The defense of President Trump against the flimsy partisan impeachment charges made against him has not nearly been forceful enough. The impeachment has focused on (a) President Trump’s motivation to ask Ukraine to investigate the Bidens’ activities with Burisma and (b) whether he paused military aid to get a promise of an announcement of an investigation into the Bidens’ dealings.

I believe that Trump’s motivations (politically self-interested or not) are irrelevant since there was plain evidence to reasonably inquire about corruption (Hunter Biden’s lack of qualifications for the Burisma board, Burisma’s history of corruption and Joe Biden’s position of influence over energy policy).

A president would not have been doing his job if he handed millions of taxpayer funds over to a nation he believed was ignoring corruption. Getting to the truth about suspected corruption is absolutely in America’s public interest – whether the motives for doing so were pristinely high-minded or basely in the president’s political self-interest. A president may very well do the right thing for the wrong reason.

Moreover, as any reasonable person understands, this impeachment is not really about Ukraine at all. Democrats have been out to get the president since he was elected. The Russian collusion charge collapsed, so they seized on the Ukraine story for their purposes. The impeachment is a disgraceful and undemocratic partisan vendetta. It is about undoing the 2016 election and subverting the 2020 election. Constitutional powers have been abused, not by the president, but by congressional Democrats.

James Campbell

Peaks Island