In what way exactly would a house impeachment hurt trump? I’m not even trying to be obstinate. I just don’t get it. Is the theory it would cost him votes? Or would he be forced to testify on live TV or what?

Yeah, because Obama did all that without consulting anyone and made promises ahead of actually getting re-elected. That's like Trump next year in 2020 talking to Putin or Kim Jong-un and telling them "I'm gonna do all this stuff for you after I get re-elected".

All I'm saying is that if that kind of thing wasn't impeachable in 2012, why would Trump expressing concerns about a Democratic nominee for POTUS having ties (financial or otherwise) to a country that colluded against him in 2016 with the DNC not be a concern?

Don't forget that the whole reason that Fusion GPS and then Christopher Steele got paid big bucks to go "dig up dirt' on Trump during the last election was because some people "thought" Trump had ties to another world power. And it wasn't even based on hard evidence.

It's a fact that Joe Biden squashed an investigation into his son and threatened to hold back billions in aid to Ukraine if Shokin (that prosecutor) wasn't fired. And the memos that have come out about that situation over the past few months have shown that it wasn't some cut and dry thing where Shokin wasn't doing his job either. It's super fishy and nobody ever really looked into it because the words "Trump" and "Russia" weren't stamped on a piece of paper.

"Butwutabout Obama?"

**** him too. It's not rocket science.

unless they have something to do with getting him reelected that's not a quid pro quo. He's literally just asking for more time to make a deal with them.

there are official channels to go through when pursuing a corruption investigating that isn't motivated by an upcoming election. Instead he sent his personal attorney and tried to keep the entire thing under wraps... While withholding aid and reminding the ukranian leadership vocally that we are basically the only thing standing between them and Putin. That's a classic example of extortion. I can't believe you don't see the difference.

I don't really get it either. Mitch McConnell has literal ice coursing through his veins. That isn't going to change just because Trump is having his own "hot mic" moment.

Lol dude, Bill Barr was mentioned explicitly in that transcript numerous times as the main point of contact to look into Biden. Giuliani appears to have been an overpaid coffee gofer and errand boy in the context they were discussing. Considering what Barr's role is, doesn't that imply that the Justice Department would have to look into it officially after determining whether or not there was anything more to the story about Shokin's firing?

And don't forget that Kurt Volker, our official envoy over there, literally just stepped down because it has been revealed that he gave Giuliani an officially sanctioned "go ahead" to go take a preliminary look into the situation over there and then tell Barr and Trump. That's like the State Department giving me an official stamp of approval to go represent the U.S. in Kenya for some government related function (even if I'm not someone who works for the State Department).

like I said presumably it will allow for more legal pressure to force the white House to address the issue instead of just stone walling in their usual fashion.

How? And what issue? The phone call?

In this case, the phone call and everything surrounding it. Withholding aid, sending his personal lawyer, trying cover it up via false classification, etc.

I don’t think it’ll add up to jack diddly but it’s not like they’re doing anything better.

I mean I am by no means sure or confident it will either, but I feel at this point it's worth a try

It's not crazy to me to think they could've applied more pressure to witnesses in the obstruction case, for example. They could've easily held lewandowski in contempt and possibly charged him for perjury. They didn't cause they lacked the political will to do so.

As that video Mindfulness posted indicated, an impeachment inquiry opens the door to possible grand jury information and will hopefully also lead to a tougher stance from the Democrats, who are notoriously weak and spineless queer loving lizard people.