-The House held its latest
impeachment hearing today as President Trump's
allies doubled down on a ludicrous
conspiracy theory about Ukraine. For more on this, it's time
for "A Closer Look." [ Cheers and applause ] This morning,
the House Judiciary Committee held its second hearing, laying out the impeachment
evidence against Trump. Now, as we've established, Republicans have
no counter argument on the actual merits
of the case. For example,
they're so desperate that this morning
on Fox News, Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy argued
that you shouldn't be allowed to impeach a president
in their first term. -In modern history
we've never gone after impeaching a president
in the first term. -Is that really your argument? We shouldn't impeach him
because it's his first term? Everyone knows the founders said
you can commit unlimited crimes until your second term. Republicans can't contest
any of the facts, so instead,
during the hearing today, they tried to stall by staging
as many dumb interruptions as possible and forcing Chairman
Jerry Nadler to gavel them down. -The House committee
on the Judiciary will come to order. Without objection the chair
is authorized to declare recesses
of the committee -- -I object. -Objection noted. [ Gavel bangs ]
Without objection -- -Ruling on the point of order --
-You made a -- You made a ruling on the point
of order, Mr. Chairman. You can't then
not allow us to -- -The gentleman
is not recognized. [ Gavel bangs ]
-It's a rule. -The obligation,
not the consideration. You are obligated --
-Those are not in debate. Suspend.
Gentleman is not recognized. -...gets the chance
to offer rebuttal. Nobody asked for this --
[ Gavel banging ] -The gentleman will suspend.
[ Gavel banging ] -Bang it harder. -The gentleman will suspend. -Will you let him finish
his point of order? -He made his point of order. -The gentleman will suspend
and not make a speech. -Man, that gavel
is getting a workout. When this is over,
Jerry Nadler is going to have one giant hulk arm. Republicans had to engage
in these dumb stunts because they have nothing else. For example, they also demanded that House
Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who conducted
the first round of hearings, testify during today's hearing, and to really hammer the point
home, they brought in a poster that said, where is Adam,
and another poster with Schiff's face on the side
of a milk carton. Why? Why do these look like
middle school art projects? I mean, can't the Republicans hire someone
who is good at graphic design? This looks like something
a crazy guy would wear on a sandwich board
in Times Square. This of course follows
the GOP's proud tradition of bringing very stupid posters
to official House proceedings, like the time they made a poster
that said, "Liar, liar pants on fire"
for Michael Cohen's testimony, or the time they brought
in a poster accusing Democrats
of acting like Soviets during
the first impeachment vote. At this point, Republicans are the only thing keeping
the D.C. Kinko's in business. If you walk into Kinko's now,
their price list includes black and white copies, color copies,
dumb Republican posters. Now, the main point
of the hearing today was to let lawyers for Democrats
and Republicans lay out their cases, and the
Republican lawyer was a guy you might remember
from the first round of impeachment hearings,
Steve Castor. In those hearings, Castor often
struggled to question witnesses. At one point during the first
round of hearings, his line of questioning
was so bad it flustered the witness
and left him speechless. -In fairness, this irregular
channel of diplomacy, it's not as outlandish
as it could be, is that correct? -It's not as outlandish
as it could be. It is a little unusual for
the U.S. Ambassador to the EU to play a role
in Ukraine policy. -Okay. And, you know,
might be irregular but it is
certainly not outlandish. [ Laughter ] And then Secretary Perry -- -I mean, that's probably
the same series of faces
the Kinko's employee made when Republicans asked him
to print those dumb posters. "Can you put this man's face
on a milk carton? It's for Congress." [ Laughter and applause ] So that -- that's the guy. That's the guy Republicans had
making their arguments today. Now, let's compare
the Democrats' lawyer, who presented a lengthy body
of evidence, witness testimony, and video evidence to Castor.
the Republicans' lawyer. -President Trump's persistent
and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country
to help him cheat to win an election is a clear
and present danger to our free and fair elections
and to our national security. -To impeach a president
who 63 million people voted for over eight lines
in a call transcript is baloney. -It's, uh, baloney. Really loses the drama when the word you're
ramping up to is baloney. You ever hear a detective
in a mystery novel saying, "I've deduced that the suspect's
alibi is, uh, baloney." Castor's demeanor throughout
this whole thing was that of a guy who knew
he was fighting a losing battle. In fact, instead of keeping his
documents in a brief case or cardboard boxes
like most lawyers, he showed up
to the hearing this morning with his papers
in a grocery store tote bag. Look at that. It's like he forgot about the
hearing until the last minute and had to find whatever
was lying around his house. I bet there was only one piece
of paper at the top of that bag and the rest of it
was just organic produce. And the fact that he kept all
of his papers in a grocery bag might explain why he didn't seem to know very much
about what was in them. The Republicans wrote
their own report rebutting
the impeachment inquiry. But when Castor was questioned
by the Democratic counsel about a key element
of that report, he didn't seem to know
anything about it. -Quote, "I thought
that the references to specific individuals and investigations such
as former Vice President Biden and his son struck me
as political in nature. Given that former Vice President is a political opponent
of the President." So you left that out of your
staff report, too, didn't you? -Well, you know,
Miss Williams -- -Sir, did you leave that out
of your report? Yes or no? -I -- if you're telling me
I did -- I don't know as I sit here
right now that's in the report. -I'm telling you you did.
-Okay. [ Laughter ] -I have my report in my bag. Just let me -- [ Laughter ] [ Applause ] [ Laughter ] "You guys, I think
I brought my groceries." What we saw yet again today is
that the Republican Party and Donald Trump is fundamentally
untethered from reality, and my favorite recent example
of this came on Friday when Trump was
at the White House talking about repealing
environmental regulations, and he said this truly
bat[bleep] about toilets. -We have a situation where
we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers
and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet
on and areas where there is tremendous
amounts of water where the water
rushes out to sea because you could never handle
it and you don't get any water. You turn on the faucet.
You don't get any water. They take a shower and water
comes dripping out, just dripping out,
very quietly dripping out. People are flushing toilets
10 times, 15 times
as opposed to once. -Hey, man. Just because you have
to flush 10 or 15 times doesn't mean everyone does. I mean, look at your diet. Standard toilets were not built
to withstand this. I bet the White House toilets
are like the theme park models that will suck down anything. You know, when you flush them,
they sound like an F-14 taking off. I bet at least once a day
the Secret Service knocks on the bathroom door
and says, "Mr. President,
you still in there? It's been over an hour,"
and then he says, "Hold on. I'll be right out." [ Toilet flushes ] [ Applause ] "Son of a gun.
I got to flush again." [ Toilet flushes ] My favorite part, though,
came right after that when the President said this. -People are flushing toilets
10 times, 15 times as opposed to once. They end up using more water, so EPA is looking at that
very strongly, at my suggestion. -Oh, was it your suggestion? I'm pretty sure we all know
where it came from. I mean, can you imagine the EPA
going through the suggestion box at the end of the week? Alright.
Bring back casual Fridays. Not a terrible idea. Oh, new coffee
for the break room. We can do that. Let's see what we have here. Look into toilets that have
to be flushed 15 times. You turn on the faucet
and you don't get any water. You take a shower and water
comes dripping out very quietly. Dripping out. Guys, who told the President
about the suggestion box?! [ Laughter and applause ] So, Trump won't tell the EPA
to deal with the climate crisis that poses an existential threat
to the planet, but he will tell them
to look into toilets that supposedly have to be
flushed 15 times. But still,
you got to give it to Trump. He might not know
how toilets work. He might not care
about the climate crisis. But when he is right,
he is right. And, later at that same event,
the President said something that even
I cannot criticize because it is undeniably true. -You have many states
where they have so much water that it comes down. It's called rain. [ Laughter ] -Can't argue with the man. That's airtight. Sounds like the sports guy
on the local news who had to fill in
for the weather man. And the clouds, there's
no other way to say it. They had too much water. They're puking water. It's also called rain. This is how detached
from reality Trump is, and as we've learned
throughout this impeachment process,
it's not just him. He's brought the entire
Republican Party along with him. Just take Texas Senator
Ted Cruz. Now, you might remember him
as the guy who grew a beard and looks like
Santa's deadbeat brother. Well, to defend Trump
during the impeachment inquiry, Republicans have been pushing a ludicrous
conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered
in the 2016 election, and that is what Trump
was concerned about, so Cruz, who was himself the subject
of several Trump conspiracy theories during the campaign
and even once called Trump a pathological liar,
went on TV yesterday and repeated that insane theory
to the shock of "Meet the Press" host
Chuck Todd. -Do you believe Ukraine
meddled in the American election in 2016? -I do and I think there is
considerable evidence. -You do? -Wow! You know what you just said
is crazy when the person you're talking
to reacts like that. Like if you were at a party
and someone said they hate baby Yoda. You do? But all he does is sip soup. He doesn't want trouble,
you monster! In that interview, Cruz pointed
to an op-ed written by a Ukrainian
ambassador in 2016 criticizing Trump but that's not even close
to the criminal Russian hacking campaign and it's not what
Trump was talking about in his infamous phone call
with the President of Ukraine. Trump was repeating
a deranged conspiracy theory that the Democrats had somehow
colluded with Ukraine to interfere
in the 2016 election and hide
a Democratic computer server, which does not exist,
in Ukraine. It's a theory that's so insane, even "Fox and Friends"
gently pushed back on it when Trump brought it up during
a rambling interview last month. -They have the server,
right, from the DNC, Democratic National Committee. -Who has the server? -The FBI went in and they told
them, "Get out of here. We're not giving it to you." They gave the server
to CrowdStrike or whatever it's called, which is a company owned
by a very wealthy Ukrainian. And I still want
to see that server. You know, the FBI has never
gotten that server. That's a big part
of this whole thing. Why did they give it
to a Ukrainian company? Why?
-Are you sure they did that? Are you sure they
gave it to Ukraine? -Well, that's what the word is. -How do you know
what the word is? You don't even know
how toilets work. "I heard they hid the server
by flushing it down the toilet 15 times." Every single part of this
conspiracy theory has been debunked,
and yet Republicans have been mindlessly repeating
it to defend Donald Trump. For example, the cybersecurity
firm CrowdStrike, which did help the Democrats
investigate the Russian hacking, is not owned by
a "wealthy Ukrainian," and the server does not exist. And when Republican Congressman
Randy Weber found that out on live TV
last week, he was shocked. -Chris, was CrowdStrike involved
in the DNC hacking? -Yes. Is CrowdStrike in part
owned by a Ukrainian? -No. -Really?
-Yes. -That is not the information --
yes really or -- That's not the information
that we have. -You have bad information. -What Trump is saying is go back
and let's look at all the information
on the D-triple-C server. -There was no server. They operated in a cloud system. There is no server to steal. -"Well, clouds are even worse. According to my weatherman, when
the clouds get too full of water they burst. It is called rain. It is undeniably called rain." So this theory
has been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked,
and yet Republicans keep claiming they're gonna find
more evidence to prove it. In fact, last week
it was reported that Trump's lawyer
Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe
and Ukraine again, even while he's personally
under criminal investigation for his ties to Ukraine, to try to prove his theory
that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election,
and Trump suggested this weekend that Rudy might even present
his findings to Congress. -Rudy has decided there is
no better time for a trip to Eastern Europe interviewing people
about Ukraine. More specifically,
working on a new project to discredit the Democrats'
case against the President. According to "The Times,"
Giuliani was in Budapest Tuesday meeting with an ousted
Ukrainian prosecutor, trying to dig up dirt on
the President's political rival. -Well, I just know he came
back from someplace and he is going
to make a report I think to the attorney
general and to Congress. He says he has a lot
of good information, but I think he wants to go
before Congress and say
and also to the attorney general and to the Department
of Justice. I hear he's found plenty.
Yeah. -Is that what you hear?
Did you hear it from Rudy? Boss, you'll never believe it.
I found the server. The one the Democrats
sent to Ukraine. He's here at a restaurant,
asking me to order something. Also, please, I'm begging you. I'm begging you please let Rudy
testify before Congress. That would be amazing. It would probably take
five minutes to get him to accidentally admit
to everything. The guy breaks down
under zero pressure. He's already confessed on TV
and given us all the evidence. -Did our State Department ask
you to go on a mission for them? -They did. -You did ask Ukraine
to look into Joe Biden. -Of course I did. You know who I did it
at the request of? The State Department.
It's all here. Right here. -Rudy already held his own trial
where he confessed and indicted himself. It's like watching
a one-man show called "My mother's Italian, my father's Jewish,
and I'm in jail." Just to recap, these guys don't
know how impeachment works. They don't know
how computers work. They don't know
how toilets work. They're pretty close on rain. All they have are delusional
conspiracy theories they've concocted to defend
a criminal President, and every day new evidence
of Trump's corruption -- -Comes dripping out. -This has been "A Closer Look."
As found on Youtube
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://fredsuggest.com/house-judiciary-holds-impeachment-hearing-as-gop-lies-about-ukraine-a-closer-look/
