House Republicans will reportedly cite President Donald Trump’s “state of mind” in defense of his controversial call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a leaked Congressional memo to Republicans, obtained by Axios.
“To appropriately understand the events in question — and most importantly, assess the President’s state of mind during his interaction with President Zelensky — context is necessary,” the memo declared. “This context shows that President Trump has a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine and US. taxpayer-funded foreign aid, independent of and preceding any mention of potential investigations of Ukraine’s interference in the 2016 elections or Hunter Biden’s involvement with Burisma, a notoriously corrupt company.”
The memo concluded that “the evidence gathered to date does not support the Democrat allegation that President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate the President’s political rivals for his benefit in the 2020
presidential campaign. The evidence gathered does not establish an impeachable offense.”
As noted by Axios, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has also questioned whether President Trump had a “culpable state of mind.”
“To me, it all turns on intent, motive… Did the president have a culpable state of mind?” he asked several weeks ago.
The Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer responded to the news by declaring, “The Republican ‘state of mind’ defense is essentially an admission the president is unfit for office and that Republicans are fine with that.”
The Republican “state of mind” defense is essentially an admission the president is unfit for office and that Republicans are fine with that. https://t.co/S2GQaY62pu pic.twitter.com/r0f1Vn8KMP
— *Palpatine voice* UNLIMITED DADPUNS
(@AdamSerwer) November 12, 2019
(@AdamSerwer) I’m not convinced that the president state of “mind” will exonerate him. https://t.co/G0I6DMYnZG
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) November 12, 2019
The new goalpost is out. https://t.co/KD3AWxG1m6
— Matt Ford (@fordm) November 12, 2019