The Republican Party is sending out what passes for its top bootlicking officials to try and spin around in circles, as every day brings a new set of defenses for their corrupt president’s actions. Historically, one of the easier gigs for Republicans like Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana has been to go on Fox News and let whichever host lob softballs with little to no resistance. Fox News is predominantly a fact-free zone and so Rep. Scalise must have known that things were going to be a little rougher than usual when Fox host Chris Wallace began lightly pushing back during an interview over the weekend.
After Scalise bumbled about how the earmarked money that President Trump was holding back from Ukraine has requirements of anti-corruption—something the Trump administration has been trying to cut the budget for these last few years—Wallace did a good job of redirecting some of the facts of the case.
CHRIS WALLACE: But both in the April and July phone calls, President Trump never mentions the word “corruption.” What he talks about is investigations; investigations of the Democrats, possible interference in 2016, investigations into the Bidens and Burisma, and the phone call that David Holmes overheard on July 26, he says what the president asked was, is he going to do the investigations.
Rep. Scalise moves over to Republican fabrication of facts number two: this is all “secondhand, thirdhand,” evidence. At this time, Republican talking points on Ukraine are: All of these people are lying, Ukraine ended up getting the money after three months, Ukraine President Zelensky released a hostage video saying Donald Trump is supreme leader masculine best friend to Ukraine.
But, surprisingly, after Rep. Scalise attempted to belittle the first week of impeachment testimony, Wallace stopped him short.
WALLACE: Well, first of all, a dozen people listened in on the phone call, and a number of them were immediately upset because what the president said about Burisma.
REP. STEVE SCALISE: Well, those were Schiff's witnesses.
WALLACE: No, sir, they're career foreign service officers, and these are people who work in the—
REP. SCALISE: —Schiff's witnesses. There are other witnesses.
WALLACE: You had a woman yesterday—wait a minute—Sir, you had a woman yesterday who was on Vice President Pence's staff. She said it was inappropriate. You had Tim Morrison, who was on the NSC staff, who said that he, alarm bells immediately went off for him. Alexander Vindman immediately went to see—you say they're Schiff's witnesses, they all were working in the Trump administration. But let me get back to—
Scalise cannot let it ride, because he’s an idiot and has been taught to just keep lying out loud.
REP. SCALISE: —They were not all Trump administration folks.
WALLACE: Are you saying that the person working, Alexander Vindman wasn't—
Scalise then changes tactics and begins talking about the witnesses that Republicans want called. Wallace tries to remind Scalise that they are talking about people who already testified.
WALLACE: But I'm asking you about these people who worked in the Trump administration, who work for the Trump national security council or work for the vice president's office.
Wallace attempts to bring things back to a more neutral topic where Rep. Scalise can lie away about whatever he likes such as the upcoming Ambassador Sondland testimony, slated for Wednesday.
Unfortunately, Rep. Scalise, as we have reported over the years, is an imbecile who spends most of his time counting NRA donor money, and he could not leave well enough alone. He began to argue that the witnesses who testified publicly during the first week of impeachment hearings had testified that Trump did nothing wrong. Yes. He actually said that.
If this had been Sean Hannity, there’s a good chance his head would have been so far up Donald Trump’s ass that he might not have heard this gaslighting. Wallace is still playing at being a real journalist, and could not let that slide.
WALLACE: Sir, with all due respect, that very badly mischaracterizes what they said. They were asked, William Taylor, for instance, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, was asked whether or not these were impeachable offenses. He said I'm there as a fact witness, I'm not there to pass judgment. But he made it clear what he thought about what the president was doing.
Yes, he did. Scalise attempts to go back to the dumb ploy that Trump did release the aid to Ukraine, at which point Wallace reminds him that Trump released that aid two days after the whistleblower’s complaint surfaced in the public.
Jump ahead to the five-minute mark to see the real fireworks start.