The House Judiciary Committee held its initial impeachment session yesterday with 3 witnesses brought by democrats and one invited by republicans. After a grueling 9 hour session of which I watched the last half hour, the results were predictable and depressing.
It seems republicans and democrats live in parallel universes when it comes to the behavior of the president*. The democrats and their witnesses concentrated on the accumulated evidence showing tRump had withheld military aid and a coveted visit to the White House to force the president of Ukraine to announce an investigation of Joe Biden, his son, and a conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia intervened in the 2016 elections. Despite administration stonewalling, the intelligence committee got 12 fact witnesses to detail the plot. According to 3 of the law professors there was more than evidence to write at least 3 articles of impeachment and start a trial in the Senate.
Of course, the republican witness, Jonathon Turley argued there was not enough evidence yet. In his telling, congress should fight tooth and nail in the courts to compel witness testimony. This is the same person who through the miracle of videotape is seen to advise a republican congress in 1998 that it should impeach Bill Clinton without delay or the consequences would be horrific.
I expect more of the same in coming weeks as the judiciary committee proceeds along partisan lines with the majority living in a fact based universe and the minority in a fact free space where loyalty to the dear leader means more than honor or country.
No comments:
Post a Comment