Newt Gingrich: Why do Pelosi and Schiff feel they have to make an impeachment case in secret?
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich weighs in on why Democrats have chosen to have closed-door impeachment hearings.
Watching the unconstitutional House Democratic impeachment process – which Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., has described as a “partisan clown show” – you have to ask yourself: What are the Democrats afraid of?
If they had a good case, the Democrats would be proudly putting it out in the open so all Americans could learn the facts that would convince them to support impeaching the duly elected president of the United States.
In fact, the Democrats seem to have a pathetic case that keeps falling apart.
More from Opinion
After the Mueller investigation failed to find President Trump guilty, the Democrats could have turned to legislating and fighting over real issues, like health care.
After all, in 1998 we were faced with Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s report, which charged that President Bill Clinton was guilty on 11 counts including perjury, which is a felony.
If Mueller’s report had used the word “guilty” 11 times the Republicans would have been forced to join in a serious investigation of the president.
However, when Mueller did not use the word “guilty” even once, the need for an investigation ended.
Then, as the Democrats squirmed under the attacks of their activists who were determined that President Trump should be impeached just for being President Trump, they found a new excuse to investigate.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif. – who was consistently dishonest and wrong for two years of Russian collusion stories – suddenly had a whistleblower who was anti-Trump.
The Democrats were ecstatic. They now had an excuse to make their hardcore, left-wing, anti-Trump partisans happy.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was so eager to appease the left that she announced the investigation before Democrats even had the whistleblower’s report and before they had seen the transcript of President Trump’s phone call with the new, reform-focused Ukrainian president.
The whistleblower was going to be the centerpiece of the case against Trump. Except it turned out he had met with Schiff’s people before submitting his letter. Then it turned out he had no firsthand knowledge of the items he was complaining about.
Then it turned out there were a number of factual falsehoods in the letter. Then it turned out the whistleblower was a Democrat who disliked Trump. Then it turned out he had worked with then-Vice President Joe Biden in the White House.
Now there are reports that after five different disclosures undermining the whistleblower’s credibility, the House Democrats may not even call him to testify.
This means that the person who was the excuse for the whole investigation is now so discredited that House Democrats know he would be an embarrassment and would make even more of a mockery of their phony impeachment effort.
In some ways, the collapse of the whistleblower is reminiscent of the collapse of the attacks on now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Big opening smear, wildly hostile headlines, excited anti-Trump talking heads, and then the balloon loses air, the case collapses and it is on to the next dishonest smear.
The secret nature of the Schiff kangaroo court really means we know nothing for certain about any of the witnesses or their testimony.
Consider the case of Bill Taylor, a very reputable senior diplomat who is now the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
As Marc Thiessen reported: “Cellphones are not permitted inside a SCIF. Yet somehow what appear to be cellphone photos of his prepared statement were leaked to the news media.
MARC THIESSEN: DEMOCRATS NOT SERIOUS ABOUT TRUMP IMPEACHMENT – INQUIRY IS ALL ABOUT POLITICS
Thiessen added: “But the full transcript of Taylor’s deposition – including his answers to questions from Republicans challenging his accusations – remains under lock and key in that SCIF. The president’s counsel is not allowed to see it, much less be present at the deposition to cross-examine the witness. So, Democrats are leaking derogatory information about the president, while restricting public access to potentially exculpatory information, all while denying him the right to see or challenge testimony against him.”
The Democrats’ partisan impeachment inquiry is an un-American, unconstitutional process that violates the due process clause of the Bill of Rights
Yet despite the selective leaks by the Democrats, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that "in 90 seconds, we had John Ratcliffe [R-Texas] destroy Taylor's whole argument.”
Yet McCarthy was gagged by the Democrats’ secrecy rules. "We can't really talk about it," he said.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR OPINION NEWSLETTER
Ratcliffe flatly told Fox News there were new details brought to light but said there was nothing that was "worthy of impeachment."
Ratcliffe went on to say: "The one thing that you find out in this process is all this information is just like that whistleblower ... everything is second-, third-, and fourth-hand information.”
REP. RATCLIFFE: DURHAM PROBE, IG REPORT WILL 'VINDICATE' THOSE WHO QUESTIONED TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE
The Democrats’ partisan impeachment inquiry is an un-American, unconstitutional process that violates the due process clause of the Bill of Rights. As we see in Iowa, accused murderers who are illegal immigrants are being granted more protection of their right to due process than the president of the United States.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Every House Democrat must be made to bear the burden of supporting this kangaroo court “partisan clown show.”
Every House Democrat should be asked: “What are you afraid of that you can’t let the American people see the facts and decide for themselves?”