House Judiciary Holds Impeachment Hearing as GOP Lies About Ukraine: A Closer Look

-The House held its final

impeachment

hearing

today as President Trump's al

lies

doubled down on a ridiculous conspiracy theory about Ukraine. To learn more about this, it's time for "A Closer Look." This morning, the House Judiciary Committee held its second

hearing

, laying out the evidence for Trump's

impeachment

. Now, as we've established, Republicans have no counterarguments on the actual merits of the case. For example, they are so desperate that this morning on Fox News, Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued that impeaching a president in his first term should not be allowed. -In modern history we have never sought to remove a president in his first term. -Is that really your argument?

Shouldn't we impeach him because it's his first term? Everyone knows that the founders said you can commit unlimited crimes until your second term. Republicans can't dispute any of the facts, so during today's hearing, they tried to stall by staging as many silly interruptions as possible and forcing Chairman Jerry Nadler to knock them down with a sledgehammer. -The House of Representatives committee on the Judiciary will come into order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare committee recesses. -I object. -The objection was noted. No objection -- -Decision on the point of order -- -You issued a... You issued a decision on the point of order, Mr.

President. Then you can't not allow us... -The gentleman is not recognized. -It is a ruler. -The obligation, not the consideration. You are obliged... -Those are not up for debate. Lay off. Gentleman is not recognized. -...he has the opportunity to offer rebuttal. Nobody asked for this... -The man will fail. -Hit him 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 will not make a speech. -Man, that mallet is getting a workout. When this is over, Jerry Nadler will have a giant arm.

The Republicans had to engage in these stupid maneuvers because they have nothing else. For example, they also demanded that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who led the first round of hearings, testify during today's hearing, and to make the point, they brought out a sign that said: Where Is Adam there?, and another sign. with Schiff's face on the side of a milk carton. Because? Why do they

look

like high school art projects? I mean, can't Republicans hire someone who's good at graphic design? This

look

s like something a crazy person would use on a sandwich board in Times Square.

This, of course, follows the GOP's proud tradition of bringing very stupid signs to official House proceedings, like the time they made a sign that said, "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" for Michael Cohen's testimony , or the time they brought a sign accusing Democrats acted like Soviets during the first impeachment vote. Right now, Republicans are the only thing keeping D.C. Kinko in business. If you walk into Kinko's now, their price list includes black and white prints, color prints, and silly Republican posters. Now, the main point of today's hearing was to allow lawyers for Democrats and Republicans to make their cases, and the Republican lawyer was a guy you might remember from the first round of impeachment hearings, Steve Castor.

At those hearings, Castor often had difficulty cross-examining witnesses. At one point during the first round of hearings, his line of questioning was so bad that he unnerved the witness and left him speechless. -To be fair, this irregular channel of diplomacy is not as crazy as it could be, is that correct? -It's not as crazy as it could be. It is a bit unusual for the US ambassador to the EU to play a role in Ukraine politics. -Well. And, you know, it may be uneven, but it's certainly not crazy. And then Secretary Perry... I mean, that's probably the same set of faces the Kinko's employee made when the Republicans asked him to print those silly signs. "Can you put this man's face on a milk carton?

It's for Congress." So that... that's the guy. That's the guy Republicans had today to make their arguments. Now let's compare the Democrats' lawyer, who presented Castor with an extensive body of evidence, witness testimony and video evidence. The Republicans' lawyer. -President Trump's persistent and continued effort to coerce a foreign country into helping him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security. -Impeaching a president for whom 63 million people voted in more than eight lines in a call transcript is nonsense. -It's nonsense. It really loses the drama when the word you're using is nonsense.

Have you ever heard a detective in a mystery novel say, "I've deduced that the suspect's alibi is nonsense." Castor's conduct throughout this whole affair was that of a guy who knew he was fighting a losing battle. In fact, instead of keeping his papers in a briefcase or cardboard boxes like most lawyers, he showed up to the hearing this morning with his papers in a grocery tote bag. Check it out. It's like he forgot about the audience until the last minute and had to find what was in his

house

. I bet there was only a piece of paper at the top of that bag and the rest was just organic produce.

And the fact that he kept all of his papers in a shopping bag might explain why he didn't seem to know much about what was in them. Republicans wrote their own report refuting the impeachment inquiry. But when the Democratic lawyer questioned Castor about a key element of that report, he didn't seem to know anything about it. -Quote: "I thought the references to specific people and investigations, such as former Vice President Biden and his son, seemed political in nature. Given that the former Vice President is a political opponent of the President." So you also omitted that from your personnel report, right? -Well, you know, Miss Williams... -Sir, did you leave that out of his report?

Yes or no? -I... if you're telling me yes... I don't know, since I'm sitting here right now, that's in the report. -I tell you yes. -Well. -I have my report in my bag. Just let me... "Guys, I think I brought my groceries." What we've seen once again today is that the Republican Party and Donald Trump are fundamentally out of touch with reality, and my favorite recent example of this occurred on Friday when Trump was at the White House talking about repealing environmental regulations, and He said that this is really being discussed. bathrooms. -We have a situation in which we are very carefully analyzing the sinks, showers and other elements of the bathrooms where the tap is turned on and the areas where there are enormous amounts of water where the water goes out to the sea because it could never be handled and not you get water.

You open the tap. You don't get water. They take a shower and the water comes out dripping, dripping, dripping very quietly. People flush toilets 10 times, 15 times instead of one. -Hey man. Just because you have to flush the toilet 10 or 15 times doesn't mean everyone will. I mean, look at your diet. Standard bathrooms were not built to withstand this. I bet the White House toilets are like the theme park models that suck up anything. You know, when you pull 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, are you still there? It's been over an hour," and then says, "Wait. I'll be right out." ". "Motherfucker. I have to blush again." My favorite part, however, came right after, when the president said this. -People flush the toilet 10 times, 15 times instead of once. They end up using more water, so The EPA is looking at this very closely, 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 checking the suggestion box at the end of the week? Okay. Come back on 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 at the toilets that have to be flushed 15 times. You turn on the faucet and no water comes out. You take a shower and the water drips out very quietly. Dripping. Guys, who told the president about the suggestion box? So Trump won't tell the EPA to deal with the climate crisis that poses an existential threat to the planet, but will tell them to investigate toilets that are supposed to flush 15 times. But still, you have to give it to Trump.

Maybe he doesn't know how bathrooms work. He may not care about the climate crisis. But when he's right, he's right. And later, at that same event, the President said something that not even I can criticize because it is undeniably true. -There are many states where they have so much water that it goes down. It's called rain. -I can't argue with the man. That's airtight. He sounds like the local news sports reporter who had to fill in for the meteorologist. And the clouds, there is no other way to put it. They had too much water. They are vomiting water.

It is also called rain. That's how far from reality Trump is and, as we have learned throughout this impeachment process, it is not just about him. He has brought the entire Republican Party with him. Take Texas Senator Ted Cruz, for example. Now, you might remember him as the guy who grew a beard and looks like Santa's lazy brother. Well, to defend Trump during the impeachment inquiry, Republicans have been pushing a ridiculous conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, and that's what Trump was worried about, so Cruz, who was targeted of several Trump conspiracy theories during the campaign and even once called Trump a pathological liar, appeared on television yesterday and repeated that crazy theory to the surprise of "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd. -Do you think Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US elections? -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 you're at a party and someone says they hate baby Yoda. You do? But all he does is eat soup. He doesn't want trouble, monster! In that interview, Cruz pointed to an op-ed written by a Ukrainian ambassador in 2016 criticizing Trump, but that doesn't even come close to the criminal Russian hacking campaign and isn't what Trump was talking about in his infamous phone call. with the president of Ukraine. Trump was repeating a deranged conspiracy theory that Democrats had somehow colluded with Ukraine to interfere in the 2016 election and hide a non-existent Democratic computer server in Ukraine.

It's a theory so wild that even "Fox and Friends" gently dismissed it when Trump mentioned it during a rambling interview last month. -They have the server, right, of the DNC, Democratic National Committee. -Who has the server? -The FBI came in and told them: "Get out of here. We're not going to give it to you." They gave the server to CrowdStrike or whatever it's called, which is a company owned by a very rich Ukrainian. And I still want to see that server. You know, the FBI never got that server. That's a big part of this whole thing.

Why did they give it to a Ukrainian company? Because? -Are you sure they did that? Are you sure they gave it to Ukraine? -Well, that's the word. -How do you know what the word is? You don't even know how bathrooms work. "I heard they hid the server by flushing it down the toilet 15 times." Every part of this conspiracy theory has been debunked, and yet Republicans have been mindlessly repeating it to defend Donald Trump. For example, the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which helped Democrats investigate Russian hacking, is not owned by a "rich Ukrainian" and the server does not exist.

And when Republican Congressman Randy Weber heard about it live on television last week, he was shocked. -Chris, Was CrowdStrike involved in the Democratic National Committee hack? -Yeah. Is CrowdStrike partly owned by a Ukrainian? -No. -Actually? -Yeah. -That's not the information --yes, really or-- That's not the information we have. -You have bad information. -What Trump is saying is let's go back and look at all the information on the D-triple-C server. -There was no server. They operated on a cloud system. There is no server to steal. -"Well, the clouds are even worse. According to my meteorologist, when the clouds get too full of water they burst.

It's called rain. It's undeniably called rain." So this theory has been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked, and yet Republicans continue to claim they will find more evidence to prove it. In fact, last week it was reported that Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, traveledagain to Europe and Ukraine, even while he is personally under criminal investigation for his ties to Ukraine, to try to prove his theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, and Trump suggested this weekend that Rudy might even present his findings to the Congress. -Rudy has decided that there is no better time to travel to Eastern Europe and interview people about Ukraine.

More specifically, him working on a new project to discredit the Democrats' case against the president. According to "The Times," Giuliani was in Budapest on Tuesday meeting with an ousted Ukrainian prosecutor, trying to unearth the president's political rival. -Well, I only know that he returned from somewhere and is going to make a report, I think, to the attorney general and Congress. He says he has a lot of good information, but I think he wants to go before Congress and also tell the attorney general and the Department of Justice. I have heard that he has found many. Yes. -Is that what you hear?

Did you hear it from Rudy? Boss, he'll never believe it. I found the server. The one the Democrats sent to Ukraine. He is here in a restaurant, asking me to order something. Also, please, I beg you. I beg you to let Rudy testify before Congress. That would be surprising. It would probably take five minutes to get him to accidentally admit everything. The guy falls apart without pressure. He already confessed on television and gave us all the evidence. -Did our State Department ask him to go on a mission for them? -They did it. -He asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. -Of course I did.

Do you know whose request I made it? The State Department. It's all here. Right here. -Rudy already held his own trial where he confessed and prosecuted himself. It's like watching a one-man show called "My Mother is Italian, My Father is Jewish, and I'm in Jail." Long story short, these guys don't know how impeachment works. They don't know how computers work. They don't know how bathrooms work. They are quite close to the rain. All they have are delusional conspiracy theories they invented to defend a criminal president, and every day new evidence of Trump's corruption comes to light. -This has been "A

closer

look."