Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/353

 What changed? A new president who had run on an anticorruption platform who had been employed by a Ukrainian oligarch before election. President Zelensky was also surrounded by several of the previous corrupt regime's officials. A brief pause, consistent with the law, to determine the credibility of the new president's commitment to ending corruption was justified.

To that end, during the pause there were multiple high-level meetings between U.S. leaders and President Zelensky where the need to take anticorruption measures was emphasized. The aid was released the day the two anticorruption laws were executed.

The Democrats' accusation that President Trump asked for an investigation into his political rival is based on a presumption that is inconsistent with the facts. On the July 25 phone call, President Trump mentioned a set of circumstances in which former Vice President Joseph Biden appeared to have stopped a prosecution that might have implicated Biden's son, Hunter. President Trump asked President Zelensky to "look into" those circumstances. President Trump did not ask President Zelensky to investigate Biden or to "dig up dirt" on Biden, as Schiff brazenly misrepresented to the American people.

Investigating events is not the same as investigating people. It is apparent that this distinction is lost on the Democrats. They have been investigating President Trump for three years and have investigated every nook and cranny of his life. They have investigated his family, his friends and associates, his supporters, his businesses. Democrats always project what they are doing on everyone else. They have been assailing President Trump at every turn. They have been investigating the person, not the events.

Not one witness testified that President Trump ever mentioned politics or the upcoming election. The evidence is that he was motivated by his understanding of widespread corruption in Ukraine and the corrupt circumstances of the Biden's involvement with Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that was considered by many to be a corrupt actor. A person who is involved with entities committing corrupt acts may end up being investigated in conjunction with the corrupt acts of that entity. Immunity is not granted simply because that person's father is a powerful American political figure.

The telephone call between the two presidents was considered a good, fruitful conversation. The evidence in this case is clear: Ukraine received the aid within the lawful time provided for distribution, provided nothing in return for the aid, and Ukrainian President Zelensky stated publicly on multiple occasions that he never discussed any form of quid pro quo with President Trump and he felt no pressure from the United States.

The real abuse of power is on the part of House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler. For months, they have run a Stalin-like court and failed to provide the due process fundamental to our nation. They used their platform to lie to the American people and to subvert the political will of 63 million American voters. Their efforts – which were stated in 2016, long before the call between President Trump and President Zelensky - are the real abuse of power.

ARTICLE II – OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS 4