Republicans in Congress need to hold President accountable for his actions

Editor:

I have concerns about the Trump Administration’s profound and pervasive abuse of power and the Republican’s acquiesce. The White House’s memo, witness testimony, and Mr. Trump’s own public statements confirm that he asked Ukraine’s President Zelensky multiple times to investigate Joe Biden as well as a bogus, Russian-generated conspiracy theory that suggest that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, opposing every U.S. intelligence report.

Witnesses testifying under oath and documentation show that nearly $400 million congressionally appropriated military aid was withheld to benefit the President, and only the President, period. Withholding the aid did not benefit or further U.S. interest. In fact, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Mr. Trump that releasing the aid was in the U.S. interest, Mr. Trump refused to release the aid.

Republicans refuse to investigate or hold the President accountable for this blatant misuse of funds and violation of law – the Impoundment Control Act.

With the impeachment trial moving to the Senate, the President ordered the killing of Iran General Qassem Soleimani. The killing could have occurred at any time, since Mr. Soleimani never hid his whereabouts.

I believe the that Mr. Trump is trying to start a war as a distraction for his impeachment and help his re-election. General Soleimani was not a rouge actor but a government official of Iran and thus any imminent plans for attacking U.S. targets was approved by Tehran.

The government in Tehran will just appoint a new General and proceed, if such an imminent threat even existed. A major objective of Iran and Russia is to get the U.S. out of Iraq and the President just helped achieve Iran’s and Russian objective. This was done to benefit the President.

With this reckless and capricious act, Mr. Trump weakened the U.S. standing in the world and destabilized the region and furthered Russian and Iranian interest. It is noteworthy that Republicans support this behavior. They support the abuse of power, the lack of oversight, and the lawlessness.

They even support subordinating U.S. foreign interest to that of our adversaries. Congressmen Tom Reed and John Katko should be asked by local reporters to explain their support for this saber rattling before young American lives are at risk. Thank you.

William Fine

Brockport