House Republicans staged an insurrection against the rule of law in defense of Donald Trump on Wednesday, in the day’s top impeachment-related story. It was a sign of a growing aggressiveness in the defense of Trump and all too possibly a forerunner to what will happen if and when Trump loses in 2020.
● The group, led by ardent Trump flunkie Rep. Matt Gaetz, stormed into a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) where the House Intelligence Committee was hearing testimony from defense official Laura Cooper. Their claim was that they were protesting the secrecy of the proceedings—proceedings that included any Republicans on the committees involved who wished to attend. Many of the more than two dozen invading Republicans carried their cell phones with them into the SCIF, a major security violation that forced the room to be re-secured for fear of malware. This stunt was approved by both House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump himself, and some of the Republicans didn’t just bring phones in, they refused to give up their phones to security when asked.
● This Brooks Brothers Riot of 2019 also gives us some idea of what it meant when The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House is now coordinating with House Republicans against impeachment. Senate Republicans, on the other hand, are less eager to sacrifice themselves to defend Trump.
● Trump once again tried out his own losing message by claiming that there was no quid pro quo because the Ukrainian government did not know aid was being withheld. That is ludicrous on its surface since, as Mark Sumner wrote, “No one is more aware that money has not arrived than the person waiting for the check,” but also because it’s specifically, demonstrably false. In fact, Trump was pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden months earlier than previously known.
● One of Trump’s other big claims about his dealings with Ukraine, that he was justifiably concerned about corruption, went up in an all-too-predictable puff of foul-smelling smoke when we learned that Trump has tried to slash billions from programs fighting corruption in Ukraine (and elsewhere).
● In a separate legal matter, meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers tried out an argument we can probably expect to hear every time he’s challenged: Trump, they claimed, couldn't even be investigated if he committed a public murder.
● Meanwhile, polls show that support for impeachment just continues to grow. No wonder Republicans are doing wild, desperate things to try to change the narrative.