An increasing number of GOP senators are preparing to acknowledge that there was a quid pro quo in President Trump’s leveraging of military aid with Ukraine as a means to urge the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, The Washington Post reported Friday.
While some Senate Republicans have defended Trump’s insistence that there was no quid pro quo, a growing number of GOP officials in the chamber are adopting the stance that what Trump did was a quid pro quo but that his actions weren’t illegal and don’t constitute impeachment, the Post reported.
No Senate Republican has said the accusations against Trump rise to the level of an impeachable offense, but the continued damaging revelations against the president are quashing hopes that there could be a quick dismissal of the allegations against him, prompting lawmakers to adopt a more somber tone.
The Post noted that the shift in tone comes after a private Senate GOP lunch on Wednesday, when Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said there may have been quid pro quo but that the leveraging of military aid to another country is something the U.S. government does often.
“To me, this entire issue is going to come down to, why did the president ask for an investigation,” Kennedy told the newspaper. “To me, it all turns on intent, motive. … Did the president have a culpable state of mind? … Based on the evidence that I see, that I’ve been allowed to see, the president does not have a culpable state of mind.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also weighed in, saying a quid pro quo isn’t illegal except when there is “corrupt intent,” which he argued was not the case during Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Post.
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GOP senators prepared to acknowledge Trump-Ukraine quid pro quo and argue it was legal: report https://t.co/MLUd3YNWuz pic.twitter.com/hyh7OJYbZQ
— The Hill (@thehill) November 2, 2019
Ummmmm, Ted, I think there was “corrupt intent.”
It depends on what the definition of “corrupt intent” is.
I will never understand this defense of Trump's abuse of power for personal gain.
His own people were saying this was a shocking and bad idea, and then he got caught and couldn't carry out his plan.
That he failed in his aim doesn't make him innocent, just incompetent. https://t.co/okHHrbZXw0
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) November 2, 2019
New GOP arg: So what if quid pro quo? We often attach conditions to foreign aid; that’s all Trump did to Ukraine. BS! Not all “conditions” are equal. “No military aid unless you help my campaign!” is a lawless shakedown — not a condition Congress attachedhttps://t.co/au0HCPqfbp
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) November 2, 2019
This was always the plan: To fight a scorched-earth campaign against the people who reported Trump's behavior, and then to cave, admit it's all true, and then to say it doesn't matter. That's the cycle in *every* Trump scandal. https://t.co/zWb94HsKTF
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 2, 2019
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