Nancy Pelosi is taking a huge risk pushing for witnesses in the upcoming impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The argument Jerry Nadler, one of the House Managers who will be conducting the prosecution made, was that witness are important but should only be called if they are relevant. He suggested that witnesses with first hand knowledge of Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to deliver dirt on Hunter Biden is a violation of the constitution because it uses the office of the president for non-official (political) business (akin to making long distance personal calls on the company phone).
But his argument is flawed; the administration's defense is that Trump was not digging for dirt but looking for evidence in rooting out corruption, making his actions consistent with the aims of the country and something that the occupant of the White House might reasonably be expected to do as part of his official duties.
Hunter Biden is germain here because his links to his father look like corruption, at least as more broadly defined than by the Supreme Court. If the administration argues convincingly that Hunter Biden is party to corruption, not only does it help exonerate the President, but it makes his inevitable acquittal look justified and the Democrats look as though they are defending a corrupt system, thereby hurting Joe Biden's election chances. That makes Pelosi's gamble look not only very high stakes, but improves the odds of Trump being re-elected. The GOP clearly won this round.
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