ALERT! New GOP impeachment talking point

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

Straight from fox news:

"Well..was it REALLY a quid pro quo if the Ukraine did not know it was a quid pro quo?"

The fox morning couch idiots

[vlyons]

1. There was still a solicitation,

whether or not there was ever an exchange (quid pro quo). The solicitation itself is against the law.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. You have the key point. It is an Abuse of Power to even attempt leveraging taxpayer money

... and treasonous weakening of US national security by aiding an adversary against an ally.

[nuxvomica]

2. Yes

U.S. Code § 201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses

(B) being a public official, former public official, or person selected to be a public official, otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty, directly or indirectly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or because of any official act performed or to be performed by such official or person;

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/201

[gab13by13]

3. Not true

Ukraine definitely understood it to be a quid pro quo.

[Doodley]

4. Was it really a bank theft if the bank didn't know about it? That is one of the dumbest arguments.

[TheRealNorth]

22. Was there ever a theft if the victim didn't realize their pocket was being picked

Making dumb, circular argument excuses is where the Republicans are at.

[global1]

5. We Need To Change From Using The Term 'Quid Pro Quo' Now....

and make it more understandable to all.

We should be describing this whole Ukraine thing as 'extortion' and 'bribery'.

Using the Latin term(s) is unfamiliar with many people. We need to speak in terms they'll understand.

We're dealing with Trumpers. Use the language of TV cop and law shows.

[ecstatic]

7. +1000. nt

[mercuryblues]

9. Exactly

In Taylor's opening statement detailed that the Ukrainian's did not want to get involved with our domestic elections. This was extortion.

[2naSalit]

17. +1

[Pepsidog]

20. It was a crime, a criminal act.

[dalton99a]

27. But people who can't spell et cetera are so impressed

[bearssoapbox]

6. It doesn't matter what the truth is.

It's what Fox tells them to believe.

[Botany]

14. Well Fox has improved from telling the truth only 17% of the time to 22%

https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/tv/fox/

Roger Ailes started Fox in part because he thought Nixon could have been saved
if he had something like Fox News in order to push back against the liberal media.

[UpInArms]

8. Was it really murder since the victim is dead?

🤦🏽‍♀️

[greymattermom]

10. Just start calling it extortion.

The Latin stuff makes it seem not serious.

[uponit7771]

11. Yeah, Taylor's testimony hurt

[TruckFump]

12. It's like watching two year old children

No one can be that dumb, right? Wait...there are some who still support Trump and watch Faux Snooze. My bad.

[SlogginThroughIt]

13. This is their game.

This isbtheir game, deny a quid pro quo until it is undeniable that there was a quid pro quo. That way they can say that it wasn’t really recognizable as a quid pro quo..... And we fucking up sort of by proving there to be a quid pro quo when there is no damn need for a quid pro quo to start with.


We grab onto the rock and let it pull is to the bottom. Its fine to show the quid pro quo but our stance should have been that there is no need to prove one to start with.

[gordianot]

15. That is one of the oldest stalling tactics in the book.

When cornered start a semantic argument. Sometimes it sticks and buys you time. The problem you end up sounding guilty or compromised. This argument would go over the heads of the average Fox viewer it lacks a basic insult.

[yellowcanine]

16. Republicans have made goal post shifting an Olympic sport.

[Danascot]

24. To quote The Ferret/Shower Cap

"There's no place left for the goalposts to go, kids. You would have to travel beyond the confines of the known universe to plant the goalposts now."

[imanamerican63]

18. If a bank is robbed, it's only robbed if a gun is used?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Fox blaming the victim & ethnophobic assumption & imputation that Ukranians are stupid. . . . nt

[samnsara]

21. They knew...

[brush]

23. That's like asking if the Ukrainians who died fighting the Russians...

without the anti-tank weapons they wanted to buy with the money appropriated by Congress to them and withheld by trump, did they really die?

[mtngirl47]

25. Here's the same party line in today's WaPo

"Mulvaney later said he misspoke, and that’s probably true. As Kurt Volker, the former U.S. envoy to Ukraine, explained in his sworn deposition before the House Intelligence Committee, the Ukrainians did not know that the aid was being held up until more than up a month after Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (during which Trump never mentioned the aid was on hold). “They became aware later [that the aid was held up], but I don’t believe they were aware at the time, so there was no leverage implied,” Volker told the committee. If you are demanding a quid pro quo, you have to tell the country that you are holding up the quid until they deliver the quo. The Ukrainians didn’t even know there was a quid."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/22/there-is-nothing-wrong-with-quid-pro-quos-it-just-depends-what-quo-is/

[ritapria]

30. When the military aid was withheld , The Ukrainians got the message

Smear Biden or the military aid is not coming …..This defense implies the Ukrainians are too dumb to figure that out …. As someone else noted , cut out the quid pro crap and use the term we all understand : Extortion

[Laura PourMeADrink]

26. Why didn't the Ukraine just go along and open investigation?

[ewagner]

29. Ukraine knew the aid wasn't arriving...

It's also obvious that Ukraine knew that tRump was dragging his feet

and

it's also obvious (from Zelensky's comments) that they knew they were being asked to participate in our electoral politics...they said so...PLAINLY

I call (once again) BULLSHIT on the Republican talking points.

[mgardener]

31. I read the Taylor statement

Trump knew that the funding for Ukraine would expire on Sept. 29th if it was not sent to Ukraine.
It was released Sept. 11th.
This was money voted on by Congress. Trump arbitrarily withheld this money for political gain. He also hid the transcript in a special server.
He used his personal lawyer to act as a go between.

The whisleblower reported on a conversation Trump had on the 25th of July.
The report was sent to the IG Aug. 26th. Adam Schiff on Sept.16 said he was made aware of the report and asked That the report be sent to Congress, as is the law. Which WH official held that report?
I think the only reason Trump released the money to Ukraine was because he was forewarned of the complaint about his July 25th conversation. He then had the whistleblower report held.

Why aren't the Republicans more upset that the POTUS arbitrarily withheld funds that Congress voted on?
Why are they not upset that Trump has secretly dealing with Ukraine behind their backs?
What other countries is Trump doing this with, Russia? N. Korea? Saudi Arabia?

[C_U_L8R]

32. When the arms didn't arrive, they knew exactly what the shakedown was.

What a stupid talking point.