Here’s how Trump and Rudy’s gambit would have make Ukraine MORE corrupt instead of less, thus giving Russia more power over Ukraine.
Subtitle: Another reason why asking “where is the crime?” intentionally misses the point.
Sources: This NPR interview, and the information collected here.
From the NPR interview: There’s a “disconnect between how we look at [the impeachment of Trump] and how Ukrainians look at it.
The GOP position is: So what? Trump asked for corruption to be investigated. What’s the harm?
Ukrainians will hear Trump’s request differently.
Ukraine has a history of using corruption investigations as a tool to punish political rivals. The laws in Ukraine (as in Russia) are intentionally vague so that anything might or might not be a crime, depending on who is investigating.
Trump specifically asked Zelensky for the investigation to happen through the Office of the Investigator General, an office with a history of corruption. Historically, the office opened cases with bribes and closed them with bribes. So Trump’s request would have been heard by Ukrainians as a request for Zelensky to launch an investigation for corrupt purposes.
And how do Ukrainians view the impeachment of Trump?
From the interview: The fact that the head of state can be impeached is seen as a model of democratic government. In fact, one of the first laws that Zelensky passed was that the president can be impeached.
Trump does a lot of shouting about corruption in Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine is in the process of transitioning from corruption into a rule of law nation.
Zelensky figured out that in Ukraine, it took less than 6 months for parliament members to be “on the take.” After new members had been in office 6 months, they were useless. New members of parliament constantly receive offers of bribes. Zelensky therefore understood that he had less than 6 months to make major changes.
“It was not just a fight against corruption, it was a race against corruption.” One of Zelensky’s changes (in his race against corruption) was to bring in new people who had never been in government, so they had no history of taking bribes. As a result, 70 percent of the current parliament had never been there before.
So while Zelensky was trying to stamp out corruption, Trump and Rudy were asking Zelensky to do something corrupt.
Moreover, we learned from expert witnesses that the Ukrainians who Rudy interviewed to get dirt on Biden were the corrupt actors who corruption-fighters worked hard to remove from power. Rudy and Trump wanted them back in power.
We also learned from the expert witness in the impeachment hearing that Russia conquers through force OR through corruption.
What an idea, right? By keeping Ukraine corrupt, Russia maintains its influence because rule of law isn’t possible where corruption reigns.
So Rudy and Trump were not only trying to manufacture dirt on Biden, they were also making it difficult for Ukraine to get out from under the control of Russia. It was a two-fer.
Coincidence? I think not.
