WASHINGTON
(AP) — A whistleblower’s complaint over President Donald Trump’s
interactions with a foreign leader is testing the political and
practical power Democrats can use against a Republican in the White
House who so brazenly ignores protocol and presidential norms.
Democrats
were unanimous in their condemnation of Trump for going to
extraordinary lengths to tear down a chief political rival by asking the
new leader of Ukraine to investigate the son of former Vice President
Joe Biden. But even as calls for impeachment amplified — Elizabeth
Warren blasted Congress as “complicit” in Trump’s transgressions — there
were no signs that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would move quickly to try
to remove the president.
Allies
of Biden, the early front-runner in the Democratic presidential
primary, seized on the developments to portray him as the candidate
Trump least wants to face next fall.
But the
controversy could just as easily revive interest in the business
activities of Biden’s son, which would do little to further his
campaign. Taken together, the developments bear a striking resemblance
to the tumult of the 2016 campaign, in which Trump was accused of
enlisting a foreign power to help him win an election.
The
president on Saturday denied any wrongdoing, and his most vocal allies
and critics were energized. Political operatives in both parties
suggested that for many increasingly numb to a constant sense of crisis,
the fresh explosion of political drama may not seem so alarming.
One thing is becoming clear: Trump is more than willing to cast aside norms to gain a political advantage.
Jesse
Ferguson, a Democratic strategist and former top aide to Hillary
Clinton, said the country “has to be ready for the president to try to
weaponize the government against them in a way we’ve never seen before
in American history.”
The president on Saturday embraced the parallels to the 2016 campaign and predicted he would prevail again in 2020.
Trump
said the latest allegations from a government whistleblower are “just
as ridiculous as the others,” branding it “the Ukraine Witch Hunt” — a
nod to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, which he
mocked as a “witch hunt.”
“Will fail again!” Trump tweeted.
The
complaint from the intelligence community whistleblower is based on a
series of events, including what sources now say is Trump’s conversation
with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The conversation happened
on July 25, just a day after Mueller wrapped up his own work by
testifying on Capitol Hill.
Trump
urged Zelenskiy to probe the activities of Biden’s son Hunter, who had
worked for a Ukrainian gas company, according to a person who was
briefed on the call.
For legal scholars and
ethics watchdogs, the interaction between Trump and the foreign leader
is seen as nothing less than a pressure campaign that cuts to the core
of the nation’s public corruption and bribery laws. It came as the White
House was holding up $250 million in military aid for Ukraine. Even if
there was no quid-pro-quo from the president, the conversation could be
seen by legal experts as improper.
“It
appears that the president might have used his official powers — in
particular, perhaps the threat of withholding a quarter-billion dollars
in military aid — to leverage a foreign government into helping him
defeat a potential political opponent in the United States,” wrote
lawyer George T. Conway III, who is married to a top Trump adviser, and
Neal Katayal, a Georgetown University law professor and former acting
solicitor general, in an op-ed in The Washington Post. “If Trump did
that, it would be the ultimate impeachable act.”
Campaigning
in Iowa on Saturday, Joe Biden said the president “deserves to be
investigated,” but he stopped short of calling for impeachment.
“He’s using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me,” Biden told reporters.
Sen.
Chris Coons, D-Del., said Trump’s actions show “Joe Biden is correctly
perceived by President Trump as the greatest threat to his re-election.”
It’s
less clear whether the situation may ultimately hurt Biden, who has
claimed the moral high ground in his 2020 campaign. When speaking about
his experience as vice president, Biden often says he’s most proud of
the lack of scandal during his eight years in the Obama White House.
Trump’s allies hope that the focus on Biden’s involvement in Ukraine may
begin to chip away at his squeaky clean image.
“The
longer we talk about what the Bidens did in Ukraine, the better,” said
Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, who dismissed those who
believe Trump will pay a political price for the latest controversy.
The
questions about Hunter Biden have circulated for years, particularly in
conservative circles, after he was hired in 2014 by Burisma Holdings,
whose founder had been a political ally of Russia-friendly former
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. At the time questions were raised
about whether the Ukrainian firm was seeking to gain influence with the
Obama administration through its employment of Joe Biden’s son.
This
year, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani revived interest in the
issue and said he reached out directly to the Ukrainian government.
Joe
Biden said he’s never spoken to his son about his overseas business
dealings. Hunter Biden has denied the claims that he used his influence
with his father to aid Burisma, saying the criticism is false and stoked
by far-right political critics.
While Sen.
Warren and other Democrats say there’s no choice but to start
impeachment proceedings, other Democrats have been reluctant to launch a
process they say could scare away more moderate and centrist voters,
especially for lawmakers in Congress.
Pelosi
showed no signs of moving off her position that Congress must continue
to investigate the administration and not start impeachment proceedings
unless the American public demands it. Instead, she said that Trump
faces “repercussions” if the whistleblower’s allegations prove true and
she said it’s time to change the law to make sure future presidents can
be indicted for wrongdoing.
Democratic
strategist Jefrey Pollock, who was a pollster for former presidential
candidate Kirsten Gillibrand, suggested that the latest explosive
allegations against the Republican president would have little impact on
the broader 2020 debate.
“To date, no
scandal has seemed to impact Donald Trump on its own,” Pollock said.
“And the fact that this one involves a political rival I suspect is no
different.”
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Associated
Press writers Alexandra Jaffe and Tom Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and
Stephen Braun in Washington contributed to this report.