康涅狄格州最大的地方报纸连锁店正敦促唐纳德·特朗普总统辞职，原因是与他与乌克兰的通讯联系在一起的“令人作呕的证据”。
康涅狄格州赫斯特媒体编辑委员会周四呼吁特朗普辞职，理由是“行为超出了民主领导人公认的准则。” 这家报纸连锁店的编辑委员会表示，特朗普要求对亨特·拜登与乌克兰总统沃尔迪米尔·泽伦斯基的往来进行调查，“这将使他在政治上受益”，这是“可触犯的罪行”的明确案例。严厉的赫斯特社论承认“特朗普几乎没有机会下台”，并敦促国会投票将他从白宫中删除。
编辑委员会要求特朗普辞职的呼吁是同类中的第一次，并引发了有关全国新闻出版物是否会效仿的讨论。
编辑委员会在《康涅狄格邮报》上首次发表的文章中写道：“总统的下一步是明确的。他应该辞职。” “他一再证明自己不适合担任公职，似乎把总统职位看作是一种使自己受益的职位，而不是必须代表整个国家利益的职位。”
“事实是，特朗普从一开始就一直在违反法律和规范，不受惩罚。例如，美国宪法禁止联邦公职人员接受外国实体的任何礼物或付款，但是在与乌克兰总统的同一通电话中，我们看到了证据特朗普违反了。”编辑委员会继续说。
总部位于纽约的赫斯特通讯公司在全国拥有数十家杂志，报纸和其他在线新闻媒体品牌。除了《康涅狄格邮报》，赫斯特还仅在康涅狄格州控制格林威治时间，《新闻时报》， 《倡导者》，《中城出版社》，《纽黑文报刊》，《时报》，《公民报刊》和《康涅狄格杂志》。
社论继续说，特朗普仅在特别法律顾问罗伯特·穆勒（Robert Mueller）对俄罗斯的调查中被“免于刑事起诉”，这是由于他目前担任的职务。
“我们所知道的是足够的，而且由于这是总统本人提供的，因此没有理由质疑其真实性。这里没有回头路可走了。特朗普时代漫长而坎ride的旅程可能已经走了一个弯，但这是还远远没有结束。”
社论引发了新闻媒体业界对报纸或其他出版物是否会加入康涅狄格州董事会谴责特朗普担任总统一职的猜测。
作为回应，东北大学新闻学教授丹·肯尼迪（Dan Kennedy）质疑《邮报》是否将成为赫斯特所有拥有的许多报纸中第一个要求特朗普辞职的报纸。
“赫斯特的论文。这是整个链条的试验气球吗？” 肯尼迪（Kennedy）发了推文，并回复了费城问询者专栏作家威尔·邦奇（Will Bunch）的话，他宣称：“所有人都赞扬威武的康涅狄格邮报！最后有人必须首先走。
LARGEST CONNECTICUT NEWSPAPER GROUP DEMANDS DONALD TRUMP STEP DOWN AS PRESIDENT
The largest local newspaper chain in the state of Connecticut is urging President Donald Trump to step down from office in the wake of "damning evidence" tied to his communications with Ukraine.
The Hearst Connecticut Media Editorial Board on Thursday called for Trump to resign from office for "conduct far outside the accepted norms of a democratic leader." The newspaper chain's editorial board said Trump's request for an investigation into Hunter Biden's dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "would benefit him politically" and is a clear-cut case of an "impeachable offense." The scathing Hearst editorial concedes "there's almost no chance" Trump will step down and urges Congress to vote to remove him from the White House.
The editorial board's call for Trump's resignation is one of the first of its kind and has prompted discussion over whether news publications around the country will follow suit.
"The proper next step for the president is clear. He should resign," the editorial board wrote in the piece first published in the Connecticut Post. "He has repeatedly proven himself unfit for office and appears to view the presidency as a position meant to benefit himself personally, not as one that must represent the interests of an entire nation."
"The truth is that Trump has been breaking laws and norms with impunity from the beginning. For instance, the U.S. Constitution forbids federal officeholders from receiving any gifts or payments from foreign entities, but in the same phone call with the Ukrainian president we see evidence that Trump is in violation," the editorial board continued.
New York City-based Hearst Communications owns dozens of magazines, newspapers and other online news media brands across the country. In addition to the Connecticut Post, Hearst controls Greenwich Time, The News-Times, The Advocate, The Middletown Press, the New Haven Register, The Hour, The Register Citizen and Connecticut Magazine in the state of Connecticut alone.
The editorial goes on to say Trump was only "saved from criminal indictment" in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation "by virtue of the office he currently holds."
"[W]hat we know is enough, and because it's from the president himself, there's no reason to question its veracity. There's no going back from here. The long, bumpy ride of the Trump era may have turned a corner, but it's nowhere near over," the editorial board concluded.
The editorial sparked news media industry speculation on whether newspapers or other publications will join the Connecticut board in condemning Trump's actions as president.
In response, Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy questioned if the Postwould be the first of many Hearst-owned newspapers to call for Trump's resignation.
"A Hearst paper. Is this a trial balloon for the entire chain?" Kennedy tweeted, replying to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch, who declared, "All hail the mighty Connecticut Post! Somebody finally had to go first."
