The Justice Department has already investigated President Donald Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president concerning Joe Biden, and made the conclusion that the president did not violate campaign finance laws. However, the House Intelligence Committee Democrats released a 300-page report this week outlining all of the Democratic lawmakers descriptions of the “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” the president is allegedly guilty of.
In addition, a different division of the department ruled that the Trump administration did not break the law by failing to quickly share a whistleblower’s complaint with Congress, because the situation did not define “urgent” as the law indicates.
And finally, the department released the transcript of President Trump’s conversation with the Ukrainian President, which proved Trump did indeed speak of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, but in no way threatened to withhold military aid to the country at all, as some have alleged.
Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the attorney general was first made aware of the now famous phone call several weeks after it took place.
“The president has not spoken with the attorney general about having Ukraine investigate anything related to former Vice President Biden or his son,” she said. “The President has not asked the attorney general to contact Ukraine — on this or any other matter.”
She added, “The attorney general has not communicated with Ukraine — on this or any other subject. Nor has the attorney general discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine with Rudy Giuliani.”
The Justice Department scoured and probed the phone conversation for a possible violation of campaign finance laws and to see if Trump solicited a contribution by way of asking Ukraine to investigate a political opponent.
The Justice Department’s conclusion indicated that it was not the case.
Then, intelligence officials referred the matter to the Justice Department’s criminal division to inquire if Trump’s comments violated laws barring candidates from requesting assistance from foreign sources. This led to intelligence officials making a separate referral to the FBI, which was then rerouted back to the Justice Department.
The review of the transcript of the phone call revealed that prosecutors concluded there was no appropriate reason for a criminal investigation at all.
Recently, the Trump-Ukraine Impeachment Report was released after months of investigation into the situation that the Justice Department already deemed to be completely lawful with no appropriate reason for a criminal investigation. Weeks of dramatic testimony and closed-door meetings supposedly uncovered efforts by President Trump to use the powers of his presidency to solicit foreign assistance on his behalf in the 2020 election.
The impeachment probe is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.
