Trump impeachment designed to protect Hillary Clinton (Sunday Guardian)

By M D Nalapat

The Clinton machine within the Democratic Party has converted the grassroots drive to impeach President Trump into ‘safe’ channels designed to serve the interests of the most powerful political family in the US.

NEW DELHI: Acting on the advice given by close New York-based friends with connections to Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Donald J. Trump decided to abandon a move to investigate the flood of contributions received by the Clinton Foundation during the period when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Forensic tracking of the actual sources of much of the funds received would have established their provenance. Much of the money came (through cut-outs) from East Asia and the Middle East, funnelled into the foundation by those with a direct interest in the foreign policy of the United States Government (USG). The link between access to power and moneys received is clear from the fact that the flow of funds dropped once Hillary Clinton stepped down as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, and has become a mere trickle now that Donald J. Trump is President of the US. However, should a Clinton nominee such as former Vice-President Joe Biden get elected as the 46th President of the US in November, the Clinton Foundation will once again move to the top of the fundraising sweepstakes. Those familiar with developments in the US, but wary of the immense reach of the Clinton hyper-power couple within not merely the Democratic Party but the Republican Party establishment, have given details in confidence about the manner in which the Clinton machine within the Democratic Party has converted the grassroots drive to impeach President Trump into “safe” channels designed to serve the interests of what is still the most powerful political family in the US. It is clear that the Ukraine imbroglio is not catching fire in a way that was expected of an attempt as serious as a move to remove a sitting US President. Indeed, there are other grounds that may have found justification within the substantial number of “Never Trumpers” i.e., those who rue every day that Donald Trump remains the US President, including several within the USG who have been put off by Trump’s self-serving and hectoring manner in dealing with issues such as the removal of as outstanding a civil servant as the former envoy to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich, or in stopping the pension of Andrew McCabe, the former Deputy Director of the FBI. Such acts of personal spite and vindictiveness have bred an atmosphere inside the Trump administration that resembles that of a medieval court, with priorities one through nine (out of 10) of each high level official being the daily struggle to keep Trump happy.

The fact is that Hunter Biden did get princely sums of money from entities in the very countries that his father (Vice-President Joe Biden) was personally handling on behalf of President Obama. Or that his qualifications for such lucrative posts was non-existent, as seems to have been the case with whatever he was (as distinct from his VVIP father) doing for the companies which paid him immense sums of money. Given the fact that Joe Biden is the preferred choice of Bill and Hillary Clinton to be the next US President, skilful networking has ensured that the activities of Hunter Biden in the foreign companies with which he was associated have not been seriously probed even by Trump-friendly news outlets. Strangely, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (a strong backer of President Erdogan of Turkey) seems disinclined to seriously pursue the option of bringing Hunter Biden to testify about his activities before a Senate panel at a time when the Clinton machine saw to it that the younger son of the former Vice-President was kept far away from giving testimony on the floor of the US House of Representatives. The Senate Majority Leader justifies this lack of interest in Hunter Biden as part of an overall policy of dispensing with witnesses altogether as the Senate considers and decides on the Articles of Impeachment handed over to them by the House of Representatives. Such a proceeding would not just be a farcical eyewash, but be shown before voters as being an eyewash, thereby damaging President Trump’s chances of re-election for a fresh four-year term, an essentiality if he and some of his family members are to avoid being prosecuted for a roster of complaints that have been prepared by Democratic Party veterans. Rather than a Clinton-friendly candidate, should a truly independent individual (such as Senators Warren or Sanders) emerge as the Democratic Party nominee in July, and should that candidate go on to defeat Trump, that would not only be bad news for the Trumps but also for the Clintons, for while the Clinton Foundation (and Hunter Biden) would be in clover during a Biden Presidency, a Sanders or a Warren White House would look askance at the many money-making schemes of the Clintons, a level of cupidity that has thus far escaped serious legal and political consequences thanks to the network of the former  Empress of the Beltway, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who still retains substantial influence in the world’s most consequential capital. Indeed, a weakened and vulnerable Donald J. Trump would be preferred by the Clintons to a Warren or a Sanders as the next US President.

Given that the lucrative jobs given to Hunter Biden (apparently for no just cause) were during the time when his father as Vice-President was directly involved with high policy regarding the countries in which the job-giving enterprises were located, there is an arguable case of corruption. Of course, what is questionable is the withholding of assistance to Ukraine after the government there had been directed by Rudy Giuliani to investigate Hunter Biden and to do so publicly but had yet to obey. Seeking to frame any request to a foreign government by the USG to investigate possible wrongdoing by a US citizen as an impeachable offence seems designed to ensure that there will not be any future enquiry via foreign governments into the money flow into the Clinton Foundation during the period when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. In other words, among the grounds for impeachment is the implicit premise that using a foreign government to investigate a US citizen who is in politics is a misdemeanour. As pointed out by Beltway insiders, not only do the terms of the items of impeachment of the Democratic Party-controlled House of Representatives do Joe Biden a huge favour by casting him as the biggest electoral danger to President Trump, they seek to foreclose any future enquiry by the USG against any politician through the use of a foreign government. This when a foreign government is in several situations the only way in which such an enquiry can succeed in finding out the truth. The flimsy nature of the terms of impeachment where public opinion is concerned ensure a less than blockbuster viewership for the Senate proceedings, unless of course during those moments when Hunter Biden or John Bolton (or both) are allowed to testify. The Clinton machine saw to it that the articles of impeachment drawn up by the House committee focused on the Ukraine saga and nothing other than the Ukraine saga. This when there are other actions of President Trump that are likely to have a grave impact on US security in the years ahead.

Rather than destroy ISIS the way he has been claiming, President Trump has opened a pathway for the terror organisation to regroup. He has done this by abandoning the Kurdish allies of the US military in 2019 and months afterwards, in causing public opinion within the Shia majority in Iraq to turn toxic against US forces in that country by assassinating the commander of the Iraqi Shia militia that has done the most to rid the country of ISIS together with Qassem Soleimani, the killing of whom has almost certainly ensured that Iran will follow the Pakistan and North Korea example in nuclear proliferation, rather than that of Libya and Ukraine. The raising of the red flag atop the Jamkaran Mosque in Qom indicates that the IRGC has entered upon a campaign designed to remove US forces from the Middle East, no matter what the cost in Iranian or other blood. After the treachery shown to the Kurds (who were asked to leave fortified positions soon afterwards occupied by Turkish troops intent on their destruction), it would have to be a very credulous Middle Eastern potentate who has confidence in US pledges. Just as the killing of Gaddafi terminally affected any chances for the voluntary handing over of WMD to the US and its allies by any other power, the killing of Soleimani means that any country hosting US bases will be the direct target of the IRGC, both in conventional as well as in asymmetric terms should the US use such bases to launch attacks on Iran. By his embrace of Erdogan and apparently his interests and values in the Middle East, and by initiating the start of a risky, inevitable and escalatory cycle of violence with Iran, President Trump has placed the interests of the US in far greater jeopardy than by “asking a favour” of the Ukrainians in the matter of the Biden investigation. However, the Kurds count for even less in the minds of US voters than the Ukrainians do, while the effects of the Soleimani strike will become visible only over the coming three years, or well after the 2020 polls. Fortunately for Trump, the choice of the Ukraine saga as the only platform for impeachment is likely to make him seem a victim rather than a perpetrator, and ensure his re-election, especially if his opponent is Joe Biden. After ensuring the victory of Donald J. Trump in 2016, the Clinton machine seems on course to enabling his re-election in 2020. Unless (a) the US economy slows down substantially by the autumn of 2020 and (b) either Warren or Sanders rather than Biden is the Democratic Party challenger to Trump.

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/trump-impeachment-designed-protect-hillary-clinton