{"id":43528,"date":"2019-12-19T13:37:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T21:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=43528"},"modified":"2019-12-21T13:38:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T21:38:22","slug":"vladimir-putin-joins-the-trump-impeachment-defense-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=43528","title":{"rendered":"Vladimir Putin Joins the Trump Impeachment Defense Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that Donald Trump has been impeached and his name goes down in history as only the third president to have achieved that dishonor, the Trump loyalists are assembling en masse to figure out how to scrub that stain from both him and themselves. It’s a vain exercise that is only going to spread the dirt around more.<\/p>\n

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However, Trump does have his defenders. There’s Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has pledged that he will be “taking his cues”<\/em> from Trump’s lawyers rather than provide a fair trial. There’s Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has already announced that he will not “pretend to be impartial.”<\/em> There’s Rudy Giuliani, who continues to visit Ukraine to dig up dirt. And there’s Fox News, where Trump-fluffing has become the core principle of their editorial mission.<\/p>\n

And then there’s Vladimir Putin, who just signed on to the Trump Impeachment Team and immediately declared that Democrats have “invented reasons”<\/em> to impeach Trump and remove him from office. Never mind the abundant evidence proving that Trump extorted the Ukrainian president, withheld congressionally appropriated aid, sought to recruit foreign interference in an election, and obstructed justice in order to cover it all up. The case is so clear cut that even the Senior Legal Analyst on Fox News says<\/a><\/strong> that Impeachment “is acutely needed.”<\/em> Despite all of that, Putin now says he is all-in<\/a><\/strong> with the Trump regime’s criminal enterprise:<\/p>\n

“It needs to go through the Senate where as far as I know the Republicans have a majority. It’s hardly like they will want to distance themselves from power on account of \u2014 in my view\u2014 some absolutely invented reasons,” he said.<\/strong> […]<\/p>\n

“It is simply a continuation of an internal political battle,” Putin continued. “And the party that lost the elections, the Democrat party is trying to achieve results with other ways, with other means. Bringing accusations against Trump of a conspiracy with Russia, later it becomes clear there was no conspiracy. It cannot lie at the basis of impeachment.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These remarks could have been taken verbatim from the GOP Talking Points Bulletin. But Putin tacked on the baseless and blatantly self-serving assertion that there was no conspiracy by Russia to interfere with the 2016 election. That is not, however, the conclusion of the GOP-run Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, or Special Counsel Robert Mueller, or the U.S. intelligence agencies.<\/p>\n

Trump is fond of saying<\/a><\/strong> that he is “much tougher on Russia”<\/em> than his predecessors. But the facts don’t bear that out. He has been steadily loosening sanctions on Russia that were imposed following their invasion of Crimea. He has advocated on Russia’s before for their inclusion in the G7, the international intergovernmental economic organization. He has harshly criticized NATO, the allied nations formed to counter Russian aggression. He pulled troops out of Syria, leaving Russia to expand their influence. And he has praised Putin effusively as a great leader and friend.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> Trump has now re-tweeted Putin’s criticism of Trump’s impeachment. Trump is apparently proud that his co-conspirator is supportive of their joint effort to blame Russia’s crimes on Ukraine. How convenient.<\/em><\/p>\n

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A total Witch Hunt! https:\/\/t.co\/PEe35rewE9<\/a><\/p>\n

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n