“…it [Ukraine] must win the war on corruption…”
November 23, 2019
Democrats want to thwart Trump and his policies, and that is the reason why they fabricated the Russian collusion story. When Trump withstood those attacks for three years, they launched a new attack based upon the charge that he conditioned military aid to Ukraine on his political benefit.
Trump’s intentions or motives for delaying the aid are unknown to us. On the Democrat account, he aimed to undermine a rival, Joe Biden. On another account, he aimed to get European countries to contribute more money to Ukraine. There’s a third account, which is that he had an anti-corruption aim.
In administering the aid, Trump has constitutional latitude to delay. This is afforded to him as Chief Executive because he has the responsibility for making sure that U.S. aid funds do not end up being stolen, wasted or diverted to undesired uses in Ukraine. Doing his duty demands fulfilling the anti-corruption aim, and that may entail using delay as a tool.
It so happens that Biden and his son happen to be entangled in what appear to have been corrupt dealings in Ukraine. This is a ground for Trump’s mentions of them in his Zelensky call.
The U.S. Department of State released its Integrated Country Strategy for Ukraine on August 10, 2018. The goals it lists are exceedingly ambitious; their validity and sensibility can be strongly questioned. See also here.
But the narrow point being made here is that, rightly or wrongly, this document stresses two important challenges:
“Ukraine faces a dual challenge: First, it must respond to and build resilience against Russian aggression –from the occupation of Crimea and Russian-backed military conflict in the east, to cyberattacks, propaganda, and manipulation of energy supplies. Second, it must win the war on corruption by solidifying responsive, accountable, and transparent governance.”
The U.S. Department of State views anti-corruption in Ukraine as such an important matter that it’s listed as one of the two main challenges and referred to as a “war”. Trump’s behavior is consistent with the anti-corruption challenge that this State Department strategy document articulates. It just so happens, no fault of Trump’s, that Joe and Hunter Biden have had what appeared to be corrupt dealings in and with Ukraine.
Trump raised the issue of the Bidens in the context of a discussion of getting stronger prosecution, which is necessary to combat corruption among the rich and powerful:
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me.”
Unless evidence can be found that shows that Trump’s intent or motive was to destroy a rival or solely to destroy a rival, the charge against him cannot be proven. Meanwhile, there is evidence to the contrary in this video. Start at about 34 seconds in. Sondland quotes or paraphrases Trump’s direct reply to him, and in it Trump says he wants nothing of Zelensky, repeated twice, except that he do the right thing.
A Date Which Will Live In Infamy