Jason Smith: All Trump did was tell Ukraine president he wanted him to do the right thing

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

The Ukrainians got a call from President Trump.

The Ukrainians got a meeting with President Trump.

The Ukrainians got security assistance from President Trump.

What did the President get in return? Nothing. Case Closed.

In fact, just this week, in the latest update on the impeachment circus, we heard from the Left’s newest “star witness” who had actually spoken with the President about Ukraine.

And under oath what did this witness tell a panel of 22 Members of Congress and millions of Americans watching at home? That the President told him he wanted “NOTHING” from Ukraine and that he simply wanted the President of Ukraine to “do the right thing.” That should be game over; the President never forced Ukraine to do anything and Ukraine got the aid without doing anything! Can Congress finally get back to work now?

Unfortunately, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her cronies in Congress will continue to drag this charade out, further stalling Congress and hurting the American people.

Anyone willing to look a few weeks ahead knows that any articles of impeachment against President Trump will fail woefully in the United States Senate.

Instead of admitting defeat, Pelosi is digging in and proving these investigations were never about the sanctity of our Republic or our government, but about her party’s chances in 2020.

Just this week she got caught directly tying the ongoing impeachment investigation to the upcoming elections.

Pelosi actually conducted political messaging polling to determine which accusation her voters thought sounded most impeachable. Can you believe this? Pelosi has resorted to using political polling to determine what the latest charge in their impeachment-at-all-costs strategy will be. While everyone has known that impeaching the President is a political exercise for them, it is still amazing that they’re not even bothering to hide it anymore.

Self-declared socialist, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC), openly admitted this week that impeachment “is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome” of President Trump’s re-election. Not to be outdone by a radical freshman, Speaker Pelosi also acknowledged that it was a dangerous position to allow the voters to decide on President Trump. 

While I’m glad they’re finally being honest about their intentions, it’s still incredibly disturbing to hear the Speaker of the House say she does not trust the American people to choose the next President. 

This is exactly the kind of political games for personal gain our Founders feared the impeachment clause could be exploited for and warned us about when they were ratifying the Constitution. 

In Federalist No. 65, Alexander Hamilton explained that with impeachment, “there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt.” These actions erode the people’s faith in government and destroy our ability to address even the most basic issues facing our country.

If you don’t believe me, just look at what happened this week. Speaker Pelosi has become so obsessed with impeachment that she is unable to manage fundamental aspects of her job. That’s why earlier this week she hastily threw together a short-term funding agreement and then forced Congress to accept it just as the clock was running out on government funding. 

We don’t even have a budget to base this funding off of. The House Budget Committee, on which I serve, is supposed to have a budget approved by April 15th, yet over 200 days later, Democrat Leadership continues to drag their feet.

If the Left continues to use this scorched earth policy for impeaching the President, they are going to leave the American people holding the bag for their own legislative misconduct. That’s the real crime here.