permafrost wrote:
Seems as if we Dems are not the only one concerned.. and very rightly so..
this is a post on Quora... and very timely..
Why is it controversial that Donald Trump asked the Ukranian president to investigate Biden?
It is a violation of federal law, and it is a felony, and the violation calls for five years in a federal penitentiary.
There is this very important law that states that no American can solicit any help from someone from outside of the United States (a foreign national) when it comes to any election. An American cannot accept any help — if it comes from outside of the United States, and it is election help. This law is not new, and the law makes sense.
It can be the guy running for mayor in your own town, or a person running for the President of the United States. You cannot ask a foreign person for money, to help in an election. You cannot ask them to run ads, on the TV, or on the Internet. Not if it is to help in any election in the United States. You cannot ask them to engage in spying on your election opponent, to try to dig up dirt. You cannot ask a foreigner for any help, or any aid, or any assistance — in any way — when it comes to any election in the United States of America. Not if it is a foreigner, or a foreign government.
You cannot ask them to conduct an investigation on an election opponent.
Because, that is “aiding” your election. Because, they are not Americans.
(Note — The United States has plenty of agencies which it uses to conduct investigations. You cannot try to deceive voters into who is conducting an investigation — the US, or some foreign government...)
The United States of America prefers that our elections be an internal matter — so that democracy is preserved. The United States of America prefers that its elections be conducted strictly by the United States of America. The United States does not want some other foreign government to be able to “control” our elected officials, or to be able to “blackmail” our elected officials, or to be able to literally run our own government as a sort of “puppet government…” — a government where the elected leader must always do as the the foreigner (a foreign government) demands.
It is an important law. Some would argue, it is one of the most important laws that there is.
Here is the law:
2 U.S.C. § 30121 - U.S. Code - Unannotated Title 52. Voting and Elections § 30121. Contributions and donations by foreign nationals
52 U.S.C. § 30121 - U.S. Code Title 52. Voting and Elections § 30121 | FindLaw
Trump confirms he discussed Biden with Ukraine as some Dems call for impeachment — CBS News.
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In this case, there is also a secondary law that may have been broken. It has to do with the appearance that Donald Trump may have actually altered our foreign policy, to stop some money that was supposed to be paid to this foreign government — and then, told that foreign leader that the only way they could get the money would be if they investigated his own political opponent, in the next election. That appears to be the case, but we are still waiting to find that out for certain. For some reason, the payment to this foreign government was “halted” just a few days before these phone conversations. For no apparent reason. Coincidence? Then, after the phone conversations, Trump suddenly allowed the money to be transferred to the foreign government. IF that was related to the issue above — we now have about six new felonies… We do not have the transcripts of the phone calls yet, so we do not yet know.
Trump Ordered Aid to Ukraine Frozen Days Before Call With Its Leader
Why is the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower scandal so serious?
Seems as if we Dems are not the only one concerned... (
show quote)
Intel Community Secretly Gutted Requirement Of First-Hand Whistleblower Knowledge
https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/27/intel-community-secretly-gutted-requirement-of-first-hand-whistleblower-knowledge/ Federal records show that the intelligence community secretly revised the formal whistleblower complaint form in August 2019 to eliminate the requirement of direct, first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing.
Sean DavisBy Sean Davis
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019
Between May 2018 and August 2019, the intelligence community secretly eliminated a requirement that whistleblowers provide direct, first-hand knowledge of alleged wrongdoings. This raises questions about the intelligence community’s behavior regarding the August submission of a whistleblower complaint against President Donald Trump. The new complaint document no longer requires potential whistleblowers who wish to have their concerns expedited to Congress to have direct, first-hand knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing that they are reporting.
The brand new version of the whistleblower complaint form, which was not made public until after the transcript of Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the complaint addressed to Congress were made public, eliminates the first-hand knowledge requirement and allows employees to file whistleblower complaints even if they have zero direct knowledge of underlying evidence and only “heard about [wrongdoing] from others.”
The internal properties of the newly revised “Disclosure of Urgent Concern” form, which the intelligence community inspector general (ICIG) requires to be submitted under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA), show that the document was uploaded on September 24, 2019, at 4:25 p.m., just days before the anti-Trump complaint was declassified and released to the public. The markings on the document state that it was revised in August 2019, but no specific date of revision is disclosed.
The complaint alleges that President Donald Trump broke the law during a phone call with the Ukrainian president. In his complaint, which was dated August 12, 2019, the complainant acknowledged he was “not a direct witness” to the wrongdoing he claims Trump committed.
A previous version of the whistleblower complaint document, which the ICIG and DNI until recently provided to potential whistleblowers, declared that any complaint must contain only first-hand knowledge of alleged wrongdoing and that complaints that provide only hearsay, rumor, or gossip would be rejected.
“The [Intelligence Community Inspector General] cannot transmit information via the ICPWA based on an employee’s second-hand knowledge of wrongdoing,” the previous form stated under the bolded heading “FIRST-HAND INFORMATION REQUIRED.” “This includes information received from another person, such as when an employee informs you that he/she witnessed some type of wrongdoing.”
“If you think that wrongdoing took place, but can provide nothing more than second-hand or unsubstantiated assertions, [the Intelligence Community Inspector General] will not be able to process the complaint or information for submission as an ICWPA,” the form concluded.
Markings on the previous version of the Disclosure of Urgent Concern form show that it was formally approved on May 24, 2018. Here is that original Disclosure of Urgent Concern form prior to the August 2019 revision:....