He was on the letter supporting Biden's approach in Ukraine. First though, his statement takes an appropriate shot at Trump, which is brave for an OHIO Republican:
"I have said consistently for the past four months, since the Zelensky transcript was first released, that I believe that some of the President’s actions in this case – including asking a foreign country to investigate a potential political opponent and the delay of aid to Ukraine – were wrong and inappropriate. But I do not believe that the President’s actions rise to the level of removing a duly-elected president from office and taking him off the ballot in the middle of an election."
so like Alexander, not impeachnable is where he comes down
This is his local paper
And as James Madison wrote in Federalist 10, a key principle of impartiality is that “No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.” Black letter law applies this principle not just to parties, but to anyone who has a direct interest in a case.
Ohio’s Senator Rob Portman has such an interest.
Until several months ago, Portman proudly touted that he founded and chairs the Senate’s Ukraine Caucus. The senator has been an active participant in Ukraine policy for years – calling for the same anti-corruption steps as Vice President Joe Biden did in a 2016 letter, pressing for U.S. aid, and meeting with all the key players in 2019, including President Zelensky and former Ambassadors Yonavovich and Volker. And we learned only last week that in August 2019, his office even requested to know why Ukraine aid had been held up. In short, he had a front row seat as developments unfolded there.
But then his entanglement got even more direct, placing him center stage at a pivotal moment of the factual sequence that led to impeachment.
On Sept. 12, Portman tweeted that he had called Trump the evening before to ask that the Ukraine aid be released, and that he appreciated the President doing so. He also suggested that Trump had held up the aid because European countries had not been providing sufficient help, a position Portman said he "strongly support[ed]." Weeks later, on the same day that the call summary with Ukraine’s president was making news, Portman proactively elaborated on this story through a blitz of interviews on Fox News and Fox Business News, as well as through numerous media outlets in Ohio.
Trump later amplified Portman’s account, claiming publicly that "I gave the money because Rob Portman and others called me and asked." He, too, cited the lack of European "support" as his excuse for the hold up. And he explicitly touted Portman’s statements to boost this narrative – "Rob Portman backed me up…and there’s nobody more honorable than Rob Portman of Ohio."
This Portman intervention has become such an important part of the Trump factual narrative that it was referenced in the White House’s Impeachment Brief, filed in the Senate. In that account, Chief of Staff Mulvaney and Vice President Pence were also part of Portman’s conversation. The Europe "burden-sharing" argument was also part of the Trump defense team’s opening argument to the Senate.
But here’s the problem: the account appears to have been a simplistic cover story hiding the real reason the money was held up – Trump’s shakedown of Ukraine to get his desired political investigations – and later released.
so, you have a co-conspirator in the jury
again, history in the making and tons of fallout from here
