It was a warm and friendly conversation, says Trump
US President Donald Trump is in the centre of a raging controversy — this time involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The controversy revolves around a phone conversation Trump had with Zelensky on 25 July this year.
There are two sets of charges levelled against Trump. First, during the phone call Trump had allegedly asked Zelensky to investigate the Ukrainian business dealings of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Joe Biden was the vice-president during the Barack Obama administration and is currently a front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Trump also urged Zelensky to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
The second allegation is that Trump leveraged US military aid to Ukraine to get what he wants from Zelensky. Trump allegedly withheld the aid until last week.
Speaking to the media ahead of his joint rally with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday, Trump acknowledged the phone conversation with Zelensky. “There was no quid pro quo. It was a warm and friendly conversation,” he said.
Trump added that his conversation with Zelensky was about “the fact that we don’t want our people, like (former) vice-president Biden and his son (adding) to the corruption already in the Ukraine”.
The phone conversation became public after a whistleblower from the US intelligence community revealed the details to Pentagon.
Fresh calls for impeachment
These fresh allegations have led to renewed calls for Trump’s impeachment by Democratic legislators. These legislators are also demanding the Pentagon to release the details of the complaint made by the whistleblower.
The Democrats have, however, been divided over whether or not to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said at a campaign rally, “It is time to call out this illegal behaviour and start impeachment proceedings right now.”
Some leaders such as Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, was initially opposed to the impeachment proceedings, but he seemed to be changing his stance. Schiff said, “This seems different in kind. We may have crossed the Rubicon.”
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House and a Democrat, has the final say on whether to begin the impeachment proceedings, and she continues to oppose it.
According to analysts, Pelosi fears alienating the Centrist voters if she starts the impeachment proceedings, which are most likely to be a failure.
Meanwhile, other Democratic candidates such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are targeting the centrist-party leadership over the impeachment question.
“At this point, the bigger national scandal isn’t the president’s lawbreaking behaviour — it is the Democratic party’s refusal to impeach him for it,” said Cortez.
This Vedic astrology writer’s predictive article “ Mid 2019 to November 2020 for President Donald Trump – a Vedic astrology view” was published on 1 June 2019 in monthly Webzine of Wisdom Magazine at wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/5060/. As we are in September 2019 , the following prediction in the said article looks to be relevant :-
“ The month of October in present year 2019 looks to be particularly worrisome , calling for more care , appropriate strategy and much needed patience. Machinations of those opposing him , within the US or from among global community , can gather more steam. Some friends may likely distance with him. Severe storms or earthquake or volcano eruption in vulnerable regions in the US are likely. Some worrisome concerns related to energy resources or food stuff or communal issues can be likely.”
The following happenings or indications of likely happenings have been noted from the news reports in the month of September suggesting meaningfulness and accuracy of this writer’s predictive alerts , made nearly five months prior , for Trump in the aforesaid article :-
1. A powerful hurricane Dorian hit Carolinas and some other parts of the US in first week of September , 2019. Later, a tropical storm Imelda devastated some parts of Carolinas and Houston-Texas towards 18 September 2019.
2. A news report said that the US Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt is likely to step down , could be sometime towards October 2019 after submitting a report. He worked in the White House for over two and a half years under the leadership of President Trump.
3. According to newspaper reports , President Trump is reported to have fired National Security Adviser John Bolton on 9 September , 2019. And on 27 September , 2019 , Kurt Volker , the US Special Envoy to Ukraine , has resigned amid impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Kurt Volker is said to be a key figure in the story relating to Ukraine controversy allegedly involving Trump.
4. The Congress has already been probing various aspects of President Trump’s campaign , his business and his conduct as President. But had stopped short of setting up a formal impeachment inquiry for probably reason of their not being sound enough from 2020 electoral angle. But the Ukraine episode seems to have convinced the Democrats of soundness so far as 2020 electoral prospects in the US are concerned. Therefore , Pelosi announced on 24 September 2019 , a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump over what has come to be known as Ukraine episode. Obviously , month of October 2019 looks to calling for more care , patience and appropriate strategy on his part.