The term quid pro quo has lain beyond earshot for the most part for many years. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary it means, “something given or received for something else.” Suddenly, any association with Ukraine must also be accompanied by that term. In politics, this is significant because no one does anything for nothing; it is always something for something. As someone once said, “The guilty dog barks first,” or it could be just to throw the other dogs off track. In any case, the collateral damage to the barking dogs could be significant. This term could also be in the negative: “If you do it to me, I will do it to you,” not “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so the them” (Matt. 7:12). In this case, the barking dog is the Democratic Party that seems to have no leadership but has many barking at the same time.
In any case we should never be afraid of the truth, unless it uncovers our sin. When we speak the truth, we never have to remember what we said, whereas when we lie, we often tell a different version the second time. Judgment by man is often accompanied by a lie: “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” (Rom. 2:1–3). That’s like confessing your own faults without realizing it.
Since much of the sounds of the barking dog are not based on firsthand knowledge, it must depend on the barks of a neighborhood dog. When my dog Angus hears another dog barking, he rushes outside and begins barking. He doesn’t know what he is barking about because it is secondhand. He did not see the reason for the barking; he just took the word of another dog. In this case, the barking came from the lips of a secondhand whistleblower: the testimony of the whistleblower by the anti-Trump individual on supposed improprieties by the president during a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The identity of the barking dog in this case has not been released. But, doesn’t the accused have the right to face his accuser? In order to overcome the rules of engagement, the rules were changed to fit the supposed crime. The scenario came down like this:
In tense testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) on Friday, the inspector general for federal spy agencies refused to disclose why his office backdated secret changes to key whistleblower forms and rules in the wake of an anti-Trump whistleblower complaint filed in August, sources told The Federalist.
As The Federalist reported and the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) confirmed, the spy watchdog secretly changed its whistleblower forms and internal rules in September to eliminate a requirement that whistleblowers provide first-hand evidence to support any allegations of wrongdoing (www.thefederalist.com).
Is this not ex post facto, changing the law after the fact? Yes!
Adam Schiff and his unscrupulous mob will do anything to get rid of President Trump—to the point of changing the law and defiling the Constitution. Why? It appears that he and his cronies are guilty of exactly what they are accusing the president of and wish to get rid of him before their sins are uncovered. It seems unreasonable to believe that career politicians get rich so quickly once in office while they entered with nothing. President Trump was already rich when he entered office. Case in point!
Prior to becoming president, Mr. Trump said, “If I’m elected president, I’m not accepting a salary.” According to www.politifact.com, he is keeping his promise.
In August, a White House spokesman announced that Trump donated $100,000, his second-quarter salary, to the U.S. Surgeon General’s office. … Trump donated his third quarter salary for 2018 to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. … The president donated his 2018 fourth quarter salary to the Department of Homeland Security and has donated to various federal entities during his time in office, including the National Park Service, the Department of Education and the Veterans Administration. … President Donald Trump donated his second-quarter salary for 2018 to the Small Business Administration, reaffirming his promise to forgo a presidential paycheck.
Most Americans are not jealous of those that are rich. However, they are especially disturbed by how politicians have gained absurd wealth after becoming a public servant. In accumulating this wealth, some have compromised their oath to the American people by promising or threatening to take action either for or against an individual or even a country. In this case, a presidential phone call to a leader of another sovereign country seemed to threaten to uncover a quid pro quo by a previous national leader, then vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter—an attempt to shift the attention to the president and off the ex-vice president and son. Maybe it should be the president of vice and his son. This scenario added fuel to the impeachment movement.
The phone call began with congratulations to newly elected Ukrainian President Zelensky then moved on to the subject of Biden’s son, Hunter. “‘The other thing: There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it. … It sounds horrible to me,’ Trump added.”
The leak came from inside the White House circle. “George Conway, a conservative lawyer and husband of White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway, said Wednesday that a memo of President Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine includes evidence of an attempted quid pro quo” (www.thehill.com). George Conway has always been a critic of President Trump, although Kellyanne works for the president and is a staunch supporter. Maybe the leak came from George, who may have overheard Kellyanne. That would make it secondhand. The transcript of the phone call proves “there is no there there.”
So where is the smoking gun? What is the connection of the Bidens to Ukraine, and what did Hunter have to do with Burisma Oil Company? “WHY did the Ukrainian oil company Burisma hire Hunter Biden in the first place? Burisma is tightly tied to the government there, and not only does Hunter have NO experience in the oil industry there, but he has a pretty shady past with substance abuse—and not just alcohol, but crack too. Glenn and Stu walk through Hunter’s rehab timeline, and it’s extensive. So WHY did Burisma hire him?” (www.iheart.com, written by Glenn Beck).
Two years after leaving office, Joe Biden couldn’t resist the temptation last year to brag to an audience of foreign policy specialists about the time as vice president that he strong-armed Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor.
In his own words, with video cameras rolling, Biden described how he threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin (www.thehill.com).
He then insisted that then-President Obama was in on the threat. The prosecutor was leading a corruption probe into Burisma Holdings, a natural gas company where Hunter was employed as a board member. The article goes on to describe how Hunter Biden’s firm, Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, received payments of $166,000 per month from 2014 to 2015.
In 2013, Hunter along with his father, went to China for an official visit. Two weeks later, his company, Rosemont Seneca, became a partner with a company owned by the Bank of China. “Exceeding their initial fundraising goal, the partners at BHR raised their target to $1.5 billion for the new fund. The company’s website now brags that it manages “over RMB 15 billion” in assets—the equivalent of about $2.1 billion in today’s dollars” (www.nypost.com) The deal included investors China Development Bank and China’s social security fund.
Under the terms of the deal, BHR (in which Hunter’s firm held an equity stake) would be a lead investor in the fund. The Biden family has denied any connection between the vice president’s visit and Hunter’s business. However, BHR (Bohai Harvest RST) told The New Yorker that the visit was used to introduce Joe to Chinese private equity executive Jonathan Li, who became CEO after the deal’s conclusion.
Accordingly, Hunter Biden has decided to step down from his position at BHR and has denied receiving any money from the venture. However, the cat is out of the bag and can’t be put back in. The vice president and his son are only the most visible of inquiries that may backfire on the accusers of the president. Both parties have their secrets, and hopefully telling on each other will produce ammunition to help “drain the swamp.” “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).
The quid pro quo between the American people and politicians is, “Do your job and we will re-elect you!”