Trump was discussing Biden’s potential candidacy months before Biden formally joined the race.
13th January 2019: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/425074-trump-knocks-biden-obama-took-him-from-scrap-heap
6th February 2019: Trump Rips Into Joe Biden and Democrats at Meeting With TV Anchors
I also have no idea why Trump would want a foreign country to malign an ambassador serving at his pleasure. I further don’t see how maligning an ambassador shows that Ukraine is corrupt. Can you help me out on this point?
We can never be certain of anyone else’s state of mind about anything. Sometimes we aren’t sure of our own. This text, before Biden was officially a candidate, and asking for a statement about both Biden and the Ambassador (and no one even conceiving of her running for President) dramatically casts doubt on the main impeachment claim: Trump’s actions were corrupt because his true intent was he wanted Biden smeared in the press for his own political gain. You have to admit that. But if not, and you give a lot of weight to inferences about others’ states of mind: Why was the third dump removed (as the article I linked to notes in its intro)? Could it be because they know this text exonerates Trump (as much as anyone can be exonerated regarding a state of mind crime)?
We can be totally certain about his state of mind. There are numerous accounts (cited above) of Trump discussing candidate Biden before April, 2019. You keep ignoring that for some reason. Probably because it completely invalidates your OP.
Pressure from who? The announcement of the Biden investigation was supposed to be made on CNN. Do you suppose there is a large audience for CNN in Ukraine? Even if there is, why would they care if Biden is or is not corrupt in some way? It’s an American problem, not theirs. Why would your average Ukrainian want their limited resources to go toward investigating an American politician? If anything, I would think that the pressure would be for Zelensky et al to quit doing Trump’s bidding and pay more attention to domestic issues – of which there are plenty.
Look, it is obvious to anyone what happened here. That’s really not a question. The question before us (really, before the Senate) is will Trump be held accountable for this mess?
I don’t think there is a large audience for CNN anywhere. Unless you count people stuck in the airport. LMAO.
My only real curiosity is whether you came up with this silliness on your own, Jim Peeples, or whether this is actually a take that’s gaining traction on Fox or Townhall or some other hard-right site. In earlier times that wouldn’t be a question, but the rightwing media is pretty unbelievably ridiculous these days, so…
Go ahead look, I didn’t see it anywhere. I could have saved a lot of typing if I could have found a link.
I am quoting this because it’s possible that Jim Peebles did not see it for some reason.
I am quoting this because it is possible that Jim Peebles did not see it for some reason.
Well, in his defense, it IS hard to read something with your eyes shut tight, and difficult to hear when one’s fingers are poked in one’s ears.
That’s why no one is accepting I am right; you are actually defending my debating skills, which should have persuaded everyone by now. LMAO.
If there is evidence in any of those three links that mentions Biden himself actually discussing running, I missed it. But anyway, the idea that Trump had no idea, no how, no way that Biden might in fact run even if he hadn’t explicitly said so, is kind of silly. When the circumstances fit, Joe Biden runs for president. That’s what he does! It makes perfect sense that Trump and his goons would be concerned about it, and try to get something going against Biden as soon as they could. But, given that Biden was not a shoo-in for the nomination then, as of course he isn’t now, and given that at that point it could have been any number of people, it does suggest to me the following question: if Trump meant to go after Biden purely to discredit him as a possible opponent, why didn’t he do the same thing against Warren, Sanders, et. al? Hmm!
By continuing to post in this thread while refusing to acknowledge a rebuttal to his theory that has now been highlighted to him SEVEN times, it’s become clear that he is not arguing in good faith.
Well, there’s a point buried in here somewhere. For a President who didn’t know what happened at Pearl Harbor, one can simply not assume that he is aware of any common knowledge.
However, Fox News reported on March 12, 2019 – same date as the text – that Biden was likely to run.
Since Trump has two modes (golf and Fox News) I think it’s safe to assume that Trump saw that piece.
I remember when Biden announced. I posted here saying essentially that the same thing will happen as the last two times he ran. He’ll get some attention, but fade fast, because for whatever reason people just don’t see him as presidential material. Trump’s people are much closer to politics than I am, so maybe they didn’t feel the same way. Maybe they were able to forsee Biden’s incredible staying power up to this point, and knew immediately that something must be done right away. But it’s always been in the back of my mind that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get dirt on Biden, and then blow your wad early, before you even know if he’s going to be the guy you run against. Better to hold off until a few months before the election, and then use it. I suppose they might have felt that the leverage they had then to get an announcement of the investigation out would fade over time, so better early than never.
I rather facetiously suggested above that it doesn’t make sense that Trump would only go after Biden early. But why, really? Perhaps to send a message to others that might run, this is what’s going to happen to you if you fuck with Team Trump?
As I recall the Nixon campaign bugged the Watergate offices because they were worried about Senator Muskie. Turns out they won with a huge landslide over Mondale.
One expects that he has. It just didn’t intersect with foreign policy.
Or, plausibly, he doesn’t believe that his opponent will be anyone but Biden, and he’s always right, ergo…