Democrats now claim Trump guilty of bribery after focus group testing
Democrats are changing the language they use to describe the allegations against President Trump in the House impeachment inquiry after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently conducted focus groups to determine that “bribery” was most compelling.
The Washington Post first reported the focus groups’ findings, stating that the DCCC conducted these focus groups in key House battlegrounds and asked participants whether “quid pro quo,” “extortion” or “bribery” was more compelling. “Bribery” was determined to be more effective.
The Post reports that “According to two people familiar with the results, which circulated among Democrats this week, the focus groups found ‘bribery’ to be most damning. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the results have not been made public.”
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, led the charge to retire “quid pro quo” in favor of “bribery,” saying this weekend on NBC News that “it’s probably best not to use Latin words” to explain Trump’s behavior.
Later, on Thursday, he said “bribery” was a more useful term, claiming it more precisely conveys the president’s alleged actions.
“’Abuse of power’ is not necessarily a concept that most Americans run around thinking about,” he said. “In this case, the abuse of power was some combination of bribery and extortion.”
On Thursday, talking to reporters, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “Quid pro quo: Bribery.”
Referencing how Trump has repeatedly said his call with Zelensky was perfect, Pelosi said: “It’s perfectly wrong. It’s bribery.”
“They’re trying a different narrative to see if that works,” said House Intelligence Republican Brad Wenstrup (R., Ohio). “‘Quid pro quo’ was squashed. If it wasn’t, they would still be saying it, right? And, so, now they’ll try a different term.”
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