https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181
(Note: emphasis in original.)
Why is this important?
Mr Trump's most ardent critics accuse him of using the powers of the presidency to bully Ukraine into digging up damaging information on a political rival, Democrat Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump and his supporters the former vice-president abused his power to pressure Ukraine to back away from a criminal investigation that could implicate his son, Hunter.
Mr Biden is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination to take on Mr Trump next year.
In other words, it is nothing less than the White House at stake.
[...] What happened to the whistleblower's complaint?
After receiving the [whistleblower] complaint, the inspector general informed Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, and said the matter was "urgent". The intelligence community whistleblower law says the director has seven days to pass the complaint along to congressional intelligence committees.
That didn't happen.
Instead, Mr Maguire spoke to a lawyer who told him the issue was not "urgent", at least according to legal standards, according to [T]he New York Times.
As a result, Mr Maguire decided that the members of the congressional oversight committees did not need to see it.
On 9 September, the inspector general informed Congress about the complaint's existence, but not the details. Democrats in Congress have since clamoured for more information - including a transcript of Mr Trump's call - but the administration has refused to co-operate.
And that's where things currently stand.
[...] Did Mr Trump commit an impeachable offence?
The constitutional process for handling a president who committed illegal and-or unethical acts is impeachment by a majority of the House of Representatives and conviction and removal by a two-thirds majority of the US Senate.
The US constitution outlines the grounds for impeachment as "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors". When it comes down to it, an "impeachable offense" is whatever a majority of the House says it is.
Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Letters to Congressional Intelligence Committees
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 24 2019, @03:09AM (2 children)
Trump has a duty to get crimes investigated. He runs the executive branch, employing all the federal prosecutors.
I could see the complaint if Trump were to concoct a story, use it as an excuse for a FISA warrant, pass it around to FIVE EYES intelligence services (to concoct more and to bypass laws on domestic spying), wiretap some place called Biden Tower where Biden lives, and share the results with political allies. That would be a way bigger scandal than anything Nixon could come up with, but who would do anything like that?
If we skip a few parts though, particularly "concoct" and "share the results with political allies", it is legit. Crimes should be investigated. Sometimes the boss has to force underlings to not be lazy, and sometimes he has to engage with other big-wigs to get things done.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday September 24 2019, @03:42AM
Oh, really? That it must be he's a miserable failure** at this duty.
--
** my apologies to the other miserable failure [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 24 2019, @02:20PM
Nixon commited Treason before his first election but was not prosecuted for it. It had nothing to do with Watergate.