Democrats are shifting their rhetoric ahead of public impeachment hearings, from accusing President Trump of a “quid pro quo” to “bribery” or “extortion,” believing that the stronger and simpler words will play better.
The messaging was unveiled during Sunday morning shows, ahead of the first hearing on Wednesday.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, accused Trump of an “extortion scheme.”
“We have enough evidence from the depositions that we’ve done to warrant bringing this forward, evidence of an extortion scheme, using taxpayer dollars to ask a foreign government to investigate the president’s opponent,” he said on CBS News’s Face the Nation.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, accused Trump of “bribery or treason.”
“Because you have an elected official, the president, demanding action of a foreign country in this case, and providing something of value, which is the investigation, and he is withholding aid, which is that official act,” she said on ABC News’s This Week. – READ MORE