DON'T LOOK FOR DAVID COPPERFIELD BECAUSE DONALD TRUMP'S TRIAL WON'T BE AN ILLUSION AND HIS CONVICTION WON'T BE A MAGIC TRICK. TRUTH WILL PREVAIL AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE IS JUSTIFIED.

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     Bang, bang, you're dead, Donald.  Well, not you, as I wish you no physical harm, but your presidency is about to be riddled with bullets.  The "smoking gun" has been loaded and the trigger will soon be pulled by Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York (pictured below).  The Senate Minority Leader is - I predict - going to pull a rabbit 

from his hat, which will be definitive proof beyond the shadow of a doubt - although I think we have it anyway - that Donald Trump betrayed the United States when he solicited a foreign government to help him cheat in the upcoming 2020 election.

     In reality, there are already a number of "smoking guns;" the most important of which is Trump himself.  After all, he shoots himself in the foot each and every time he opens his mouth and spews his venomous obscenities, or he tweets his vile vulgarities like a bombastic banshee who is so out-of-control that one might wonder if afterwards the surgeon general doesn't prescribe Valium for Trump to put a stop to his ranting tirade and raving lunacy.

     I need not articulate in great detail the particulars in the overwhelming, indisputable evidence that unequivocally validates that Trump is guilty of the two Articles of Impeachment - obstruction of Congress and abuse of power - and, therefore, he meets the criteria for impeachment, conviction, and removal from office.  But I will, however, provide a brief overview.  I and others in the media - not to mention the Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Trump-appointed federal officials who have testified under oath against Trump before both the House Intelligence and House Judiciary Committees - have fully demonstrated with ample justification that Trump is the most corrupt person to ever sit behind The Oval 

Office desk and he has committed the "high crimes and misdemeanors" for which he has been charged. These individuals were irrefutable witnesses. If this was an episode of television's Perry Mason (actor Raymond Burr pictured left), the evidence would be so damning that before a jury could even deliberate, the guilty party would confess on the witness stand.  But Trump has already done that on the South Lawn of The White

House and elsewhere. Plus, his personal attorney Rudy "I'll be going to prison soon" Giuliani (pictured above right) and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney (pictured right) have also admitted to the crimes.  Remember that Mulvaney told reporters to "get over it."

     Republicans question how Democrats have called Trump's actions "bribery."  If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.  Democrats have accused Trump of "multiple federal crimes" including bribery and wire fraud.  A report that was released on Monday, December 16th, 2019 explains the Articles of Impeachment. But mimicking a mob 

boss - as I wrote in an earlier column - Trump twisted the arm of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured right) to interfere in our upcoming 2020 election. What Trump did was a classic Mafia-like shakedown. When Trump - according to his own written summary (not a transcript, but a summary) - said to Zelensky in that now infamous July 25th, 2019 telephone call, "We do a lot for Ukraine" and "spend a lot of effort and a lot of time" to help Ukraine, but that it's not always "reciprocal," so I want you "to do us a favor though," those words acted in lieu of thumbscrews as Trump pressured a foreign government to probe his likely opponent in the 2020 race for The White House.  Trump bribed Zelensky to help him for political and personal gain by, in essence, demanding that 

Ukraine launch an investigation in to former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden (pictured left), as part of a quid pro quo. Trump wanted Zelensky to dig up dirt, which there is none, on the two Bidens. Vice President Biden is the front-runner in the race for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President, and obviously, Trump is nervous, if not altogether scared, that Mr. Biden can defeat him in the November 3rd general election.  Trump, therefore, tried to leverage 391 million dollars in military aid to Ukraine, approved by Congress, and to withhold the funding, which was vital to Ukraine's survival.  That financial assistance had already been authorized and incorporated within the 2019 federal budget.  The money was designated to give Ukraine's armed forces the weapons, radar systems and other essential support they so desperately needed

to protect their nation from Russians who were invading the eastern part of their country.  But Trump's illegal scheme didn't end there.  Also at the crux of Trump's extortion plot was a deceptive and baseless theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election between Trump and the Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, plus a personal one-on-one meeting that Zelensky wanted with Trump at The White House.

     A new poll by ABC News and The Washington Post found that a huge majority of Americans - 71 percent - want Donald Trump to allow senior administration officials to testify at his Senate trial. Rarely in our polarized nation will nearly three-quarters of our country ever agree on anything.  But here we are.  However, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - the Senate Majority Leader (pictured right) - has, for now at least, rejected Senator Schumer's request for witnesses to offer their sworn testimony. That is Trump continuing to obstruct Congress, obstruct justice, abuse his power, and act in concert with Members of the Republicans on Capitol Hill to further partake in a cover-up.  No one - not even the President of the United States - is above the law. 

     Donald Trump isn't giving in to this impeachment without a fight. On Tuesday, December 17th, 2019, in a rambling six-page letter, Trump pointed a poisonous finger of profanity at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (pictured left) by attacking the California Democrat for having "cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment." Trump blames Mrs. Pelosi on "declaring open war on American Democracy."  He labeled impeachment a "crusade," an "unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power," and a "spiteful" "election-nullification scheme." Trump's letter is a poorly constructed narrative that paints a portrait of a man who lacks complete confidence.  Instead, Trump's unhinged undertaking - his delirious diatribe - reads like it's been written by a person who fears his loss of freedom and that he faces the reality that his presidential reality TV show may soon be canceled. 

     There need not be a tape recording, as there was in 1974 with President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.  We need not hear Donald Trump actually say, "I bribed Ukraine."  But tragically, that may be what Senate Republicans need or else they won't believe it.  However, if the Senate does nothing to remove Trump from office, he will probably do this all over again and again and again.  Not only will it be open season for Trump to commit more and more crimes, it will give future Presidents carte blanche to do the same.  Therefore, Trump must be held accountable for his lawless behavior and we - the American people and its elected Congress - must protect the democracy of our nation for ourselves and for future generations.

     So later today - Wednesday, December 18th, 2019 - will surely be a history-making day when Donald John Trump Sr. is impeached by the House of Representatives, thus he will become only the third President in U.S. history to be impeached.  Neither 

our 17th President Andrew Johnson in 1868 nor our 42nd President Bill Clinton in 1998 were convicted by the Senate.  Richard Nixon resigned his 

presidency in 1974 before the Articles of Impeachment were voted on by the full House of Representatives.  But it will be Trump's trial in the Senate - scheduled to begin in early January 2020 - that may just shock the pants off of anyone who remains loyal to him.  I believe that Senator Schumer has a "trump card" (pun intended) to play, and that "The Empire State" Democrat will stupefy Republicans - especially Trump - with a bombshell blast that will cement Trump's fate and destroy 

his legacy.  Don't look for David Copperfield (pictured left) because Trump's trial will not be an illusion...and his conviction won't be a magic trick. Truth will prevail, and the truth is that Donald Trump invited foreign interference in to our election process and, therefore, consciously and deliberately attempted to cheat his way in to a second term before Americans have the opportunity to vote. Trump has threatened our national security, he has abused his power, he has tampered with witnesses, he has obstructed Congress and American justice, and he has violated the United States Constitution and his oath of office.  Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our republic's democracy. Impeachment, conviction and removal from office are without question justified.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

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Photo credits:

1 - VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images (Donald Trump #1)
2 - J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press (Senator Chuck Schumer)
3 - Paisano Productions and the CBS Television Network (Raymond Burr as Perry Mason)
4 - Charles Krupa/The Associated Press (Rudy Giuliani)
5 - Alex Brandon/The Associated Press (Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney)
6 - Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/Light Rocket via Getty Images (President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine)
7 - AFP and Getty Images (Former Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden)
8 - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton)
9 - Leah Millis/Reuters (Senator Mitch McConnell)
10 - Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call (Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi)
11 - Richard Nixon Foundation and Getty Images (Former President Richard Nixon)
12 - Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images (Donald Trump #2)
13 - U.S. National Archives/Newsmakers/Getty Images (Former President Andrew Johnson)
14 - Ian Wagr/United Press International (Former President Bill Clinton)
15 - David Copperfield and The Hollywood Reporter (David Copperfield)

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