Sean Hannity’s tirade against calling witnesses in the Trump impeachment trial included a suggestion that Trump had contemplated committing a serious crime by withholding aid to Ukraine. But since he never did it, there's nothing to see here.
As a graphic blaring “THOUGHT CRIMES” took up half the screen, Hannity put forth an argument reminiscent of O.J. Simpson’s “If I Did It.”
HANNITY: President Trump is allowed to talk. He's allowed to vent. He's allowed to exchange ideas with his close advisers. That is not a crime. It's kind of like, well, you tell your friend I want to rob this jewelry store. I want to rob this grocery store, convenience store. Oh, I'm going to punch this guy in the face. I'm going to rip somebody's face off. But you never do it. You weren't seriously plotting the act. That would not be a crime, now would it? We all think about things, thoughts flow through our brains constantly, at least if you're a conservative. And when you think about things, that's not a crime in any way.
That section of Hannity’s monologue begins at about 9:10 in the video below, from the January 28, 2020 Hannity show.
After his election, Zelensky moved quickly to address the problem and Congress voted (bipartisanly) to include lethal weaponry in the package and the competent agencies gave the green light. Again, an acceptable quid pro quo.
Using that same aid as leverage to get Zelensky to announce an investigation motivated by personal gain is not an acceptable quid pro quo. It’s abuse of power. An example of cheating by two-bit dictators and tyrants.
