Impeachment Trial: Who Really Compromised US National Security? Trump or Obama?

Stu Cvrk reporting for RedState

The House Democrats impeached President Trump partly on “abuse of power” allegations as related to the accusation of coercion of a foreign government to investigate a Trump political opponent in order “cheat the 2020 election,” as the execrable Adam Schiff puts it. Schiff expands the alleged criminality to include “compromising US national security,” “colluding with a foreign power,” and the “urgency to remove President Trump for national security reasons” in repetitive public remarks in order to dress up the Democrats’ two articles of impeachment. But who has really compromised US national security? President Trump or his predecessor?

First of all, let’s look at the Democrats’ first article of impeachment drawn up against President Trump, which alludes to a compromising of US national security, as provided online here.

Article 1: Abuse of Power

[Much preamble to introduce the following actual charges:]

• President Trump – acting both directly and through his agents withing and outside the US government – corruptly solicited the Government of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into

  1. A political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.: and
  2. A discredited theory promoted by Russia alleging that Ukraine – rather than Russia – interfered in the 2016 US presidential election

• With the same corrupt motives, President Trump – acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the US government – conditioned two official acts on the public announcement that he had requested –

  1. The release of $391M of US taxpayer funds that Congress had appropriated on a bipartisan basis for the purpose of providing vital military and security assistance to Ukraine to oppose Russian aggression and which President Trump had ordered suspended; and

  2. A head of state meeting at the White House, which the President of Ukraine sought to demonstrate continued US support for the Government of Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

The allegations are easily dispensed with as follows:

• The two telephone call transcripts between the two presidents disprove the allegation of soliciting Ukraine to publicly announce an investigation into Joe Biden
• The Ukrainian meddling into the 2016 election is NOT a hoax as Democrats claim; there is ample evidence warranting an investigation into 2016, and there is a standing MLAT with Ukraine that provides for reciprocal legal assistance upon request (President Trump acting was within his legal authority to discuss circa 2016 corruption with President Zelensky).
• President Trump has never claimed that Russia didn’t meddle in the 2016 elections; Russian meddling didn’t preclude other countries from meddling as well.
• The US foreign aid to Ukraine was released within statutory requirements before expiration of funds.

In short, the Democrats’ allegations of egregious national security criminality by President Trump don’t hold water. Let’s compare their bleating about President Trump to their silence about a host of Obama national security blunders and compromises.

Lest we forget, damaging US national security was an unstated priority during the Obama years. Here is a list of some of those actions/events. Some are criminal and led to loss of life, others compromised US national security in one way or another, and all are scandalous!

• Leading from behind (aka “smart power” or “soft power”). Foreign Policy Magazine (flagship publication of the US foreign policy establishment) defined the Obama Doctrine as a “new post-9/11 approach to the use of lethal American force, one of multilateralism, transparency, and narrow focus.” It was a complete failure, leading to massive turmoil throughout the Middle East in particular, as the Obama regime stood by and watch chaos erupt in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Iraq.
• Empathizing with enemies and insulting allies. Obama embraced the “axis of evil”, especially Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba and insulted Israel and the UK whenever it suited him. Here is a list of his UK insults.
• Blurring Syrian “red lines”. Obama in 2012: “That’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons.” Yet, he did nothing when Syrian President Assad used chemical weapons against his own people. Here is why that quote was never acted upon (he was bowing to Iran):
• Resetting the Russians and abandoning the Ukrainians, Georgians, and the Baltic states. Who could forget Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yucking it up when Hillary presented him with that ridiculous reset button in 2009? This sums it all up nicely.
• Trading a chance at Iraqi stability for ISIS. Obama failed to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq in 2011 that led to the withdrawal of US troops and the rise of ISIS in the power vacuum in Western Iraq. How many Americans (and others) have died at the hands of ISIS, whom Obama helped create.
• Insulting the president of Egypt while heartily congratulating his Muslim Brotherhood predecessor. Obama and Hillary Clinton embraced the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi as Egyptian president rather than President el-Sisi:
• Releasing terrorists incarcerated at GTMO, many of whom have returned to the battlefield. Remember the exchange of the Taliban Five for US Army deserter Bo Bergdahl (and Obama’s Rose Garden welcome of Bergdahl and his parents).
• Returning Libya to its slave-trading roots. Obama and Hillary Clinton made a hash out of Libya as a gambit to burnish Clinton’s foreign policy “credentials,” but it didn’t work out like they planned, did it? And then they all lied about it to cover it up.
• Refusing to send available relief to Benghazi during the “13 Hours” (resulting in four American deaths, including the US ambassador!).
• Lying about Iran in pursuit of a “foreign policy legacy” in order to sign the nuclear agreement while actually paving the way for Iranian nuke); illegally giving the Iranians $1.3B in cash to sweeten the deal plus more, as detailed here.
• A craven US response to violations of international law when a US small boat was intercepted by Iranians in international waters.
• Resettling Syrian/Muslim “refugees” in the US in support of UN policies (operating outside the Constitution – an Obama specialty!). About the Somalis. And the Syrians.
• Obama’s DHS cutting background security checks in order to meet Obama’s immigration quotas; this is a direct threat to US national security on the home front.
• Shutting down Operation Cassandra (the targeting of Hezbollah drug ops in the US) so as not to upset the Iran deal. This one is particularly shocking and another example of a US national security threat here at home!
• Purposely obfuscating the House IT scandal (Pakistani ISI connections) and the almost certain compromising of classified US national security information. And more here showing how the Pakistanis had access to congressional servers.
• Selling American uranium to the Russians (Uranium One pay-for-play). There have been a LOT of threads linking Obama’s CFIUS group including Hillary Clinton to this scandal under DoJ investigation. Obama acquiesced to the deal.
• Soliciting foreign campaign contributions. The Obama campaign was caught soliciting foreign contributions in 2012. How ironic is that given the allegations against President Trump? https://dailycaller.com/2012/10/08/amid-foreign-contributions-scandal-obama-campaign-claims-it-tries-to-stop-illegal-donations/
• Remaining silent as Russia annexed the Crimea. To bribe Russia to support his Iranians dealings, Obama stood by and then refused to give Ukraine lethal aid when Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimea in 2014.
• Destroying military readiness through 8 years of misguided social engineering policies. It will take years to restore military readiness from the damage done by Obama and his social engineers.  And more on that.
• The outing of SEAL Team 6 (who nailed Osama bin Laden) to assist in Obama’s reelection campaign. They were subsequently targeted and killed.
• Corruption of Intelligence Community reporting to the Obama White House in order fit the desired political narrative (in this instance, willfully minimizing the importance of ISIS).
• Renouncing the Monroe Doctrine to protect the Western Hemisphere from foreign meddling and opening the door for the penetration of Latin America by Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations.
• Releasing “the most intricate details about the cyber war against Iran, the revelations about a Yemeni double-agent, disclosures about covert operations in and against Pakistan, intimate details about the Osama bin Laden raid and the trove of information taken from his compound, and the Predator drone assassination list and the president’s methodology in selecting targets…” is more serious than Watergate or Iran-Contra according to Victor Davis Hanson.

Compare and contrast! The President’s “America First” foreign policy, China trade deal, the USMCA, and his warm reception at Davos this week versus Obama’s foreign policy disasters. The Democrats and their operatives in the legacy media would have us all forget Obama’s horrible national security legacy – and their complete silence while all of the above transgressions took place – and focus on an easily-debunked article of impeachment against President Trump. And the Democrats would also have us forget that the Mueller report exonerated the President of their false charges of “Russian collusion” and that “Trump is a Putin stooge.” It was Obama who made his presidency about compromising US national security; he’s the guy who should have been in the docket in the Senate.

The end.