Anyone thinking after 2016 that election campaigns in the US can not be conducted even more mercilessly, is being taught a lesson these days. The dispute over a mysterious whistleblower, Donald Trump's relationship with Ukraine and the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden already has what it takes to overshadow many of the election campaign clashes of the past.
That's the state of affairs: US President Trump may have tried to use his office and state funds to expose politically incriminating evidence against his rival Biden. Trump is said to have urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky to investigate the affairs of Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, in Ukraine, following a series of concurrent US media reports in a telephone conversation in July.
Carlos Barria / REUTERS
Joe and Hunter Biden: Always new attacks from the Trump camp
Trump is innocent
So far, the president rejects all allegations. He was perfectly correct, Trump told reporters on Sunday. He did not rule out publishing the content of his conversation with Selensky. The conversation was "nice, warm and nice," said Trump.
Another Fake News story out there - It never ends! Virtually anytime I speak on the phone to a foreign leader, I understand that there are many people in the United States. No problem!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2019At the same time the President confirmed for the first time in an indirect form that he probably talked to Selensky about the Bidens. Trump said a phone call between him and Selensky was about "corruption" and about people "like Joe Biden and his son promoting corruption in Ukraine".
The phone call and any additional information related to this issue is part of a complaint allegedly made by a US intelligence officer as a "whistleblower" to General Inspector General Michael Atkinson. The Inspector General would actually be required to forward the information to Congress. He also categorized the matter as credible and urgent that he wanted to inform the relevant committees. However, this was blocked by his superiors in the Trump administration.
New calls for impeachment
Trump's alleged action and the blockade of the whistleblower has triggered an outcry among the opposition Democrats. They demand a release of the information of the whistleblower. At the same time, the calls for the initiation of impeachment proceedings against Trump are increasing.
The Congressional Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi, who has so far denied the impeachment, is being pressured by her reluctant position in her own ranks. Even one of their closest allies, the head of the intelligence committee, Adam Schiff, said for the first time that the impeachment process may now be inevitable. Trump's actions in the Ukraine case could be "his most serious breach of presidential oath to date."
It is also unclear what information the whistleblower could provide exactly. However, it is suspected that Trump may have put Ukraine's Selensky under pressure. The Ukrainian government waited $ 250 million for military aid this summer. The payment of the money was initially stopped by the White House and took place only a few days ago. So did Trump link the transfer of money to the notoriously sick Ukrainians with the Biden case?
What role does Rudolph Giuliani play?
Dubios is in this context the role of Trump's friend and personal advocate Rudolph Giuliani. He had met shortly after the phone call between Trump and Selensky with a confidant of the Ukrainian president. What exactly was going on: unclear. One thing is certain, the efforts of Giuliani and Trump have not yet been successful. So far, there are no investigations in Ukraine against the Bidens.
Erin Scott / REUTERS
Rudolph Giuliani: Biden's "boy is unfortunately a drug addict"
Trump and his follower Giuliani bet on front defense: They see the whirl around the whistleblower and the Trump phone call not only as a political disadvantage. They use this as an opportunity to portray Biden and his son Hunter as the real villains in the story. Giuliani whispered in a TV interview ambiguous, he had long been waiting for the moment, finally to draw attention "on the finances of the Biden family." Biden and his son were to be examined, he repeatedly demanded. The "boy is unfortunately a drug addict". And anyway: Soon he might come up with new "material", according to Giuliani.
A problem for Biden
So things can prove to be quite uncomfortable for Joe Biden. Although there is no evidence of a mistake by him or his son in connection with its business relations with Ukraine. But even the appearance of a problem could hurt him in the race for the presidency.
Currently, Biden is in almost all polls in the lead: Stand now, he would win both in the primaries against his opponents against the Democrats, as well as in the actual election against Trump. But this mood can also change: In the party-internal race, especially Elizabeth Warren brings up against Biden step by step.
Let's be clear, Donald Trump pressured a foreign government to interfere in our elections. It's against the United States stands for.
We must make him a one-term president.
No wonder Biden is angry with the whole thing: "Donald Trump has been trying to get a foreign politician to launch a false smear campaign against me and my family," he scolds. "He's deliberately trying to deceive the American people to gain four more years in office."