It is pertinent though because he was trying to bargain by using money that had been appropriated by Congress in exchange for personal gain.
Yeah I suppose that’s an enhancing factor, but the abuse of power is still that he acted in his own personal interest.
Think about being Ukraine’s President.
He’s a comedian. He played president on TV. He’s not the president of America where we have peaceful transitions of power. He’s the president of Ukraine where his was the first peaceful transition maybe since they left the Soviet Union? I’d have to fact check that, but they have a history of bumpy transitions.
His country is at war. With a much larger much more powerful country. They’re poor. They have an economy with next to no outside investment because they were corrupt (which is why Obama Admin pushed to tie aid to the promise of reform.)
He needs American aid and needs American weapons, or he may very well end up in jail as the political prisoner for being on the losing side of a revolution.
Anything we ask of him, no matter the beneficiary, is a quid pro quo. Same with 100 other countries.
Funny, that concept of an inherent quid pro quo when there’s an imbalance of power between the parties is totally obvious when it’s Katie Hill.