Pelosi: Trump ‘Used Office For Personal Gain’ | Talking Points Memo

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) criticized how President Trump is handling the impeachment inquiry during a press conference Thursday.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1264360

All roads with you lead to Putin.

Hasn’t been proven wrong yet.

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Pelosi’s strategic timing in dropping informative comments is impeccable.

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Speaker Pelosi’s messaging and language have been clear, succinct, easy to understand and get to the heart of the matter. Preshitident Skanky Putin Whore was the kingpin in an extortion and blackmail conspiracy that involves bribery.

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While these issues revolve around the misuse of power and office of the presidency and are viewed as central to the impeachment trial of President Trump, an equally if not more troubling set of events centers on Trump and his surrogates (including family members) involvement with the Russians in the lead-up and immediately after the election. This was the main focus (still waiting?) of the Mueller report and perhaps the NY Attorney General’s investigation. I get the impression that the House leaders view this issue as too complicated in detail (or simply not viewed by the electorate as important enough) to try to prove to the US population. The details of this latter issue must be followed up and presented.

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The evidence is clear that the President has used his office for his own personal gain

But that’s what Trump has always done. His only interest is in his own personal gain. His foreign policy is essentially the same as his domestic policy: “What’s in it for ME?”

Many people have said they are “disappointed” in Trump as president. I am not. He is exactly what I expected him to be – indeed, exactly what he said he would be: a sleazy businessman running the country like a sleazy business.

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“The evidence is clear that the President has used his office for his own personal gain and in doing so undermined the national security of the United States by withholding military assistance to Ukraine to the benefit of the Russians,”

No need for suggestion, trolling, inference. Just one sentence capturing the clarify of the moment.

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Some thoughts on why Trump is so angry that Ukraine shakedown was discovered, revealed, and is now being examined.

Other than ripping immigrant families apart and putting children in cages, and maybe taking health care away from millions of Americans, the Ukraine corruption is possibly the most fun thing he’s been able to do as president. It’s got so many ingredients he likes: abusing the awesome power of the presidency, which he sees as his own personal power, over a weaker country and its leader; having in his power the ability to give or withhold military aid that could be the difference in thousands of people he doesn’t know and doesn’t care about losing their lives; abusing the power of the office for personal gain; using the institutions of government in a corrupt way - State, Defense, Energy, the OMB - to do something for him to the detriment of the country; putting his own band of henchmen in place to do his dirty work - Rudy, Igor, Lev, Sondman, others - by breaking laws and norms of expected government functioning and going around the established institutions of government, again to get what benefits him personally and to give them all a shot at making a lot of money; there was nobody, he thought, to stop him, and in fact they helped him out - the Sec. State, Sec. Defense, Acting Chief of Staff, Sec. Energy, OMB Director, (Bolton resigned but didn’t say anything publicly), and others; it was helping Putin; and perhaps most of all, he got to act and talk like a big time mob boss while doing the whole thing.

No wonder he’s pissed.

But he still controls the weak, compromised toadies in the Republican party and he’s still got his twitter account and the attention of the media - so, I guess he’s not totally bummed out.

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No offense, but the reason he’s so upset as far as I can tell is because it leads right back to 2016 and the fact that he is not really president because Russia interfered and got him elected.

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If we could only hit a reset button and undo all he’s done.

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If we could just find the portal back to the timeline we were on when Obama was president and the Cubs lost all the time…

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Lots of Boo Birds on other threads…especially those with the word “Barr” in them.

I do not think a woman as intelligent, careful and competent as Pelosi is not aware of Bill Barr.

The care, simplicity and directness of Pelosi’s statement here is a good sign.

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If Trump wins a second term all the delayed testimony hung up in courts can still be pursued and brought to fruition. Then Trump can claim the ignoble distinction of being the only President impeached twice.

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Yep. Plus we just might take the Senate if he gets a 2d term and if we do he is totally fried cause he’ll then be convicted and removed.

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as the hearings proceed and the professionals speak; it become obvious why TrumpF has fired so many people…in the FBI and other agencies…they were the people who would not have stood still for the treachery that has transpired the past 2years… they had to go…

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I imagine the prospect of indictment once he leaves office also contributes to his anger and acting out.

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I’m not sure how a Dem majority in the Senate translates to 67 votes to convict, regardless of what Jeff Flake claimed.

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Pelosi is giving a master class in being House Speaker.

Someone on another thread this morning noted, with some admiration and surprise, that the Democrats haven’t been doing any of the self-defeating things that they chronically have done in past in dealing with legislative conflicts with the R’s. I’d suggest that this is largely down to Pelosi being a master of her role.

Many years ago, in a career as a management consultant, I came to the conclusion that you could often rate a master of their craft by the number of things that could have gone wrong on their watch, but that did not because they were avoided before the problem ever developed.

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Watching the hearing it strikes me Dems manage to complicate what should be a clear path to victory with so many bullshit mistakes, real or perceived. Hillary likely would have kicked Trump’s ass if not for her inexplicable need to keep a private, unsecured server in her home, instead of opting not to. And now our possible leading candidate, Biden, has to contend with his son’s business dealings in Ukraine. Whatever his credentials and abilities meriting appointment to Burisma’s board, there were certainly numerous opportunities to earn a lavish living stateside, away from more prominent conflicts of interest. Especially those involving a complicated, contested hot spot like Ukraine. Can we just find someone lacking the loud clank of skeletons in their closet? Sheesh.