Democrats wrote to the Ukrainian government in May 2018 urging it to continue investigations into President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign — collusion later found not to exist.
The demand, which came from U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), resurfaced Wednesday in an opinion piece written by conservative Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post.
Ironically, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared Tuesday that the mere possibility that President Trump had asked Ukraine to continue an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden — even without a quid pro quo — was enough to trigger an impeachment inquiry. (Biden boasted in 2018 that he had forced Ukraine to remove its prosecutor by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid; he did not tell his audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that the prosecutor was looking into a firm on whose board his son, Hunter Biden, was serving.)
Thiessen observed (original links):
California’s Obsession with EVs Is Turning Neighborhoods Into Minefields
Insane Close-Up Video of Philadelphia Crash Appears to Catch ‘Allahu Akbar’ at Moment of Impact
DC plane crash: ATC staffing levels under scrutiny as barges arrive to help salvage ops
California city’s massive $130M deficit threatens dangerous cuts to its firefighting capacity
Where the most consequential Senate races of 2026 are headed
Republicans embrace Trump education reforms as Democrats prepare to resist them
Sen. Tillis opens up about role in Pete Hegseth’s confirmation after Hegseth’s ex-sister-in-law’s allegations
Palisades, Eaton fires in Southern California 100% contained, officials say
‘Important opportunity’: DNC chair candidates reveal how they will rebound after disastrous 2024 results
Fugitive on FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for killing his bride in Illinois captured in Mexico
Company operating plane in Philly crash had previous fatal incident in Mexico: reports
DOJ directs FBI to fire 8 top officials, identify employees involved in Jan. 6, Hamas cases for review
Chuck Todd Abruptly Exits NBC After 18 Years
Breaking: Another Plane Crash – This Time in Philadelphia – Homes on Fire – Developing
Five-Year-Old Boy Dies at Medical Facility When Treatment Device Explodes
It got almost no attention, but in May [2018], CNN reported that Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) wrote a letter to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, expressing concern at the closing of four investigations they said were critical to the Mueller probe. In the letter, they implied that their support for U.S. assistance to Ukraine was at stake. Describing themselves as “strong advocates for a robust and close relationship with Ukraine,” the Democratic senators declared, “We have supported [the] capacity-building process and are disappointed that some in Kyiv appear to have cast aside these [democratic] principles to avoid the ire of President Trump,” before demanding Lutsenko “reverse course and halt any efforts to impede cooperation with this important investigation.”
The Democrats’ letter is available online here. In it, Menendez, Durbin, and Leahy demanded that the Ukrainian government answer their questions about the Mueller probe, and issued an implied threat: “This reported refusal to cooperate with the Mueller probe also sends a worrying signal — to the Ukrainian people as well as the international community — about your government’s commitment more broadly to support justice and the rule of law.”
Story cited here.
