The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that investigation into Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukraine found evidence of bribery. She said it is an impeachable act that was corroborated by 2 key impeachment witnesses in public testimonies during the current week. Pelosi was speaking at her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. The House speaker informed reporters that Trump’s alleged wrongdoings make what Nixon did look almost small. She was referring to the impeachment of former U.S President Richard Nixon. Pelosi said, “The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry and that the president abused power”. She added that Trump violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid and a White House meeting in exchange for an investigation into a political rival.
Pelosi also said, “The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections, that’s bribery”. She appeared to be instating some new messaging by referring to Trump’s apparent demands for political investigations as Bribery; instead of “quid pro quo” (it is a term that has been used by Democrats to describe the president’s dealings with Ukraine). She said, “Well, you know we’re talking Latin around here: e Pluribus Unum, from anyone, quid pro quo, bribery, and that is in the Constitution attached to the impeachment proceeding”. The House speaker also provided updates on the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry into Trump. It is noteworthy that career diplomat William Taylor and State Department official George Kent delivered joint-testimony to the House Intelligence Committee.
It is spearheading the investigation along with 2 other subcommittees. The officials mentioned an irregular channel for U.S-Ukraine relations involving Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Point to be noted that Giuliani has been alleged of trying to cook up political dirt in the country on one of the president’s political rivals, Joe Biden. The impeachment inquiry was launched in the House after a whistleblower filed a complaint regarding a 25 July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The details of the phone call were released by the White House. It showed Trump asking his Ukrainian counterpart for a favor. The impeachment witnesses also pointed a verbatim transcript of the call that was moved to a secure server storing highly-classified information.