HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LAUNCHES A FORMAL IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY OF DONALD TRUMP BECAUSE HE'S A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO AMERICA'S NATIONAL SECURITY AND A THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY. THE REASONS ARE IN BLACK AND WHITE.

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     It's long overdue for the reckless Donald Trump to make like Snagglepuss and exit stage right.  Oh I'm sure there are Republicans nationwide who will always remain hellbent not to abandon their support for Trump, but like Hanna-Barbera's mountain lion cartoon character, I think the time is nearing for when Trump's cheerleaders will collectively cry out "Heavens to Murgatroyd."  That's because the Trump base will be surprised - nay shocked - when Republicans in Congress step up to the plate and agree with Democrats that country is more important than party and that Trump needs to go away.

     Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did what she has held off from doing for months when on Tuesday, September 24th, 2019 the California Democrat - in an address to the nation - announced a formal impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.  And on Wednesday morning, September 25th, the latest reasons for Trump to be prosecuted went from being tremendously strong circumstantial evidence to powerfully proven facts in a black and white document.  That's because a summary - not a word-for-word verbatim transcript - of a July 25th, 2019 telephone conversation
  
between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was made public by the Trump administration which blatantly provides the evidence that Trump tried to intimidate a foreign government with U.S. armed forces aid, in exchange for dirt on a political opponent who is running for the 2020 Democratic nomination; that candidate being former Vice President Joe Biden. And since military assistance is considered "a thing of value," such an offer...such a promise... such a threat to another nation...is a violation of America's

federal campaign law.  As has been reported for nearly a week by major news outlets throughout our country, Trump bullied President Zelensky by pressuring the new Ukrainian leader to investigate the business dealings of Vice President Biden's son Hunter Biden, referring to unfounded claims that the younger Biden was involved in a corruption scheme in Ukraine, and that the former Vice President's diplomatic efforts were affected while he was in office under President Barack Obama.  Trump's accusations against the Bidens refer to an erroneous Internet posting which claims that Vice President Biden threatened to slash one-billion dollars in aid to Ukraine if the government did not terminate its ace prosecutor who was allegedly investigating a Ukrainian natural gas company where Mr. Biden's son was an executive.  The truth of the matter is that the gas company was not part of any active probe during the time when it is alleged that Vice President Biden was calling for the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor.  Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma Holdings in Ukraine and the Bidens were cleared of any impropriety by multiple sources as there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever of wrongdoing by either Joe Biden or his son. Further proof came earlier this year when Politifact reported that it found nothing unlawful or even inappropriate to "support the idea that Joe Biden advocated with his son's interests in mind."

     Speaker Pelosi told Americans that by "calling upon a foreign power to intervene in his election, this is a breach of his constitutional responsibilities."  Mrs. Pelosi did not mince words on Tuesday, September 24th that "The actions taken to date by (Donald Trump) have seriously violated the Constitution," and that "The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of (Trump's) betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.  Therefore, today I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry."  Speaker Pelosi advised the nation that House Democrats' six committees will "proceed with their investigation under that umbrella."  More than 175 Democrats support some form of impeachment action. That's about three-quarters of the 235 Members in the Democratic caucus.

     This entire ordeal erupted after The Washington Post published a report on Wednesday, September 18th about a whistleblower complaint that was filed in August 2019 by a U.S. intelligence officer who reported troubling and alarming concerns about communications between Donald Trump and a foreign leader.  But Trump, on Friday, September 20th, without knowing the identity of the whistleblower, labeled the complaint "partisan" and a "political hack job."  From The Oval Office, Trump was on the defensive.  "It's ridiculous.  It's a partisan whistleblower.  They shouldn't even have information."  Meanwhile, Congressman Adam Schiff of California (Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee) tweeted on Tuesday, September 24th that the whistleblower wants to testify before Congress. "We have been informed by the whistleblower's counsel that their client would like to speak to our committee and has requested guidance from the Acting DNI (Director of National Intelligence) as to how to do so.  We'e in touch with counsel and look forward to the whistleblower's testimony as soon as this week."   

     According to Politifact, "The Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act protects intelligence officials from retribution for flagging what they believe to be government misconduct. The law was passed in 1998 and refined in 2010 with the establishment of the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General."  Once a whistleblower complaint is presented to the inspector general, the IG, Michael Atkinson, is then required to give the complaint to the Director of National Intelligence, who is then, by law, required to give the complaint to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees so that Congress can carry out the appropriate oversight of the President and others in the executive branch.  Atkinson - who was appointed by Donald Trump - reportedly considered the complaint to be worthy of investigation and that it needed immediate attention by Congress.  Speaker Pelosi, in her Tuesday, September 24th speech, noted that one week before, on Tuesday, September 17th, Atkinson notified Congress that the Trump administration was "forbidding him from turning over" the complaint to the legislative branch, despite the fact that the intelligence watchdog tagged the complaint as "serious" and "urgent."  Mrs. Pelosi made no bones about it.  "This is a 

violation of law." But Trump and the acting DNI, Joseph Maguire didn't care and prevented the complaint from going to Congress until late afternoon on Wednesday, September 25th.  Maguire - presumably under orders by Trump - had blocked Congress from receiving the complaint; presumably to withhold it from Democrats.  On Thursday, September 19th, Congressman Schiff told anchor Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show, "This involves an allegation of serious wrongdoing, something that the inspector general felt needed to be presented to Congress.  It is unprecedented for a director to withhold that information from Congress."  And Speaker Pelosi was very clear that Acting DNI Maguire's behavior was also "a violation of law."  Congressman Schiff issued a subpoena for the whistleblower's complaint earlier in September. Maguire is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, September 26th.

     In a non-binding resolution that was brought to the floor on Tuesday, September 24th by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, the full body of senators voted unanimously for the whistleblower complaint to be released to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. None of the 100 U.S. senators - 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats - objected to the resolution.  And on Wednesday, September 25th, Senator Schumer noted that all the senators from both parties agreed that blocking the complaint "was wrong."  Meanwhile, late the same day, the Senate and House Intelligence Committees were given the complaint. Congressman Schiff says the whistleblower paints a "disturbing" portait of the allegations against Donald Trump, but Schiff also says that the complaint is "very credible."  Earlier on September 25th, after reading the summary notes of the Trump/Zelensky phone conversation, Schiff condemned Trump's language.  "What those notes reflect is a classic Mafia-like shakedown of a foreign leader." 
  
     All of the above being said, Donald Trump is apparently scared to death that Vice President Biden would beat him in the upcoming election, thus Trump has allegedly committed additional crimes of international conspiracy, bribery, and extortion, along with a laundry list of other illegal activities he's alleged to have participated in over the last four years since becoming a presidential candidate and his subsequent move into The White House.

     What was expected to be a transcript of the Trump/Zelensky telephone conversation is actually - according to The White House - "notes and recollections of Situation Room officers and National Security Council policy staff" who listen to official conversations.  Therefore, the 5-page document is only a representation of what was discussed.  Trump on Tuesday, September 24th tweeted that he had authorized the release of the "complete, fully declassified and unredacted" transcript of his July telephone call with Zelensky.  The release of the dialogue provided during that 30-minute conversation visibly indicates that Donald Trump solicited dirt on a political opponent, plain and simple.  And it was this phone call that triggered the whistleblower's complaint.  Trump - as the occupant of The Oval Office - used the leader of a foreign power to enter in to a conspiracy in order for Trump to advance his own interests for political re-election.

     Trump's manipulative tactics set up Ukrainian President Zelensky to obviously feel the pressure, and the full weight of that pressure, as Trump moved forward in a manner that is so clear to me to be a quid pro quo; you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. 

     Below are just a few highlighted segments from the aforementioned summary.

     Trump:  "I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine.  We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time.  Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are."  Trump continued, "The United States has been very very good to Ukraine.  I wouldn't say that it's reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine."

     One does not have to read between the lines to get the gist of what Trump is telling Zelensky.  It's plain as day.  But there's more.

     Zelensky:  "Yes you are absolutely right.  I would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense.  We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes."

     Trump:  "I would like you do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.  I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike...  I guess you have one of your wealthy people...  The server, they say Ukraine has it.  There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation.  I think you're surrounding yourself with some of the same people.  I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it.  As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it's very important that you do it if that's possible."

     Note:  Crowdstrike is an American cybersecurity technology firm based in Sunnyvale, California.  The company investigated the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's computer servers in connection with the interference of America's 2016 presidential election.

     Zelensky:  "Yes it is very important for me and everything that you just mentioned earlier.  For me as a President, it is very important and we are open for any future cooperation.  We are ready to open a new page on cooperation in relations between the United States and Ukraine."  Zelensky continued, "I will personally tell you that one of my assistants spoke with Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine.  I just wanted to assure you once again that you have nobody but friends around us.  I will make sure that I surround myself with the best and most experienced people.  I also wanted to tell you that we are friends. We are great friends and you Mr. President have friends in our country so we can continue our strategic partnership."

     Trump:  "Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man.  He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you.  I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General.  Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy.  If you could speak to him that would be great."  Trump continued, "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 in to it...  It sounds horrible to me."

     Zelensky:  "Since we have won the absolute majority in our parliament, the next prosecutor general will be 100% my person, my candidate, who will be approved by the parliament and will start as a new prosecutor in September.  He or she will look in to the situation."

     Trump repeated himself from earlier.

     Trump:  "I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it."

     Zelensky buttered up Trump.

     Zelensky:  "Last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park and I stayed at the Trump Tower."  Zelensky continued, "I also want to ensure you that we will be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation."

     Trump once again repeated himself.

     Trump:  "I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call."

     This matter cannot in any way be minimized.  Donald Trump's disgraceful behavior should not and cannot be tolerated by the combined two Houses of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike.  Trump, in an open setting, with witnesses, and with a written acknowledgment, has pursued political goals by giving a foreign leader a reason for him to illegally help Trump in an exchange for the United States helping Ukraine, and with additional assistance by the U.S. attorney general and by Trump's personal lawyer.  All in all, Donald Trump has put himself over our country, over his oath of office, and over the Constitution of the United States. But, as usual, Trump has called the Democrats' actions "a hoax, all a big hoax" and "a witch hunt."

     What more will it take for the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Trump and for the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate to convict him for such felonies?  Does Trump actually have to "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" before he is evicted from The Oval Office?  What more do Members of the full Congress need, in order for them to do their jobs and to bounce Trump out of The West Wing?  

     Trump abused his power when he withheld $250 million in military aid to Ukraine. That funding was part of a bill that was passed by Congress earlier in the summer of 2019.  But as Trump told reporters on Monday, September 23rd, he practically confessed to overstepping his legal authority. "We want to make sure that country is honest.  It's very important to talk about corruption. If you don't talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?" As we have now seen in The White House summary, Trump invoked the names of Joe Biden and "Biden's son" (Hunter Biden) during his July call to President Zelensky. 

That telephone call was placed the day after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress on July 24th, 2019 so Trump undoubtedly figured that he got away with conspiracy once, he might as well try a second time.

     The Washington Post - late Monday night, September 23rd - reported that Donald Trump

issued an explicit order to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to stop payment on the check, so to speak, for military aid to Ukraine and that the directive came at least one week before Trump's telephone call to President Zelensky when, as it seems out in the open now, Trump prodded the Ukrainian leader to probe in to the business affairs of Vice President Biden's son.  The Washington Post says that three senior administration officials informed the newspaper that Trump's order was relayed to both the Departments of State and Defense, noting that Trump had "concerns" about shelling out the big bucks to Ukraine.  But administration officials were instructed to tell lawmakers that the delay in releasing the money was simply part of the "interagency process."  The funds weren't released until Wednesday, September 11th, with an additional $140 million being added to the pot, for a total of $390 million in aid.  And that raises another question.  Where did the other $140 million come from?  The measure that was passed by Congress only included $250 million.  One has to wonder if Ukraine got the extra dough because of 

a conspiracy deal - (dare I say "collusion") - between Trump and Zelensky.  After all, we don't know if there were other conversations and additional communications between Trump and Zelensky.  Secretary of the Treasury Steve 
Mnuchin was caught off guard when he nervously responded to questions from Meet The Press moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd on the network's Sunday, September 22nd broadcast.  Chuck Todd:  "Can you explain how all of a sudden when the aid got released, more money showed up?  Where did that money come from?"  Steve Mnuchin:  "It was appropriated money that came through the State Department." Really?  Hmm.    

     On Tuesday, September 24th, Trump did acknowledge that he froze the treasure chest of loot, supposedly before his conversation with Zelensky, but that the funds have been "fully paid."  However, Trump came up with a different excuse for not paying earlier.  "I want other countries to put up money.  I'd withhold again, and I'll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine, because they're not doing it."  That's quite a flip-flop from Trump's previous reason that he withheld the money when he focused on corruption in Ukraine.

     Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate need to do their constitutional duty and remove Donald Trump from office.  The Wall Street Journal was correct when it published an article on Friday, September 20th whereby their reporting showed that Trump pressured Zelensky to work with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in an unmistakable attempt to dig up anything bad at all that could damage the reputation and devastate the campaign of Joe Biden.  For months, Trump and Giuliani have reportedly tried to push Ukraine in to investigating the Bidens in case the 76-year old Delaware Democrat becomes Trump's challenger in the 2020 race for The White House. 

    

     In a live interview with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Thursday, September 19th, Rudy Giuliani - in what I would describe as a complete meltdown - acted like a crazy-man throughout the approximately 30-minute appearance.  During his combative diatribe, Giuliani denied discussing Vice President Biden with Ukrainian officials.  However, seconds later, Giuliani implied that he did talk about Mr. Biden, so Chris Cuomo pinned down Giuliani by repeating his question.  "So you did ask Ukraine to look in to Joe Biden?"  Giuliani's response:  "Of course I did."
   

     Vice President Biden told reporters on Saturday, September 21st that it's Trump who "deserves to be investigated."  Mr. Biden was impressive and commanding with his assertion that "Trump's doing this because he knows I'll beat him like a drum. And he's using the abusive power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me."  Vice President Biden was adamant that "This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power, to get on the phone with a foreign leader, who is looking for help from the United States, and ask about me, and imply things, if that's what happened, that appears to be what happened, we know that's what Giuliani did. This is outrageous."

     But talking with reporters on the South Lawn of The White House on Sunday, September 22nd, Trump admitted to making the telephone call, but he insisted he did nothing wrong and that his conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky was totally proper, even though Trump conceded to speaking about Joe Biden with Zelensky.  "No quid pro quo, there was nothing.  It was a perfect conversation."  We now know that's not true, and we can add more lies to Trump's list of more than 12,000, as calculated by The Washington Post.  

     On Monday, September 23rd, Trump went off the deep end.  In what has become his familiar out-of-control fashion, Trump attacked Vice President Biden with verbal viciousness and vindictiveness.  "Joe Biden and his son are corrupt."  America's "liar-in-chief" then - with his his hateful rhetoric - became even more villianous and wicked.  "If a Republican ever did what Joe Biden did, if a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they'd be getting the electric chair right now."  However, in plain sight with journalists as witnesses, Trump admitted to criminal activity.  "The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place, and largely the fact that we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating the corruption already in the Ukraine, and Ukraine has got a lot of problems."  We also now know that Trump was quite cunning and conniving when he talked with Zelensky.

     Democrats - and presumably most Americans - wanted not only for the administration to present a transcript of Trump's conversation with President Zelensky, but we should also be given the opportunity to review all documents related to Trump's contacts with the Ukrainian leader, and more importantly, the entire nation needs to see the whistleblower's complaint, as filed with the inspector general.  But that's not enough.  Is there an audio recording of the conversation? Could that be the "smoking gun" that most of America has been waiting for, as it was in 1974 with Richard Nixon?    

     Prior to Congress being given any of the documents, a letter was sent on Monday, September 23rd from Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland (Chairman of the House Oversight Committee), Congressman Eliot Engel of New York 

(Chairman of 
the House Foreign Affairs Committee), and Congressman Schiff, to Secretary of State Mike 

Pompeo.  The three Democratic legislators stated that "By withholding these documents and refusing to engage with the committees, the Trump Administration is obstructing Congress' oversight duty under the Constitution to protect our nation's democratic process."  Meanwhile, on Monday afternoon, September 23rd, Trump tweeted that the "Democrat/Crooked Media" is reporting more "Fake News" by claiming that "I pressured the Ukrainian President at least 8 times during my telephone call with him."  Vice President Biden replied in a tweet, "So release the transcript of the call then."  Now that a summary has been released, the number of times that Trump did put pressure on Zelensky may be in question, but whether it was eight or less is, quite frankly, irrelevant.  Trump did "pressure" the Ukrainian leader.

     The handwriting is on the wall that Donald Trump has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977.  According to Wikipedia, "The FCPA applies to any person who has a certain degree of connection to the United States and engages in corrupt practices abroad, as to U.S. businesses, foreign corporations, trading securities in the U.S., American nationals, citizens, and residents acting in furtherance of a foreign corrupt practice, whether or not they are physically present in the U.S.  Any individuals involved in these activities may face prison time.  The FCPA governs not only direct payments to foreign officials, candidates, and parties, but payments made to any other recipient in furtherance of influencing a foreign official, candidate, or party.  These payments are not restricted to monetary forms and may include anything of value."  Plus, there are similarities to America's campaign finance law, which Trump has allegedly violated also.  Add everything up - combined with bribery, extortion and conspiracy - and you've got obstruction of justice too.  


     Trump thinks - as he has basically told Americans all along, and was definitive during remarks made in July 2019 - that, "as President," Article II of the United States Constitution "allows me to do whatever I want," which, of course, is false. Apparently, Trump does not remember what happened to our 37th President, Richard Nixon. 

     Along with reporters from The Washington Post, journalists with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and various other first-rate news 

organizations, have continued their investigating with masterful skill, as Bob Woodward (on the right in the photo) and Carl Bernstein (on the left in the photo) of The Washington Post did during the Nixon era. Trump's abuse of the presidency is as bad, if not worse, than President Nixon's with Watergate. The bottom line is that Trump has pushed - some might say coerced - another foreign government - not Russia this time, but the Ukraine - to interfere in America's democracy by meddling in the upcoming presidential election.  Whether he thinks so or not, this is an obvious attempt at a quid pro quo arrangement by Trump.  So now that Congress has access to the whistleblower complaint, hopefully the American public will see it soon, as everyone deserves to know exactly what Trump said to the president of Ukraine, and not only what The White House wants us to read in a summary of that telephone conversation.

     America's democracy is at stake here.  Even if we were not told that The White House document was a summary of notes, put together by other administration personnel to represent the conversation between Trump and Zelensky as they were listening in on the call, I would have suspected that it was not an actual transcript. Nobody talks like that, especially not two world leaders.  The words on the page when read aloud sound like a poorly written script for a badly directed television 

show. Shades of President Nixon - I smell a cover-up.  Let's remember what Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen told Congress; that Donald Trump "sometimes communicates his wishes indirectly."  Cohen testified on February 27th, 2019 that Trump "speaks in a code," and that "most people" who know him understand the code.  During their conversation, as is documented in The White House summary, and referenced earlier in this column, President Zelensky mentioned that "one of my assistants spoke with Mr. Giuliani just recently."  Suppose the former New York City mayor gave Zelensky's assistant a crash course, so to speak, on how Trump might convey himself in "code," and that the assistant briefed the Ukrainian president on such code including flowery phony phrases, telling Zelensky how much Trump has done for his country, asking for favors, and finally repeating himself over and over as to what Trump planned to do and what he wanted Zelensky to do.  In other words, Zalensky understood fully that Trump wanted him to get poisonous information that could destroy Vice President Joe Biden's chances at winning the Democratic nomination, let alone the presidency. Read the summary again and I believe you'll see my point.

     Despite what he may think, Donald Trump is not above the law.  But regular readers of The Controversy may recall that I have not been in favor of impeachment alone because that will not bring us to where the majority of Americans want us to be.  And that's to be free of Donald Trump.  But I understand it's important to launch an official impeachment "inquiry" as that opens doors to the Democrats in Congress by giving them access to materials they otherwise might not be provided, including

sensitive grand jury materials. However, unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and at least 66 of the 99 other U.S. senators are unequivocally convinced that the evidence warrants conviction by the Senate, and therefore, advises Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats that Trump will positively be removed from office, then an actual vote for impeachment on the House floor may not be the wisest decision to make by the Democrats. 

     The whistleblower is a courageous individual and he or she needs to be applauded by each and every American and protected by the laws of our land.  But what he or she knows, firsthand, is vital to the national security and the democracy of our country because it involves crimes that the President of the United States allegedly committed and, therefore, he, Donald Trump, needs to be held accountable in a legal and constitutional manner. There's going to be a time - and probably sooner versus later - when more people in Trump's orbit realize that they need to jump ship or else they might go down with him and drown.  It's better to escape into cool or warm water and swim forward, than to be in lots of trouble in hot water and sink to the bottom.
    

     Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to America's national security and he's a threat to our democracy.  Republicans in the Senate must put country above party (I think all Democrats are on board already) and, therefore, those GOP lawmakers must immediately join with Democrats in the House of Representatives so that Donald Trump is impeached, convicted and removed from office, or - as what happened in 1974 with President Nixon - Republicans on Capitol Hill must force Trump to resign. For the sake of the United States of America, Congress can wait no longer.  But my one word of advice to Speaker Pelosi is "caution."  Do not give a green light for an impeachment vote unless the road traveled brings us to a destination that puts a complete stop to the Donald Trump presidency.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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Photo credits:

1 - Michael Reynolds/EPA (Donald Trump)
2 - Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Bros. Animation (Snagglepuss cartoon character)
3 - ABC News Screenshot (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi)
4 - Sean Gallup/Getty Images (President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine)
5 - Nick Wass/The Associated Press (Former President Barack Obama, Former Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden)
6 - Office of the Director of National Intelligence (Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson)
7 - The Associated Press (Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire)
8 - MSNBC Screenshot (Congressman Adam Schiff and MSNBC Anchor Rachel Maddow)
9 - Senate TV (Senator Chuck Schumer)
10 - Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images (Attorney General William Barr)
11 - Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press (Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller)
12 - Alex Brandon/The Associated Press (Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney)
13 - William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images (Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mcnuchin and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd)
14 - CNN Screenshot (Donald Trump's Personal Lawyer Rudy Giuliani and CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo)
15 - CNN Screenshot (Former Vice President Joe Biden)
16 - Susan Walsh/The Associated Press (Congressman Elijah Cummings)
17 - NY1 Screenshot (Congressman Eliot Engel)
18 - Alex Wong/Getty Images (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo)
19 - The New York Times (The New York Times Front Page "Nixon Resigns")
20 - The Associated Press (Former President Richard Nixon)
21 - The Washington Post (Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein)
22 - Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images (Donald Trump's Former Personal Lawyer Michael Cohen)
23 - Leah Millis/Reuters (Senator Mitch McConnell)
24 - The Guardian (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump)

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