The Sarasota Herald Tribune published FLVCS President, Gene Jone’s, Guest Editorial, Impeachment warranted for U.S. security breach, on January 8, 2020. The editorial lays out the case for how President Trump’s actions harmed US national security and its significance to U.S. military veterans. To read the whole editorial in the Herald Tribune, click here. The text of the editorial is below.
January 8, 2020
Gene Jones, President, Florida Veterans For Common Sense
Florida Veterans For Common Sense Supports Impeachment of President Trump
The US House of Representatives has voted two Articles of Impeachment against President Trump. Article 1 alleges Abuse of Power under which, in pertinent part, it is stated “President Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States.” That allegation is of special significance to us as US military veterans. It is a subject that, for us, transcends partisanship, and from that perspective we wish to make our views known.
The Founding Fathers of our nation were quite familiar with the problems of abuse of power committed by government officials. Consequently, they were at pains to create a new nation on terms that would insulate it as much as possible from those potential afflictions. The remedy provided at the Constitutional Convention was the possibility of impeachment, based on findings of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Addressing what sort of misconduct would warrant impeachment, Alexander Hamilton spoke of offenses “which proceed from abuse or violation of some public trust.” The president of the United States, in our view, has no higher public trust placed upon him than protection of national security.
In this context, of special concern to us are the national security implications of President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, on July 25, 2019.
The country of Ukraine declared independence from the USSR in 1991. The US recognized its independence that same year. An acute crisis struck Ukraine in 2014 when neighboring Russia annexed its territory of Crimea, and then invaded eastern Ukraine. The US responded to Russia’s aggression with economic sanctions, but the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine has now cost thousands of Ukrainian lives, with several hundred thousand displaced.
Ukraine is a strategic ally of the US, which attaches great importance on Ukraine’s efforts to become and remain a full democratic state with a free market economy. Ukraine has indicated a strong desire to join both the EU and NATO. In June 2019, President Zelensky stated Ukraine is committed to a “…strategic course to achieve full-fledged membership in the EU and NATO.” Since the Russian military invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014, polls have indicated a high percentage of Ukrainian citizens support NATO membership.
That Ukraine, with US help, hopes to join NATO is testament to how delicate the situation is becoming regarding US national security interests there. Under Article 5 of the NATO treaty, to which we are signatories, an armed attack on one member is to be considered an attack on all members.
While Ukraine yearns to adopt closer ties to the West, it must first maintain its national sovereignty against continued Russian military assault. In that daunting effort, Ukraine’s military forces remain highly dependent on US military aid which, appropriately, has been provided without controversy in recent years. Unfortunately, though, continued aid was suspended by President Trump in August of this year. Yes, the blocked aid was finally released, on September 11th, but only after the president was informed that a whistleblower complaint was about to become public knowledge.
Ukraine is an active and hot front line in the effort by US and European allies to blunt and repel armed expansionist aggression by Russia. This effort is a matter of vital importance with the US national security implications of it growing. This situation is not an arena where personal political considerations can be allowed to interfere with clear-eyed strategic calculation.
In these circumstances, withholding US military aid to Ukraine sent a signal to Moscow that the US may not forcefully intervene if Russia undertakes further military aggression against Ukraine or any other country. As Russia remains a strategic adversary, behavior by a US president which could suggest that Putin might be able to embark upon enhanced Ukraine intervention with impunity is a manifest abuse of presidential power.
In his effort to obtain personal political “favor” from a desperately needy foreign state, President Trump displayed unacceptable disregard for vital US national security interests in Eastern Europe. He placed loyalty to himself above loyalty to US national security. This was an abuse of power and betrayal of his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”
Accordingly, it is the view of Florida Veterans for Common Sense that impeachment of President Trump for abuse of power is warranted.