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Jim Jordan denounces Pelosi’s new, simplified ‘bribery’ talking point as ‘ridiculous’

November 15, 2019 | | Print Article
Screengrab CBS

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, offered a harsh response to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., charging that President Trump was guilty of “bribery” in his dealings with Ukraine.

“It’s ridiculous, just ridiculous,” Jordan said Thursday in an interview with NPR.

Amid the Democratic Party’s launch of its dog and pony impeachment show trial, the party is moving away from the term “quid pro quo” in favor of “bribery” — a term that appears in the U.S. Constitution.

(Odd are, it polls better as well — more on that in a bit.)

At her weekly news conference on Thursday, Pelosi commented on Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“What the President has admitted to and says it’s perfect, I’ve said it’s perfectly wrong. It’s bribery,” said Pelosi, according to ABC News.

“The bribe is to grant or withhold military assistance in return for a public statement of a fake investigation into the elections. That’s bribery,” she added.

Pelosi went on to claim the Democrats’ partisan endeavor to take out a duly-elected president “is something we do with a heavy heart.” She also accused President Trump of “obstruction” and a “cover-up,” saying it “makes what [Richard] Nixon did almost small.”

She also claimed her party’s divisive actions are on behalf of the American people.

“It’s not about anything political. It’s about patriotism. It’s about honoring our oaths of office and to uphold the constitution,” she said, with a straight face.

Of course, all one needed to do was to watch MSNBC’s “AM Joy” last weekend to pick up on the strategy change, as host Joy Reid did a little advance work for the party.

Reid said of quid pro quo: “Most people can’t say it, spell it or understand it… What we’re talking about is not a pithy Latin phrase. It’s something a lot simpler: Bribery and extortion.”

Of course, she was far from the only loyal media foot soldier, as seen from the alleged “conservative” Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin.

The public impeachment hearings are more about trying to shape public opinion and control the political narrative, but the proceedings have come up short thus far when it comes to proving that a quid pro quo was involved in Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

In his interview with NPR’s Audie Cornish, Jordan stressed that a quid pro quo never occurred.

“It didn’t happen. That’s the whole point,” Jordan said.

“The aid was released in spite of a justified concern about what happened in 2016 when so many high government officials in Ukraine were against the president and for Hillary Clinton … in spite of the fact that Ukraine’s one of the most corrupt countries on the planet … this president released the aid,” he said.

The Washington Post remarked on Pelosi’s “move to cite a specific constitutional offense and move away from using the lawyerly Latin term ‘quid pro quo,’ as reporter Rachel Blade took to Twitter to say the tactic change was the result of a study by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

“NUGGET: The Dem decision 2 retire “quid pro quo” & embrace “bribery” followed a DCCC study showing the word resonates more in battlegrounds. It’s also clearly stated in the Constitution as grounds 4 removing POTUS. Could we see it in impeachment articles?” she tweeted.

Bade’s source is not entirely clear, but if anyone on Capitol Hill is aware of what the Democratic Party is up to, the newspaper would be at the top of that list.

It’s also a clear indication that the party’s impeachment inquisition is really all about the 2020 election.

Then again, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez confirmed as much Thursday when she told CNN “this is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome from occurring next year.”

Here’s a quick sampling to the story from Twitter:

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