By now, even if you did not watch the impeachment hearings in real-time, I presume most of you have caught up with all the testimony, Q&As and republican shenanigans, from the excellent diaries here and other media coverage.
We present here a few highlights of the many moments when repugs made complete asses of themselves, more so because of the gravitas and preparation of the witnesses and Democrats leading the hearings and and occasional bouts of humor and wit by the witnesses and Democrats. Let’s take a look.
Adam Schiff took a machete to the laughable GOP argument that Zelensky never said that he felt pressured ...
Ratcliffe gets his a$$ handed to him.
Ratcliffe: So, in this impeachment hearing today, where we impeach presidents for treason or bribery or other high crimes, where is the impeachable offense in that call? Are either of you here today to assert there was an impeachable offense in that call? Shout it out! Anyone?!
William Taylor : “Mr. Ratcliffe, if I can just respond. Let me just reiterate—”
Ratcliffe : I’ve only got a minute left,
Schiff : “You asked the witness a question”
Ratcliffe : “I withdraw the question!”
He was obviously afraid of the answer.
But Schiff allowed Taylor to respond, and the ambassador shut down the congressman.
“Mr. Ratcliffe, I would just like to say that I’m not here to do anything are having to do with the [decision] about impeachment. That is not what either of us are here to do. This is your job.” Boom!
Ratcliffe then wanted to suspend the clock at 1 minute.
Ratcliffe: If they impeach President Trump for blackmail or extortion or making threats or demands, they have to call President Trump a liar to do it … (Oops, what’s that foot doing in my mouth).. I yield back.
(But this seems to be a common GOP tactic; ask a question, don’t allow the witness to answer and then later claim that that no one could answer the question).
What happens when you float a misleading question to professionals of the highest caliber.
GOP counsel Steve Castor looked very distressed (and unprepared and lost and constipated?) The witnesses did not understand what he was asking, if anything. Watch Bill Taylor’s reaction at the 1:40 mark, when Castor asked “In fairness, this irregular channel of diplomacy, it’s not as outlandish as it could be — is that correct?” Castor basically conceded that Sondland’s “diplomacy” was irregular and outlandish.
Someone wants to go home ...
This is a GOP swamp-dweller tweeting about Castor’s performance -
The twitterverse was merciless -
Sure.
And perhaps the best moment of the day was this mike-drop by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) — “I would be glad to have the person who started it all come in and testify … president trump is welcome to take a seat right there.”
OTOH, the witnesses and Democrats were paragons of gravitas, truth and dignity.
Watch Rep. Maloney establish Taylor’s credentials and methodically unfold the testimony.
George Kent, a model of competence and professionalism, shining a spotlight on republican (yes) corruption. ‘”You can't fight corruption without "pissing off corrupt people’.”
Do check out the other diaries on this site that provide in-depth coverage of the day’s happenings.
Behind these laughable moments is the fact that GOP and its inept minions are woefully unprepared, have no defense of the actual crimes committed, are grasping for straws and will stick to their strategy of throwing poo and hope their uninformed base will raise the noise level against the Democrats. They have succeeded before with their scorched earth tactics, hence, we have to stay focused and keep responding to their false narratives, their juvenile shifting arguments and their full-scale mud-slinging campaign with the simple truth — extortion and bribery are high crimes and no one is above the law.