agip wrote:
Flagpole wrote:
I don't know where you get your info, but bribery doesn't depend on what Trump really thought of the Bidens' innocence or that Ukraine had nothing to do with 2016 election.
Definition of Bribery: "Bribery refers to the offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an individual holding a public or legal duty. ... Bribery constitutes a crime and both the offeror and the recipient can be criminally charged."
You've got this one wrong agip.
but...every day we tell other nations/orgs to do this or that if they want US aid or expertise.
Are we bribing NATO when we demand they increase their defense spending at the risk of our dropping out of NATO?
thought experiment:
Say if trump were right that 1) ukraine corrupted our elections, and 2) Biden forced the firing of a prosecutor to save hunter biden. What if all that were true. Then trump went to the ukrainians and asked them to sort out that corruption. Is that bribery?
Yes, it's still bribery because:
A) He was using taxpayer military aid money appropriated by congress with no strings attached.
B) This military aid is important to our US national security.
C) The appropriate approval agencies (including our military) had determined that corruption was not an issue.
D) Because of C, the money was required by law to be released.
E) He only pressured them to investigate the Bidens and not corruption generally.
F) It is illegal to solicit a foreign government for help with your political campaign.
So even if #1 and #2 were true and even if Tiny knew it were true, bribery would still apply. Knowledge of Ukranian corruption would not be an excuse for breaking the law.
The legal way to deal with the issue would be to go back to congress or the approval agencies and ask them to take a second look at corruption before releasing the money. Instead, he used the money as a bribe for personal gain.
