WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2019) A review of more than 3,500 pages of testimony in the House impeachment probe reveals not a single witness used the word bribery to describe President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine, Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe said in a hearing on Tuesday.
Terminology is significant because the US Constitution uses the word bribery to describe one of the crimes for which a president can be impeached.
"Six weeks of witness interviews in this impeachment inquiry, hundreds of hours of testimony, thousands of questions asked, thousands of answers given.... the number of times witnesses have used the word bribery or bribe to describe president Trump's conduct in the last six weeks of this inquiry is zero," Ratcliffe said.
To make his point, Ratcliffe placed a foot-high stack of witness testimony on the dais before asking each of two witnesses - Jennifer Williams from Vice President Mike Pence's office and Alexander Vindman from the White House National Security Council - whether Trump had committed bribery. Both officials rejected the characterization.
Ratcliffe also noted a widely publicized report that Democrats had determined from focus groups that the term "bribery" resonated more with voters than the term "quid pro quo," which Democrats had previously used to describe Trump's conduct.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week became the first lawmaker to accuse Trump of committing bribery in a July 25 conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by requesting an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. At the time, Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.
Minutes later, impeachment inquiry Chairman Adam Schiff defended the House shift in terminology.
"Bribery does involve a quid pro quo. Bribery involves the condition of an official act for something of value. An official act may be a White House meeting. An official act may be $400 million in military aid, and something of value to a president might include investigations of their political rival," Schiff said
Individuals who testify, Schiff added, are "fact witnesses. It will be our job to decide whether the impeachable act of bribery had occurred."
Republicans argue that there was no quid pro quo or bribery, because Ukraine never launched the requested Biden investigation and the money was released.
According to the US Constitution, a president shall be removed from office "on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
