EDITOR:

Recently a friend and colleague posed a question on these pages, “Did the president betray his trust?” The answer is, “No.”

President Trump spoke by phone with the President of Ukraine and asked for an investigation into possible corruption there. Was there corruption involving the Bidens? I don’t know, but there is enough circumstantial evidence of corruption to support an investigation. And the U.S.A. and Ukraine have a treaty calling for cooperation in investigating corruption.

The circumstantial evidence: Hunter Biden was hired by a Ukraine gas and oil company for a salary of approximately $83,000 per month. I watched an interview with Hunter Biden in which he admitted that: 1. He has no knowledge of gas or oil or the Ukraine; and 2. He thinks he got the job because his father was, at the time, the vice-president of the U.S.A. I watched a video of Joe Biden in which he bragged that he forced then-President of Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was investigating the gas and oil company where Hunter Biden was employed by embargoing $1,000,000,000 of military support (consisting of blankets and food, not weapons) to Ukraine until the prosecutor was fired. And Joe Biden set a deadline for the firing of six hours. Of course, the prosecutor was fired in less than six hours, and the investigation into Hunter Biden’s employer was stopped.

Should these events be investigated as possible corruption? I think so, and I think that the President had a duty to ask for cooperation in such an investigation by Ukraine. Is it a betrayal of trust to ask for an investigation with this circumstantial evidence of corruption? Of course not!

Ralph B. Blasier

Escanaba