Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/209

 That question was the same question the American media had been asking for years. For example, on June 20, 2019, ABC News scrutinized Hunter Biden's involvement on the Burisma board of directors on a nationally televised news report. The reporter asked whether "Hunter Biden profit[ed] off his Dad's work as vice-president, and did Joe Biden allow it?" Numerous other publications have asked the same questions, including the Wall Street Journal as far back as 2015. Former Vice President Biden himself, in a widely circulated video, explained his role in leveraging foreign aid to get a Ukrainian prosecutor who had investigated Burisma fired during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. As the New York Times reported earlier this year, "Among those who had a stake in the outcome was Hunter Biden, Mr. Biden's younger son, who at the time was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had been in the sights of the fired prosecutor general." Certainly, the questions surrounding the Bidens' role in Ukraine have been topics of interest for the media for a long time.

There is nothing untoward about a president asking a foreign government to investigate the same questions about potential corruption the American media was asking publicly. In fact, the United States has been party to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Ukraine since 2001. The purpose of that MLAT includes "mutual assistance...in connection with the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of offenses, and in proceedings related to criminal matters."

Furthermore, being a political campaign participant does not immunize anyone from scrutiny. The President did not ask for the creation of any false information. When Lt. Col. Vindman was asked "Would it ever be U.S. policy, in your experience, to ask a foreign leader to open a political investigation?" he replied, "...Certainly the President is well within his right to do that."

V.Article II Fails to Establish an Impeachable Offense

The second Article of Impeachment, "Obstruction of Congress," appears to be a simple invective by the Majority against the constitutional reality of separation of powers. The 13