Biden Just Did What Trump Was Impeached For – Stop Military Aid to Ukraine

Geneva Summit

On June 16, the city of Geneva witnessed the first meeting of the two most powerful leaders in the world – Joe Biden, President of the United States, and Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. In the past, both the leaders have been at odds with each other, to the extent of calling the other person a “killer”. The importance of this meet, therefore, can hardly be understated given the history of hostility at a personal level as well as an emerging neo-Cold War between US and Sino-Russian alliance.

The two leaders rallied the media and the public behind them to boost their respective images at home and project their national interests on the global stage. In a faux pas, President Biden referred to President Putin as “President Trump”. Whether this act was intentional and symbolic, or a slip up given the theories around Joe Biden’s dementia, is open to debate.

US, Ukraine, Russia

Notably, an interesting yet ironic development has unleashed comparisons with Donald Trump – not with Putin, but Biden. Two days after the Geneva summit, Politico reported (link) that the Biden Administration has frozen military aid to Ukraine worth 100 million dollars. The aid was approved to respond to the recent stationing over 100,000 Russian soldiers along its border with Ukraine.

According to the White House press release on the issue, the reports of stopping any military aid are “nonsense”. The official statement attempts to contradict the claim, without contradicting it, and makes a reference to a 150-million-dollar package to Ukraine. This package, however, is separate from the military aid in question.

The same release mentions the freezing of US aid in a trivial manner: “We have also prepared contingency funds in the event of a further Russian incursion into Ukraine”. In other words, the aid is now “contingency funds” which come with the condition of Russian incursion.

In the backdrop of the Geneva meeting and the freezing of aid to Ukraine, one question is inevitable – Isn’t this what Trump tried to do and was impeached for?

Why is Ukraine in the picture?

In 2014, Russia sent their armed forces to Crimea in Ukraine and annexed the region. Later, they held a “referendum”, with tanks and soldiers abound the booths, which failed to receive any international recognition. During the conflict, the then Vice-President Biden handled the US support to Ukraine against Russian aggression. Around the same time, his son, Hunter Biden, joined a Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings, which also had a natural gas extraction operation in the Crimean Peninsula.

Multiple reports of corruption, conflict of interests, illegitimate deals and abuse of office had already begun surfacing in 2014. Yet, given the threat Ukraine faced along her borders, having already lost significant territory to a foreign power, the matter of Hunter Biden was never brought to legal scrutiny under any Ukrainian law.

What transpired between Trump and Zelensky regarding Biden?

In 2019, media reports pointed towards a whistle-blower who got hold of conversations between Trump officials and Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky – a comedian/actor turned President. It was reported that President Trump was attempting to condition Congress-approved US aid to Ukraine in return for legal investigations for corruption into the Bidens – Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

Through the transcripts of official and unofficial meetings and discussions, it became clear that Trump’s objective was to “unearth” the alleged corruption from 2014 via legal investigations in Ukraine and use the political dirt against his 2020 Presidential Election rival, Joe Biden. In essence, he tried to leverage foreign policy affair for domestic politics arithmetic – a banal and routine modus operandi in international relations and global diplomacy.

How did it culminate into Trump’s first impeachment?

Nevertheless, the Democratic party saw the allegations of quid-pro-quo diplomacy of President Trump as being in violation of the oath of the office and initiated the first of the two impeachment proceedings against him on 24 September 2019. Unsurprisingly, the Democrat-majority House impeached him on 18 December while the Senate acquitted him on February 5, 2020, in absence of the mandatory two-third majority which neither the Democrats nor the Republicans enjoyed.

While the outcome of the impeachment inquiry and trial was predictable, the process threw open many questions. Among the most burning ones was the timing of the trial against “abuse of the office of the President”. The Democratic Party did not implore the path of impeachment throughout the tenure of Trump Administration despite unceasingly declaring his policies to be in violation of the Office Oath and the Constitution.

Yet, they rushed for impeachment when the target of Trump’s politics was opening an investigation into corruption and abuse of power by the Bidens – something that the information in public domain alludes to. While the nature of the allegations of corruption by Trump for political gain cannot be discarded, the entire episode has gained relevance once again with the developments this week.

Did Biden do what Trump attempted and got impeached for?

Conditioning aid to Ukraine on actions by other entities is what got Trump impeached by the strength of numbers in the House of Representatives, with allegations against him of helping their “enemy” Russia and leaving an ally defenceless. The Biden Administration’s decision to freeze the funds to Ukraine only two days after the Geneva meet between Biden and Putin follows a normal framework of foreign policy.

In addition, it also follows the precedent of brokering international deals through demonstration of power or trade of goods and services. President Trump’s attempt to condition military aid to a foreign power fell within the purview of his powers via the White House in the same manner as President Biden’s decision to withhold military aid and make it conditional to Ukraine and Russia’s situation.

Were any rules broken by Biden and Trump in dealing with Ukraine?

Biden executed his powers as the President of the United States in negotiating with the aggressor against their ally. Biden did what Trump tried to do, both with their prerogatives which they hoped to aid them elsewhere. One cannot negotiate internationally without power at home; one cannot enjoy power if they fail to negotiate abroad. In order to get something, you have to concede something in exchange. Diplomacy is simply an exercise in sales & marketing, just on a bigger and more global scale. In this case, the table has nuclear-armed nations at its either end.