Did Trump betray his country?

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Editor's note: Frida Ghitis, ex-producer and correspondent for CNN, is a columnist for international issues. He collaborates frequently for the CNN opinion section, for The Washington Post and is a columnist for the World Politics Review. You can follow her on Twitter at @fridaghitis. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author.

(CNN) - The history of Trump and Ukraine may seem complicated and there is still much to know, but the implications are clear: it seems that the president has betrayed his country and, now, as announced by the president of the Chamber of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, their actions have triggered a formal process of political trial.

Although we do not know the exact content of the complaint, through the legislators who have had access to it and the media investigations, it is known that: in July, Trump retained military aid while pressing President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate allegations to discredit former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's main rival in the 2020 election. Trump has admitted that he spoke with Zelensky about corruption and about Biden.

Trump pretends that we believe this is completely normal, and that his retention of military aid had nothing to do with his desire for Biden to be investigated. But none of this is normal. In fact, if Trump sought to reach an agreement with the president of Ukraine, it was a crude movement that put his personal political interests above those of the country he swore to serve.

READ : The key part of the informant's complaint that represents the biggest threat to Trump

Trump's actions in relation to Ukraine are probably a violation of anti-corruption laws, in addition to the obvious violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act. Even more important, Trump's behavior constitutes a violation of his oath as president, his oath to "protect and defend" his nation, the confidence of the American people and the essential obligations he assumed when he became president of the United States. .

The apparent extortion to Ukraine is much worse than his request and acceptance of Russian aid to win in 2016. It is worth noting that CNN reports that the content of the call is only part of the complainant's complaint. The president of the Intelligence Commission of the House of Representatives Adam Schiff has said that the informant wants to testify before the commission.

When the Trump candidate asked the Kremlin for help defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016 by saying “Russia, if you're listening, I hope you can find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” it was a despicable action to request assistance from a hostile power in order to influence an American election. But at that time Trump was a private citizen, without access to the broad power and resources of the executive branch.

This time, the president has participated in something very close to extortion: demanding help to defame Biden in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid, and pressuring a desperate country to interfere in the 2020 elections in order of helping Trump defile the Democratic leader.

On Tuesday, Trump insisted again that he had done nothing wrong and offered a new explanation of why he had withheld military aid, stating that he had done so because "Europe and other nations" were not contributing to the aid for Ukraine. This statement is false, and does not justify the government pressuring Ukraine to investigate a rival, or refusing to comply with a law on the protection of whistleblowers.

For all intents and purposes, Trump has put pressure on Ukraine by appropriating US $ 250 million from US taxpayers that Congress had approved given to Ukraine in order to strengthen its defenses against its aggressive neighbor, Russia, the country that He helped Trump win the presidency in 2016.

The White House and Congress shocked terribly about Trump's refusal to release authorized funds. After all, Congress made a decision based on what it believed was best for the national security of the United States. Trump did release the money after the complainant's complaint was filed and an "urgent concern" was declared by an impartial inspector general.

When President Trump told President Zelensky in July to investigate Joe Biden and his son, he was at least implicitly threatening Ukraine's relationship with the United States, including the military aid that was at stake. Whether he expressed it or not in such crude terms is of little importance.

By pressing Ukraine in this way, Trump leaves that country with an extremely difficult situation. At the moment, the country is fighting armed rebels and backed by the Russians, just five years after Russia invaded the Crimea of ​​Ukraine and, today, Russia continues to actively attack Ukrainian sovereignty.

In the conversation with Zelensky, Trump insisted that Ukraine deal with his lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. According to the Ukrainian summary of the call, Trump expressed optimism that the new Ukrainian government would vigorously pursue those "corruption cases" that limit the interaction between the two countries. In the description released by the White House of the phone call, which does not appear on the White House website, Trump congratulated President Zelensky on his election and "discussed ways to strengthen cooperation."

A crucial and disturbing aspect of this scandal is that it gives life to unconfirmed accusations against Biden. People loyal to Trump are telling the Fox News audience that there is a real scandal there, even though Ukrainian prosecutors insist that the vice president did nothing wrong.

In addition to cracking the faith of U.S. voters and undermining U.S. national interest, the attempted extortion attempt could qualify as criminal conduct under Hobbs Law, a law that prohibits officials from demanding anything of value in exchange for fulfilling the responsibilities of office.

According to all indications, Trump demanded something of value from the Ukrainian president: specifically, helping to stain the reputation of his political rival. And he did not fulfill his duty to deliver the legally authorized help until September 11, weeks after the complainant filed his complaint.

Along with Pelosi, another central figure who has been reluctant to ask for a political trial and who seems to be changing his mind is the Democratic representative Adam Schiff, president of the House of Representatives Intelligence Commission. Schiff says that he is still unsure if the call with Ukraine was the reason for the complainant's complaint, but that if the phone call of a president in office with a foreign leader "included corruption or a criminal act", or was used as "Political advantage against the interest of our nation," then that would be the most serious violation to date of this presidency - or perhaps "any presidency."

If that really is what happened, and everything indicates that it was so, then Trump's behavior makes Watergate look like the case of an insignificant pickpocket.

Trump is likely to have betrayed his country, and he did so on the world stage, using taxpayers' money and playing with American security. What could be worse?

Informant complaint