Under federal law, whistleblower complaints in the intelligence community are to be delivered to the inspector general. The inspector general has 14 days to determine if the allegations amount to an “urgent concern,” meaning they relate to abuse, violation of federal law or executive order in regards to national intelligence involving classified information (in case you’re a Republican, you didn’t understand any of that). If the complaint meets the criteria, the inspector general is supposed to forward it to the director of national intelligence. The law says the director of national intelligence has seven days (in case you’re a Republican, seven days is a week) to forward the material to the House and Senate intelligence oversight committees. The law does not say the director can refuse or just decide it’s not warranted.
In this case of the whistleblower complaint against Trump, the inspector general, Michael Atkinson, told Congress it was credible and qualified as an “urgent concern.” The director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, decided it wasn’t credible, qualified, or urgent. He tried to trash it. The Justice Department, headed by William Barr, who’s spending $30,000 on a party at a Trump Hotel, said Maguire can lawfully keep it a secret. That’s not what the law says. The law says he’s to deliver that shit to Congress. His sycophantic ass should go to jail too.
By law, this complaint was to be delivered to Congress. Instead, it was delivered to the Justice Department and from other sources, the White House. The law was designed to protect whistleblowers and classified information. In this case, the whistleblower was not protected because his complaint was delivered to the person he was complaining about. Donald Trump said he doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower and then attacked him as partisan.
If Trump doesn’t know the identity of the whistleblower then how does he know he’s partisan? Has he been hanging out with Miss Cleo? If so, does she see Trump wearing orange jumpsuits? Never mind. From Googling to make sure I had her name right, I just found out she died in 2016. I’m guessing she saw the future and had a heart attack.
Now, the whistleblower report is going to Congress. Yesterday, Trump called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wanting to cut a deal. According to reports, Trump said, “Hey, can we do something about this whistleblower complaint? Can we work something out?” Reportedly, Pelosi said, “Yes. You can tell your people to obey the law.”
Trump and his entire administration are arrogant. They refuse to obey the law, then seek out deals to comply a little bit. Nancy’s right. Obey the law. She has no reason to cut a deal with the “best deal-maker ever.” What sort of deal was he trying to make? Congress can talk to the whistleblower after Trump’s goons have 15 minutes with him first?
Just like in the month-long government shutdown Trump initiated where he left with nothing, and actually lost funding for his precious wall, Nancy Pelosi owns him. Trump believes he has a friend in Pelosi in regards to impeachment because she’s spent her entire time as Speaker trying to shut up and shut down her caucus on the topic. Now, Pelosi is on board.
Donald Trump is going to be impeached. Do you know how I know this? Because Nancy Pelosi is finally on board. Do you know why she’s on board? Because Donald Trump needs to be impeached.
Trump should be impeached, even if the Senate refuses to do its job and convict a corrupt president. For Andrew Johnson, the only thing he won’t have in common with Bill Clinton and Donald Trump is that he never went to a teen-slumber party with Jeffrey Epstein…I think.
Firstly, forget the Biden distraction. If what Joe Biden did in pressuring Ukraine to fire a prosecutor was corrupt, then how is asking a foreign president for dirt on your opponent not? If you want to take Joe Biden with you as we kick Trump out of office, fine. Take him. Donald Trump is guilty. Whatever Joe Biden may or may not have done doesn’t change or justify what Trump did. Hell, you guys can impeach Biden after we elect him. I don’t care.
Even if Trump didn’t involve the nearly $400 million allocated in foreign aid to Ukraine, and only brought up investigating Joe Biden, it’s still illegal. It’s still corrupt. It’s still asking a foreign nation to investigate your political opponent. Trump said he’d welcome information provided by a foreign government. In this case, he’s banging on their door. Donald Trump has admitted he asked Ukraine about investigating Joe Biden. He admitted he broke the law.
But since the $400 million is a factor, let’s talk about it. Trump withheld the money, allocated by Congress, a week before his phone call with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky. He asked his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, to withhold it (have fun testifying, Mickey). Then, he told his staff (who should all get ready to testify as well or get fitted for orange jumpsuits) to lie about why it was being withheld. They were to tell lawmakers the delays were a part of an “interagency process” and not to give them any additional information.
Trump claimed he withheld the money because of corruption in Ukraine. Then, he said it’s because Europe and other nations aren’t contributing to Ukraine. As it turns out, that’s another Trump lie. The European Union has given Ukraine over $16.5 billion. Other EU institutions have provided more than $452 million. Germany has given over $189 million, Japan’s given over $180 million, Canada’s given over $44 million, Poland has given over $42 million, Sweden’s given over $34 million, Britain’s given over $31 million, and Switzerland has given over $29 million. Once again, Trump is full of shit. And, for Trump, he thinks corruption is the opposite of corruption.
Today, Donald Trump will release transcripts of his phone call with President Zelensky to prove he didn’t do anything wrong. This is the man who doctored a weather map with a Sharpie (Trump, not Zelensky). I’m sure they believe this transcript it totally defensible in the context it’s the only thing in the whistleblower complaint (or, it’s defensible after you take a Sharpie to it). It’s not.
We don’t even know the extent of the complaint but we do know that Rudy Giuliani, as Trump’s personal lawyer, went to Ukraine (after a short stop in Transylvania to visit family) to press them to investigate Joe Biden. Rudy claims he did this at the request of the State Department. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he asked the State Department if they had asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, and they replied with a negative. But, if Giuliani isn’t lying (HAHAHAHAHAHA), then the State Department is engaging in corruption for Donald Trump. Which is it? That could be part of the complaint. If true, we’re gonna have a national shortage of orange jumpsuits. We’ll have to lift those tariffs on China because we don’t make those here.
Trump’s head is on Nancy’s wall and now he wants to make a deal. The problem for Donald Trump and his sycophants is, they can’t change what he did. Donald Trump violated his oath of office and committed high crimes and misdemeanors. That qualifies for impeachment.
The only deal Donald Trump should be able to make at this point is the same one Richard Nixon made. The only way for Trump not to be impeached is for him to resign and not be president. That’ll show those Democrats. Ha! Ha! Take that, losers. But then they could impeach Mike Pence and go after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo because they’re up to their nuts in this shit too.
We shouldn’t impeach Trump because we don’t like him. We shouldn’t impeach him because he’s vulgar, unpresidential, or that we don’t like his policies. We shouldn’t impeach him because we want to. We should impeach Donald Trump because we have to.
It’s an urgent concern.
Support the cartoonist
As I noted in a previous cartoon, these are perilous times for political cartoonists. But you can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print).I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.
You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.
Friend me on Facebook Follow me on Twitter Follow me on Instagram. Watch me draw on YouTube
For TYToons / Clay Jones
