The two words that condemn Trump are “though” and “announce”. He said I need a favor “though”. That means he won’t release the aid until he gets his favor. What is the favor? That the president of Ukraine “announce” an investigation into Biden corruption. If you want an investigation you ask for an investigation. If you want to damage Biden you ask for an ANNOUNCEMENT of an investigation. The last thing you do to investigate someone is to announce that you will investigate. That forewarns the target to cover their tracks.
The Trump lawyers are smart folks and are doing a pretty good job of defending a HYPOTHETICAL TRUMP who Could have had policy reasons to investigate corruption in Ukraine. But they aren’t defending the actual Trump, who did it, and did it as an abuse of presidential power to cheat in the 2020 election.
