investigation and “Russian interference”. I think Trump will easily refute these allegations, ”political analyst Alexander Asafov said in an interview with RT.
A similar point of view is shared by the director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University, Yuri Rogulev.
“Democrats previously looked for reasons to initiate impeachment to Trump. The accusation presented by them is clearly politically motivated. For the supporters of the Democratic Party, these arguments can carry weight, but for many Americans they mean nothing, ”the expert explained in a commentary to RT.
In his opinion, the Democrats switched to a new topic after they failed to organize the removal of Trump from the post of head of state following an investigation by Robert Muller.
Recall that the investigation of special prosecutor Robert Muller was devoted to the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States and Trump’s alleged ties with the Russian authorities. However, the investigation did not find any facts capable of confirming these ties.
Party Line Voting
Recall that in September 2019, the impeachment of the US president was initiated by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The reason for this was the publication of the transcript of a telephone conversation between Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky, the conversation took place on July 25.
The decision to release the transcript of the negotiations was made by the White House against the backdrop of the discussion in the United States about the pressure that Trump allegedly tried to exert on Zelensky. Democrats believe that Trump used his official position to force the Ukrainian leadership to announce the start of an anti-corruption investigation against Joe Biden and his son Hunter. As a lever of pressure on Kiev, Trump used the threat of freezing financial assistance to Ukraine, according to the Democratic Party.
- US President Donald Trump
- Reuters
- © Kevin Lamarque
During a conversation with Zelensky, Trump asked the interlocutor to deal with the case around the resignation of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin. Earlier, The Hill reported that it was Joe Biden, being vice president of the United States, who achieved the resignation of Shokin. The reason for this was allegedly the plans of the Ukrainian prosecutor general to investigate the corruption of the son of Biden Hunter, who was then on the board of directors of the Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings.
In December 2019, the House of Representatives voted to declare impeachment to Donald Trump. But in order for the decision to take effect, it must be supported by both houses of Congress.
However, the Democrats were in no hurry to refer the matter to the Senate, which was the reason for criticism from Trump. The politician accused opponents of violating the Constitution due to delaying the transfer of the indictment to the Senate.
In mid-January, the U.S. House of Representatives finally voted to forward the charge against the head of state to the upper house of parliament.
According to experts, the Senate will not support the accusation made against Trump by the Democrats.
“Most seats in the Senate belong to Trump’s party members, Republicans. This makes impeachment impossible, and the Democrats understand this. I think that the Democratic Party does not expect Trump to really lose his post now. Rather, the goal is different - to inflict maximum reputation damage on the eve of the election campaign. Due to this story, Democrats hope to drop Trump’s image in the eyes of voters, ”said Alexander Asafov.
Yuri Rogulev has a similar opinion. According to the expert’s forecast, the Senate will not agree to impeach Trump.
“Even if now one of the Republicans joins the Democrats, Trump’s opponents still don’t get two-thirds of the Senate votes. Namely, such a number of senators must vote for impeachment to take place. Voting in the House of Representatives had previously been clear on party lines; none of the Republican congressmen supported the Democrats and their accusations. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that things will be different in the Senate, ”the expert summed up.