The transcript of the call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky has been released and it appears as if House Democrats have jumped the gun over their reason for starting an impeachment inquiry of the president.
Democrats alleged the president withheld some $400 million in military aid from Ukraine in a quid pro quo move, but that accusation has fallen flat on its face.
The transcript does not mention any dollar amount or military aide, as Democrats alleged.
Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) took to the House floor to excoriate Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats over their official call for impeachment.
“Unfortunately, that the Speaker of the House of Representatives has been functionally ‘catfished’ into a politically fatal impeachment proceeding based on rumors, based on faulty evidence, and based on a blood lust for the President politically that does not serve our nation well,” stated Gaetz.
Gaetz lays out his case:
-There is no quid pro quo between President Trump and President Zelensky for anything, much less military aid.
-There is no ‘eight times’ of reference to Joe Biden. I think the Wall Street Journal have a good deal of retracting to do today and in fact President Zelensky himself identifies the rooting out of corruption as the reason for his election.
-The favor we seek is cooperation between those Alinsky government and Attorney General Bill Barr as we work to determine what activities in the Ukraine may have been in any way involved in the 2016, not 2020, but in the 2016 efforts to interfere with the United States election.
-The President even references Crowdstrike, attempting to get to the bottom of these improper actions, which again may have emanated in the Ukraine, and John Solomon with The Hill has got a great deal of reporting on that very question. Zelensky ran against corruption and thus it would be only appropriate that in a conversation about that election victory, they would discuss and reference what are obviously mutual goals between the United States and the Ukraine to have the world safer for democracy.
-Now the President also mentions Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and let me be clear about this. Mayor Giuliani has every right to go to the Ukraine and try to ascertain whether or not activities in that country were harming his client as a result of the corrupt connections, which may have existed between the DNC and some elements in Ukraine.
Gaetz then said that he would like to see those responsible for smearing Trump to go to jail. This action Gaetz says is the only way to “restore honor” to the House of Representatives and to heal “great wounds that were inflicted on this body by the Speaker.”
Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) came out in support of impeachment over the "mounting evidence."
“New and mounting evidence indicates that President Trump has obstructed justice, leveraged foreign aid to target political enemies, illegally blocked a whistleblower from Congress, and invited external interference into our elections,” wrote Wasserman Schultz
