Dems Cannot Beat Trump, So They Impeach Trump: Volume Two, HJC Hearings and Pre-Senate Trial Events (Mid-November 2019 to Mid-January 2020): Volume Two, HJC Hearings and Pre-Senate Trial Events (Mid-November 2019 to Mid-January 2020)

By Gary F. Zeolla

This three-volume set covers the impeachment of Donald J. Trump that occurred over the fall of 2019 to the winter of 2020. It was yet one more attempt to oust the President from office by Democrats, who never accepted he won in 2016.

It began when Trump made a phone call on July 25, 2019, the day after Robert Mueller testified before Congress. A complaint about that phone call led an impeachment inquiry to begin in early September, and the resultant proceedings tore America apart at the seams.

All of these events were occurring against the backdrop of the 2020 Presidential election, which was already well underway, even though the election itself was still over a year away. As will be seen, and as the title of this three-volume set implies, that election was in fact the real impetus for the impeachment.

This trilogy will enable the reader to go back and get caught up on all that you missed. Though this whole fiasco will be over when this trilogy is published, it will be good for Americans to have a history of what happened, as that could affect how they vote in November 2020.

We also will sadly see many similar situations in the future. In fact, that was a talking point of Republicans throughout the impeachment proceedings, that Democrats are so watering down impeachment that it will be used as a political weapon anytime in the future when the President is of one party and the House is controlled by the other party. As such, it is important to remember what happened during this impeachment when the next one occurs.

In addition, this trilogy will help the reader understand the rancor seen in Washington in general and the dishonest bias of the mainstream media. It will also be seen that the two sides can look at the same evidence and come to two completely different conclusions.

These three volumes also answer a question the author has often been asked—how can the author, as a conservative Christian, support such a “crude” person as President Trump?

This Volume Two covers the public hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and events that occurred up until the impeachment trial in the Senate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716610028

Book preview

Dems Cannot Beat Trump, So They Impeach Trump: Volume Two, HJC Hearings and Pre-Senate Trial Events (Mid-November 2019 to Mid-January 2020)

By Gary F. Zeolla

Copyrighted © 2020, 2023 by Gary F. Zeolla

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-716-61002-8

Introductory Pages:

Volume One included several introductory pages relevant to all three volumes: The Preface, explanations of the format used, the relevant parts of the US Constitution, and definitions and abbreviations used. These pages are not repeated in Volumes Two and Three, except for the Preface.

Volumes in this Trilogy

Volume One: Beginnings Through HIC Hearings (Early September Through Late November 2019)

Volume Two: HJC Hearings and Pre-Senate Trial Events (Mid-November 2019 to Mid-January 2020)

Volume Three: Senate Trial and Aftermath (Late January to Early February 2020, Updates Through October 2020)

About the Author

The author has a B.S. in Nutrition Science (Penn State; 1983) and attended Denver Seminary from 1988-1990. Zeolla is the director, webmaster, and primary writer for his four websites:

Zeolla.org personal website (www.Zeolla.org)

Darkness to Light Christian Ministry (www.Zeolla.org/Christian)

Fitness for One and All (www.Zeolla.org/Fitness)

Biblical and Constitutional Politics (www.Zeolla.org/Politics)

Zeolla is the translator of the Analytical-Literal Translation of the Bible and the author of over 40 Christian, fitness, and politics books. He is also a powerlifter, holding fifteen all-time world records and over 100 federation records. A detailed autobiography is available on his personal website. Details on these writings are found in Appendixes Two and Three.

Preface

This three-volume set is a sequel to my book Tearing the USA Apart. That book chronicled events that occurred during the summer to fall of 2018 that contributed to the tearing apart of the USA. These included the proceedings to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the rise of political incivility and violence, and caravans of illegal migrants heading to the US border. That book related all of these events to the 2018 midterm elections.

I then cover various political events that occurred from the winter of 2018-19 through the spring of 2019 on my Biblical and Constitutional Politics website. This book then picks up the story in the summer of 2019 with the beginning of the impeachment proceedings against President Donald J. Trump. 

These impeachment proceedings began as soon as the Mueller investigation into alleged Trump/ Russian collusion in the 2016 election ended, culminating in the Mueller report and his testimony before Congress on July 24, 2019. That witch hunt was just one of many attempts by Democrats and the mainstream media (MSM) to disparage and remove President Donald J. Trump from office.

There were also the false claims Trump has dementia and attempts to remove him from office via the 25th amendment, the Stormy Daniels farce, the Emoluments clause schemes, the constant badgering to get Trump’s tax returns, and unending lies about Trump being a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe, or some such negative labels. These attempts are chronicled on my politics website and in my Tearing Apart book.

That background is important to remember as we review this impeachment fiasco. This was not the first attempt to remove President Trump from office or at least to disparage him, nor was it the last. As this fiasco was occurring, something was brewing in China that would go on to affect the entire world. But Democrats (Dems) and the MSM would also try to use that crisis to disparage the President.

I am of course referring to the Coronavirus pandemic. I discuss that crisis in detail in a section on my politics website titled Coronavirus Articles and Commentaries. In this three-volume set, I will only mention the Coronavirus when dates coincide between what was brewing in China and these proceedings.

But here, this impeachment fiasco began when Trump made a phone call on July 25, 2019, the day after Robert Mueller testified before Congress. A complaint about that phone call led to an impeachment inquiry and the proceedings that tore America apart at the seams.

All of these events were occurring against the backdrop of the 2020 Presidential election, which was already well underway in the summer of 2019, even though the election itself was still over a year away. As will be seen, and as the title of this three-volume set implies, that election was in fact the real impetus for the impeachment.

The impeachment inquiry itself began in early September 2019 and ran up until February 5, 2020. This set will mention additional important events that occurred during that time period. It will mostly conclude two days after the close of the Senate impeachment trial, on February 7, 2020. But several updates after that date will be included in Volume III.

The impeachment proceedings occurred over 78 days in the House, with of hearings and 17 witnesses testifying, plus additional days for debates. The trial in the Senate lasted thirteen days. Each of those days lasted many hours, sometimes literally all day. In addition, thousands of pages of testimony, reports, and other documents were released.

Altogether, there were hundreds of hours of speaking events and tens of thousands of pages of documents released. I seriously doubt any American watched all of that programming and read all of those documents. That means, most Americans based their decisions and attitudes towards the impeachment on the very bias reporting of the MSM.

However, I did my best to watch and read all of this material and will report about it in this three-volume set. That is why I believe this trilogy is important. It will enable the reader to go back and get caught up on all that you missed. Though this whole fiasco will be over when this trilogy is published, it will be good for Americans to have a history of what happened, as that could affect how they vote in November 2020.

We also will sadly see many similar situations in the future. In fact, that was a talking point of Republicans throughout the impeachment proceedings, that Dems are so watering down impeachment that it will be used as a political weapon anytime in the future when the President is of one party and the House is controlled by the other party. As such, it is important to remember what happened during this impeachment when the next one occurs.

In addition, this trilogy will help the reader understand the rancor seen in Washington in general and the dishonest bias of the mainstream media. It will also be seen that the two sides can look at the same evidence and come to two completely different conclusions.

Finally, this Volume Two directly answers a question that was only touched on in Volume One—how can the author, as a conservative Christian, support such a crude person as President Trump? It will do so by responding in depth to an editorial in a prominent Christian magazine that called for Trump to be removed from office for his crudeness via these impeachment proceedings.

Section One: Updates and House Judiciary Committee Hearings, Mid-November to Early December 2019

#1 – Middle to Late November 2019 Updates

Volume One of this three-volume set ended with chapters detailing the hearings in the House Intelligence Committee (HIC) that occurred in mid to late November 2019. This first chapter of this Volume Two will backtrack just a bit and cover events that occurred while those hearings were occurring.

Trump/ Erdoğan Joint Press Conference

A joint press conference between Presidents Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan occurred later in the day on November 13 than originally scheduled. It occurred after the first HIC hearing with Taylor and Kent. Adam Schiff was still holding his post-hearing press conference when he was interrupted by this joint press conference. I had recorded FNC through most of the day, so I recorded this conference. When it started, FNC switched from Schiff’s presser to this more important press conference.

This presser was in follow-up to the Turkish incursion into northern Syria and its actions against certain Kurdish groups and the killing of Al-Baghdadi by US special forces. These events were discussed in Volume One. Other issues were also addressed in this presser, including the impeachment proceedings that were ongoing in the House.

President Trump:

Trump opened by saying Welcome to the two First Ladies, who were also present. He then thanked Erdogan for releasing a detainee. To comment, there had been a couple of high-profile American detainees in Turkey: Serkan Golge, a NASA scientist, and Pastor Andrew Brunson. Both had been arrested in 2016, while Obama was President, during a coup attempt in Turkey. Obama did nothing, so it took the Trump administration to negotiate their release. But I am not sure specifically which of these two Trump was referring to here.

In any case, Trump then said, Negotiations are essential. He then discussed Syria and said the ceasefire still holds. In a picture in picture on FNC, it was indicated Turkey is close to contributing the required 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to NATO.

To comment, this has been a major theme of the Trump administration, to get NATO member countries to contribute their fair share to NATO, which is to say, the treaty’s agreed upon 2% of GDP. The US is one of just a few of the 29 member nations to actually be doing so, but thanks to Trump’s efforts, other countries are coming closer to this required goal.

Trump then said Turkey knew the US would need to go over their country for the Al-Baghdadi raid, so they had to be informed about it. Turkey’s acquisition of sophisticated weapons from the US was also an issue. Those could have been used against our fighters if they did not know their purpose. Trump also said Turkey’s help was crucial in ending the ISIS caliphate.

On a different issue, Trump said China wants to make a trade deal. He is encouraging them to further open markets to US goods. He is looking to make a bigger and better relationship with China.

President Erdogan:

Erdogan began by saying, Thank you to my dear friend President Trump and the First Lady. He said they are fighting terrorists. He commended Trump for the death of Al-Baghdadi. He claimed Turkey has incarcerated 400 terrorists. He said the fight against PKK and YPG {Kurdish terrorist groups} is still occurring, and he blamed them for continued hostilities.

He said the resolution the US House passed on October 29, 2016 hurt the Turkey/ US relationship. But he would continue to work for peace. He mentioned again about the incarcerations of terrorists.

He said they have a 911-kilometer border, and four million refugees have come across it. It has cost Turkey $40 billion to care for them, but the EU has only contributed $3 billion to the support of the refugees.

He said, they have set up a safe zone for them, but he thinks as many as two million of them can be repatriated to their home countries.

He mentioned about the 2016 coup attempt and the need to eradicate terrorists in his country. To that end, they need strong defense systems.

Questions from Press:

The floor was then opened up to questions from the press. The first came to Trump. He was asked what his reaction was to the impeachment hearings.

Trump replied that it was a witch hunt and a joke. He said he didn’t watch it. But he said he wants to find the whistleblower (WB). He also mentioned about Gregg Garrett. To comment, Greg is an investigative reporter and legal commentator who has written books exposing the Trump/ Russia Witch Hunt and the work of the deep state against Trump.

Trump was asked about the repatriation of the refugees to Syria and who should pay for the care of them. Trump said the EU should help in that regard and with the ISIS prisoners.

Erdogan was then asked about the attacks on Christians in his country. He said that has increased, and churches have been destroyed. But he promised the churches would be rebuilt. He claimed, Ones on our side of border will have no problems.

Erdogan then made reference to Obama’s flawed foreign policy. He said Obama aligned with the PKK, but Trump knew better. He explained about the various Kurdish groups that I covered in Volume One. He said the US/ Turkey relationship is outstanding. He mentioned about having purchased military equipment from the US.

He referred to a terrorist organization I hadn’t heard of, but he said it killed 251 people in an attempted coup, and some of those terrorists are now living in the USA.

FNC reporter John Roberts now asked about the overhead phone call between Trump and Sondland. Trump said he knew nothing about that, but that it was just more secondhand information. He said he doesn’t remember the call. Trump added the impeachment was just wasting taxpayers’ money.

The next question went to Erdogan. He was asked why he ignored Trump’s warning to not invade the Kurds. Erdogan said there are terrorist in the United States, and the US works to root them out, so he should be able to do so also in his country.

Trump was then asked a question. He said we had Defeated ISIS and had a good relationship with the Kurds.

Erdogan then said we need to make a distinction between the different Kurdish groups. He said he had no problems with the Kurds, but he did have problems with terrorists. He said that included PKK and YPG. He said they have Kurds in the Turkey parliament. But If you don’t fight back, tomorrow you will have to pay a pretty hefty price.

Neil Cavuto:

This press conference aired during Neil Cavuto’s time slot on FNC. Afterwards, John Roberts appeared on his show relating what he had asked President Trump.

John said watching the hearings was like a game of telephone. That is a reference to the idea that when one person tells a story to another person who tells it to another person, the story changes as it goes along. His point being, the hearings are just a bunch of hearsay, with little direct evidence.

He emphasized that point by quoting the REO Speedwagon lyrics, I heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard it from another, you've been messing around.

Next Rep. Karen Base (D-CA) was on the show. She said we need to protect the whistleblower. She also called the witnesses absolute patriots and claimed they demonstrate exemplary lives.

To comment, Dems seem more concerned about praising the witnesses than about finding the truth. But John Roberts was correct in that we have not had any actual firsthand evidence to prove the President did anything wrong, as detailed in Volume One.

It is true, as legal scholar Jonathan Turley testified, that witnesses with possible firsthand testimony have not been allowed to testify. But the answer there is not to charge the President with obstruction. It is to challenge Trump’s claims about executive privilege in court. But Dems are in too much of a rush to do that.

That is because this whole impeachment fiasco is not about finding truth. It is about tarnishing Trump for the upcoming election. That is because Dems know their flawed candidates cannot beat Trump, so they have to impeach him, in hopes that gives him enough of a black eye he will be beatable.

California School Shooting

In a chapter in Volume One, I said no more mass shooting had occurred since the summer. That sentence was written on November 12, 2019. Sadly, I jinxed it, as another mass shooting occurred two days later.

It was on Thursday, November 14, an off day for the public hearings. This time, the shooting was at a school in Santa Clarita, CA. Two students were killed and three wounded, before the shooter, a student himself, shot himself, leaving him in grave condition. It was his 16th birthday.

I will be addressing this mass shooting along those summer shootings and many others in my Breakdown book. But here, I want to make a couple of observations relevant to this trilogy.

First, the three cable news networks I monitor, FNC, CNN, and MSNBC, all provided wall to wall coverage of the shooting. But I cannot help but wonder what they would have done if an impeachment hearing had been occurring when the shooting occurred.

The shooting began at 7:40 am PST, which is 10:40 EST. If a hearing had been scheduled for this day, it would have been well underway. Would the networks have broken from coverage of the hearing to cover this tragedy? Would they have gone to a split screen or picture in picture of some sort? Just wondering.

Second, and more importantly, some news pundits were complaining nothing had been done on gun control since the four mass shootings back in the summer of this year (2019). They said they couldn’t understand why Trump and Pelosi couldn’t work together on gun control while the impeachment inquiry was occurring.

I addressed this question in Volume One, and it still amazes me that people really think anything will get done in Washington while this impeachment inquiry is occurring.

Let me us an illustration. Let’s say you are being sued by a co-worker. You spend a full day in court, facing your accuser. Then the next day you go to work, and your boss expects you to work together with your accuser on a work project. How well do you think that project would go? Do you seriously think you could set aside your animosity towards your accuser and work with him in a productive manner?

If you answer yes, then you are a better person than me. Personally, I don’t think I’d be able to work very well under those circumstances.

Of course, neither Trump nor Pelosi are currently actually in the hearing room. But the lawmakers who would be working on such legislation are, and with them being at such odds during these proceedings, I just do not see how they could sit down and work congenially on such a delicate piece of legislation as gun control.

I say delicate as what such legalization will probably do is limit our Second Amendment rights, while doing little to nothing to stop such mass shootings, as I will argue in my Breakdown book.

I know such a sentiment is controversial, but it is shared by millions of Americans, while million more want something done in this regard. Given this controversy and delicateness, I personally do not want lawmakers without their full heads in the game working on such legislation. Get over this impeachment inquiry, then work on it. Or better, just drop this whole impeachment fiasco, then get to work on things the American people actually care about.

But sadly, this impeachment will probably continue for several weeks, during which time, nothing will get done on this subject or anything else. In the meantime, another such tragedy could occur.

To update the previous paragraph, a tragedy of unfathomable proportions was brewing while this impeachment was going on, that being of course the Coronavirus crisis. It was just beginning at this time. But if all of Washington and the media had not been so focused on the impeachment fiasco, maybe someone would have noticed what was happening in China.

Trump’s First Call with Zelensky

The release of the transcript of President’s Trump’s first phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky on April 21, 2019 was delayed until Friday, November 15, 2019. The call lasted 16 minutes, from 4:29 – 4:45 p.m. EDT and took place while Trump was on Air Force One.

Trump’s first conversation with the newly elected Zelensky was primarily an exchange of congratulations for Zelensky’s successful presidential campaign and Trump offered the Ukrainian President a future White House visit. The four-page transcript of the conversation was compiled by interpreters and notetakers and is not a verbatim representation of the call, The Hill reported…

The President took the unprecedented steps to declassify and release the transcripts of both of his phone calls with President Zelensky so that every American can see he did nothing wrong, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Friday (American Military).

This quote says the transcript is four pages long, though what I read was three pages. In any case, when it was released, the mainstream media (MSM) was saying, A White House readout of the call from April provided a different account (NYT. Read).

The difference is the April readout was said to mention corruption, while this transcript does not. Specially, it:

… said that Mr. Trump promised to work with Mr. Zelensky to implement reforms that strengthen democracy, increase prosperity and root out corruption (NYT. Rough).

It would seem this sentence was in the notes Trump had before the call, but he never said these words in the call. But somehow, they got into the call summary that was first released. The important point to know though is it was Alexander Vindman who wrote that note for the President to mention on the call, but Trump rejected that advice.

In any case, the MSM is trying to spin this discrepancy into some big scandal. However, conservative pundits believe otherwise about this new transcript:

The transcript disproves allegations, based on the July 25 phone call flagged in the whistleblower complaint, that Trump was withholding a White House meeting as leverage to get investigations into the Bidens or 2016 election meddling….

The transcript of the April call reveals there was no discussion of withholding aid and that Trump had already invited Zelensky to the White House, rendering false the idea that he was withholding a meeting a few months later. Democrats calling for impeachment argue Trump was strategically withholding this meeting as quid pro quo. The new transcript reveals there is no evidence to support that argument (Federalist).

It is another nothing-burger. Democrats want Americans to impeach President Trump for these perfect calls to the reformist Ukrainian president….

Another bland and respectful call (Gateway Pundit).

As for the call itself, it begins with Trump congratulating Zelensky for his election victory. Zelensky says he followed Trump’s example. Zelensky then invites Trump to his (Zelensky’s) inauguration. Trump seems to hesitate and says that a great representative from the US will probably go.

Zelensky touts how great his country is as an incentive to get Trump himself to come. Trump says he knows Ukraine is great from the people he met from there when he was running the Miss Universe contest.

Trump then says he would like for Zelensky to come to the White House. Zelensky accepts.

They then say goodbyes. Zelensky says he will try to learn English better. Trump says that would be good. And that is it.

The comment from the Gateway Pundit that this call was bland is accurate. It is totally innocuous. The only important part might be Trump inviting Zelensky to the White House. That promised meeting became part of the basis of the claimed quid pro quo.

The media is still saying the meeting never happened, even though the Presidents did meet one on one, just not at the White House but during the UN assembly in New York City on September 25, 2019.

Finally, note the mention of interpreters in the first block quote. Zelensky was speaking Ukrainian, so that needed to be translated for Trump, then Trump’s English for Zelensky. That verifies a point I made in Volume One. That being, that it was said the second phone call, the July 25 call that started this whole mess, was 30 minutes long, but if you read it out loud, it only takes a few minutes. But it was this back and forth translating that caused it to last longer than the transcript would indicate, as only the English portion was in that transcript as in this one.

Between Hearings Mid-November Updates

In this section, I will provide short updates on events that happened from after the second HIC hearing on Thursday, November 14 to Monday November 18, the day before the third HIC hearing on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.

Ukraine Statement:

Ukraine’s foreign minister told reporters on Thursday [11/14/16] that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland did not link investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son with military assistance…

I have never seen a direct link between investigations and security assistance. Yes, investigations were mentioned, you know, in a presidential conversation. But there was no clear connection between these events, [Foreign Minister Vadym] Prystaiko added (MSM).

This is just the latest of many times Ukrainian officials, including President Zelensky himself, have said there was no pressure, no bribery, no linkage between actions on their part and the aid, nothing nefarious about the military aid. In every way possible they have denied the Dem’s talking points.

Ratings on First Two Hearings:

The first public hearing with Taylor and Kent drew a collective TV rating of 13.1 million people. Then the hearing with Marie Yovanovitch drew a bit less, 12.73 million. Both are far less than the 20.4 million who watched the Kavanaugh/ Ford sexual allegation hearing back in September 2018 that I chronicle in my Tearing Apart book. Subsequent impeachment hearings are expected to draw even fewer viewers.

It should also be noted, more people watched these two hearings on FNC than on any other station. That probably means more conservatives than liberals are watching the hearings.

None of this bodes well for Adam Schiff and the Dems, who are hoping these public hearings will turn public sentiment against Trump and for impeachment.

But then, the MSM will do all it can to make up for the lack of actual viewership of the hearings with their bias reporting. For instance, on KDKA, my local news radio station, when it reported about the first hearing, it presented two quotes of Dems asking questions and the answers of the witnesses but no quotes of Repub questions and answers.

Roger Stone:

President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone was convicted on all charges on Friday by a federal court jury that found the veteran Republican operative and self-proclaimed dirty trickster guilty on seven counts of lying to the U.S. Congress, obstruction and witness tampering (Reuters).

Roger Stone was Trump’s lawyer at one time. The MSM called him Trump’s Fixer. But he got caught up in Mueller’s witch hunt. He broke no laws before that investigation began, but he seemed to think he needed to during the investigation.

To put it another way, his crimes were created by that investigation. Thus, Stone’s life was one more that was ruined by the Mueller investigation. What makes this such a travesty is that investigation should never have happened.

That was proven when the long-awaited OIG report on FISA was released. It showed 17 significant mistakes occurred in the seeking out of FISA warrants. The IG could not find direct evidence these mistakes were intentional. But when all of them went against the Trump administration and none for it, it is hard to believe that is coincidental. This OIG report will be further confirmed by the Durham investigation.

But here, I will say, after Trump wins reelection, he should pardon Stone, Flynn, and every one of his other associates caught up in the Mueller witch hunt. That will send the left into a tizzy, but that would be fun to watch, as there is nothing they could do about it, as Trump has the constitutional right to do so.

The President …  shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States (Article II, Section 2).

Update: On Friday, July 10, 2020, Trump commuted the sentence of Roger Stone. And sure enough, just as I predicted, Dems and the MSM went nuts. I will discuss that commutation and reaction in more detail in the final chapter of Volume Three.

Republican Requested Witnesses:

Republicans requested eight witnesses to be heard in the public hearings, but only three of them were allowed by Schiff, with two rejected by a vote of the HIC.

The full list includes: Hunter Biden, Devon Archer, Alexandra Chalupa, Tim Morrison, David Hale, Kurt Volker, Nellie Ohr and the WB. Republicans also want anyone to testify who provided information to the WB, whoever that might be.

Like Hunter, Devon Archer is a former board member of Burisma. The testimony of Hunter and Archer are vital in establishing that Trump’s concern about Burisma was warranted.

Alexander Chalupa is a former DNC staffer and contractor. It is claimed she worked with the Ukrainian embassy to dig up dirt on Trump during the 2016 campaign, as discussed in Volume One.

Nellie Ohr was involved in the Trump/ Russia collusion hoax. She was a contractor for Fusion GPS.  It is claimed Fusion GPS helped to write the Steel dossier with the aid of Ukrainians. This again goes to Trump’s belief Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.

The testimony of these two women would disprove the claim by the MSM and Dems that the idea that Ukraine interfered in 2016 is a debunked conspiracy theory.

In fact, that is the very reason Schiff will not them testify. A banner on FNC read, Schiff will not allow hearing to be used for sham investigations of Bidens and debunked conspiracy theories about 2016. But is a theory really debunked if possible evidence for it is not allowed to be heard?

Tim Morrison, David Hale, Kurt Volker are all government officials who did testify. Their hearings were covered in Volume One. But they were also on the Dem list of requested witnesses. Thus, none of the witnesses only the Republicans (Repubs) wanted were allowed to testify.

Stock Market:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to record levels on Friday [11/15/16], reaching 28,000 for the first time ever, after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said China and the U.S. were getting close to reaching a trade deal.

The 30-stock average closed 222.93 points higher, or 0.7% at 28,004.89. It took the Dow just over four months to go from 27,000 for the first time to 28,000….

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite made new all-time highs as well, climbing 0.8% to 3,120.46 and 0.7% to 8,540.83, respectively (CNBC).

Trump tweeted:

Dow hits 28,000 - FIRST TIME EVER, HIGHEST EVER! Gee, Pelosi & Schitt have a good idea, lets Impeach the President. If something like that ever happened, it would lead to the biggest FALL in Market History. It’s called a Depression, not a Recession! So much for 401-K’s & Jobs! Nov. 15. 2019

The market is not at all jittery about the impeachment proceedings. That shows at least on Wall Street, there is little fear the President will be removed from office. If there was, the market would be tanking.

Hunter Biden Payments:

On his radio show on Friday [11/15/19], Rush Limbaugh reported the following:

By the way, folks, Ukrainian officials yesterday released records of every Hunter Biden payment from Burisma holdings in Ukraine. There were 38 payments. This is information from the Ukrainian government.

There were 38 payments of $83,300 every month paid to Hunter Biden. That totaled $3.165 million. All of this was paid to Hunter Biden from Burisma while his dad was vice president. Democrats don’t want anybody talking about that, don’t want anybody referencing that. Millions of dollars in payments to Hunter Biden. This is what Trump wanted, in part, investigated.

Rush got this info from CD Media. I saw a receipt for one of these payments on FNC, and it was in fact for $83,300. But at that time, FNC wasn’t sure if it was just that payment that was for $83,333 rather than the $50,000 that had been reported. But it appears, Hunter was in fact getting paid $83,300/ month for a job he had no qualifications for. But Dems and the MSM still say there is nothing to see here. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Why Now Bribery?

Why did Dems switch from calling Trump’s alleged crime a quid pro quo to bribery? Was it because new evidence was forthcoming that showed he was guilty of the latter more than the former? Not at all.

It was reported on various news outlets on Friday that Dems hosted a focus group. It asked which impacted the participants more, quid pro quo, extortion, or bribery? The focus group said bribery. Some didn’t even know what quid pro quo meant, hence the change:

The shift came after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee conducted focus groups in key House battlegrounds in recent weeks, testing messages related to impeachment. Among the questions put to participants was whether quid pro quo, extortion or bribery was a more compelling description of Trump’s conduct. According to two people familiar with the results, which circulated among Democrats this week, the focus groups found bribery to be most damning. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the results have not been made public (Raw).

Note the last line, The people spoke on the condition of anonymity. Personally, I don’t usually take much stock in news reports based on anonymous reports. However, as indicated, many different news outlets went with this story, including FNC. But still, I will say this report is tentative. But if true:

… it leaves Democrats open to the claim that they’re not just tweaking the terminology based on public opinion, they’re tweaking the actual charges (Hot Air).

But even if this claim is not true, there is no doubt pundits on CNN and MSNBC were calling for this change. I heard a montage of clips from various hosts and guests on these stations saying using the Latin term quid pro quo was too difficult for the average person to understand, so they were calling for Dems to start saying bribery. And sure enough, that switch was made.

Whatever the reason for the change, making it in midstream might not be smart for the Dems. I did a quick search of the deposition transcripts I had downloaded to this point, and in none of them is bribe or bribery mentioned in regard to President Trump’s actions. To make a case for bribery when none of the witnesses nor prosecutors even mentioned the word in regard to the President the first several weeks of testimony is quite a stretch.

However, quid quo pro is mentioned many times in regard to Trump. Maybe Dems should have just stuck with that term. But that would assume they are trying to build a factual case and not a case based on eliciting feelings amongst viewers.

Nancy Pelosi has indicated the change was because bribery is mentioned in the Constitution as a reason for impeachment. That is true. But if that is the reason, they made the change without evidence for it, then it is still political gamesmanship.

Also, as I have always read the Constitution, I was more thinking in terms of the President being bribed to do something by someone else. In other word, the President being the bribee, the one being bribed, not the President being the briber.

Moreover, attempted bribery is not mentioned in the Constitution. But at best, that is all that can be proven about Trump, that he attempted to bribe Zelensky but never actually did so. The reason for that statement is Zelensky never actually did what he was allegedly being bribed to do to get his end of the bargain, that of a meeting with Trump and the military aid released.

Schedule:

The schedule for HIC hearings the week of November 18, 2019 was released on Friday. It is as follows:

Tuesday 11/19: Jennifer Williams. Alexander Vindman. Kurt Volker. Tim Morrison.

Wednesday 11/20: Gordon Sondland. Laura Cooper. David Hale.

Thursday, 11/21: Fiona Hill and David Holmes.

The last, David Holmes, was a late addition. These hearings were all covered in Volume One

Trump’s Physical:

Since it was a somewhat slow day on Saturday [11/16/19], President Trump started his annual physical a little early. It will be finished early next year. But the early report of the physical by White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham was:

The President remains healthy and energetic without complaints, as demonstrated by his repeated vigorous rally performances in front of thousands of Americans several times a week.

This is good news. But Reuters just could not resist adding:

Trump, known for his love of hamburgers and well-done steaks and an aversion to the gym, gained weight from his physical in 2017, pushing his body mass index into the obese category (Reuters).

I address the uniqueness of Trump’s physical state in an article posted on my fitness and politics website titled Trump’s First Annual Physical. In it, I explain, he does everything wrong health-wise, like eating junk food, getting little exercise, being overweight, and only sleeping four hours a night. Yet somehow, he is still healthy. That is frustrating to those of us who try to encourage people to adopt healthy lifestyles. But Trump is unique. The reader most certainly is not, so do not take Trump doing everything wrong yet still being healthy as an excuse for you to continue to follow an unhealthy lifestyle. Unlike Trump, your unhealthy habits will most likely catch up with you eventually.

About 2020:

Adam Schiff spoke on Saturday [11/15/19] at the annual California Democrat Party Convention.

During his speech Adam Schiff admitted the entire purpose of the Schiff show trials is to impeach the charlatan in the White House.

And this is the guy running the impeachment show trials and controlling who can speak, who will testify publicly, which transcripts will be released, what questions can be asked. Schiff also threatened any lawmaker who mentions the name of the anti-Trump CIA whistleblower.

This show trial is a complete farce. Schiff just let the cat out of the bag (Gateway).

Schiff’s full line was:

We will send that charlatan in the White House back to the golden throne he came from. And you know why? Because we vote. How do we build another big, beautiful wave? We vote (quoted in New York Post).

Schiff also said Russia and China are not the greatest threat to our democracy, but Trump is, The greatest threat to the life and the health of our democracy comes from within. I guess Schiff doesn’t know the USA is a republic not a democracy.

Schiff also declared that Dems will keep the House and retake the Senate in 2020. Meanwhile, US House Rep and Squad member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) declared on CNN, This is about preventing a potentially disastrous outcome from occurring in 2020.

Meanwhile, on FNC on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the ‘let the election decide’ mantra of some moderate caucus members a ‘dangerous’ position (Fox News).

It is clear, this whole impeachment fiasco is about the 2020 election, not about any alleged crimes committed by the President.

Trump tweeted in this regard:

Nancy Pelosi just stated that it is dangerous to let the voters decide Trump’s fate. @FoxNews In other words, she thinks I’m going to win and doesn’t want to take a chance on letting the voters decide. Like Al Green, she wants to change our voting system. Wow, she’s CRAZY!

Private Deposition with Mark Sandy:

House impeachment investigators are hearing from a White House budget official in closed-door testimony at the Capitol.

Lawmakers convened Saturday [11/16/19] to interview Mark Sandy. He’s the first official from the Office of Management and Budget to defy President Donald Trump’s instructions not to testify. Like other witnesses in the investigation, Sandy was expected to receive a congressional subpoena to appear.

Investigators are eager to hear from Sandy as they scrutinize the administration’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine (KUSI).

I did not hear much about this deposition, so it must not have been that important. But it should be noted, Sandy is the 17th person to provide a private deposition (Townhall).

OIG Report on FISA Abuse:

Over this weekend, it was announced that Michael Horowitz is to testify before the Senate on December 11, 2019. Horowitz is in charge of the OIG investigation into FISA abuse that was mentioned previously. That investigation concerns the origins of the Trump/ Russia collusion hoax. It might also address the claims of Democrat collusion with Ukraine to interfere in the 2016 election. If it does, then it could put to the lie that claims of such are a debunked conspiracy theory.

Then on November 22, it was announced that the OIG report itself would be released on December 9, 2019.

Everything grinds to a halt

I previously mentioned that nothing was getting done in Washington due to this impeachment fiasco. A lawmaker from my area has the same concern. He is Guy Reschenthaler, a first-term Republican from Peters, Washington County (located just south of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located). It was reported in my local newspaper on Sunday, November 17, 2019:

I’m very troubled by the state of politics, Reschenthaler said. We are far too divided as a society.

He also is frustrated by the time that impeachment proceedings are consuming.

The same thing happened during the 1973 Watergate hearings of Republican President Richard Nixon and again during the impeachment proceedings of Democratic President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, said David Chambers, chairman of the political science department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Once you engage in an impeachment inquiry, it overshadows everything. It takes on the character of an ‘us against them’ thing. And everything grinds to a halt, Chambers said.

Reschenthaler pointed to three bills he co-sponsored with Democrats that have landed on the back burner as impeachment has come to dominate the calendar (Trib. Impeachment).

Coronavirus Update:

What Guy did not know at this time is it was on this day, November 17, 2019, that the first case of the Coronavirus occurred in Wuhan, China. But Guy didn’t notice it. No one else in Washington noticed it. No one in the press noticed it. Everyone was too focused on this impeachment fiasco to notice anything outside of Washington let alone outside of the country. That myopic focus has proven to be unfathomably deadly and to cause profound worldwide economic destruction.

Also, do not miss the previous statement by Schiff that claimed Russia and China are not the greatest threat to our democracy, but Trump is. However, it was not Trump who started a pandemic. It was China, who hid and lied about the Coronavirus. That obfuscation is what enabled the virus to leave China and infect the entire world.

Additional Mass Shootings:

Sadly, another mass shooting occurred Sunday evening at a football watch party. This time, in Fresno, California. Four people were killed and six injured. In total, ten of the 15 people at the party were hit.

Then Monday morning, a shooting occurred in Duncan, Oklahoma at a Walmart. Three were reported dead, plus the shooter. I will address such mass shootings in my Breakdown book.

Additional Transcripts

Over the weekend of November 16, 2019, four additional transcripts of the closed depositions were released. The first two were of "Tim Morrison, the former National Security Council’s Russia and Europe director, and Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence’ (Axios). Both of these witnesses were on the July 25 call. Morrison’s transcript is 273 pages, while Williams’ is 166 pages.

These were only released after Jim Jordan had complained publicly about them not being released:

Schiff has been selectively leaking, and releasing transcripts and portions of transcripts from depositions taken in his secret bunker — Schiff does this to control the narrative and to damage Trump as much as he possibly can.

Schiff has yet to release FOUR transcripts from officials whose testimonies destroyed Schiff’s Trump impeachment train.

The reason for this is so Republican lawmakers cannot use the damaging information in the transcripts to question the impeachment witnesses in Schiff’s public show trials (Gateway).

I mentioned about this restriction in Volume One, but at least now, after the first two hearings but with many more to come, Republicans were no longer be so restricted. But it took this very public statement by Jordan to get Schiff to act appropriately and release these transcripts.

In any case, the crux of Morrison testimony was:

Gordon Sondland, the American envoy to the European Union, was acting at President Donald Trump’s instruction in his dealings with Ukraine, and Sondland said that the President told him Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must announce the opening of the investigations, according to the closed-door deposition of a former National Security Council official.

Former NSC official Tim Morrison testified that he had heard from Sondland that US aid to Ukraine was conditioned on the country announcing an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden (KXLY).

However, in Volume One, in my overview of the public hearings, cross examination by the Repubs exposed that no one on this planet told Sondland the aid was so conditioned, and it was only Morrison’s assumption that such was the case. But the MSM was already spinning these transcripts to their liking:

Morrison, a longtime Republican defense hawk in Washington, largely confirmed testimony from current and former officials testifying in the impeachment inquiry. But his account also provided new insight on what others have called a shadow diplomacy being run by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, often at odds with U.S. national security interests.

As Sondland, Giuliani and others tried to persuade new Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch the investigations Trump wanted of his Democratic rivals, Morrison said he tried to stay away. (WPSD).

Be sure to note the loaded and leading language here—shadow diplomacy … often at odds with U.S. national security interests =  investigations Trump wanted of his Democratic rivals.

Yes, Rudy, Sondland, Volker, and Perry were the irregular diplomatic channel Trump was using, but there is nothing sinister about it as the word shadow would indicate. And it was not at odds with our security interests, as Trump is the one who determines what is and is not in our security interests.

Note also, except for Rudy, the other three were Senate-confirmed to their respective posts. Sondland was the EU ambassador. Volker was the NATO ambassador. Perry was the Secretary of Energy.

Moreover, as always, Dems and the media are labeling Joe Biden as Trump’s democratic rival rather than a former VP who might have engaged in criminal behavior while VP.

Williams testified that she considered the July 25 call unusual and inappropriate. However, she never mentioned that is was illegal.

In a weird exchange Denny Heck (D-WA) asked her how the call made her feel. She replied, I guess I would say, as a diplomatic professional, I try to keep my own personal feelings out of, you know, the day-to-day work. But that did not satisfy Heck, and he pressed her on her feelings. But she never did reply as to what here feelings were.

This exchange shows that Dems were not interested in facts. They just wanted to generate feelings that the President did something wrong, even if they cannot pin down exactly what that something is.

However, try as I might, I could not find out who the other two transcripts were with. But I did find Laura Coopers’ transcripts that was released on November 11 that I hadn’t seen before. It is 115 pages.

Then on November 18, the transcript for David Hale was released. It is 190 pages. The most notable passages from this transcript are the ones that mention Sean Hannity. The context of these passages is the alleged smear campaign against Ambassador Yovanovitch.

Q       Do you recall whether you understood whether -- that Sean Hannity was promoting these narratives on his television show?

A       Yes, I was aware of that.

Q       And did that come up at that meeting?

A       I don’t know if it came up at that meeting. It did come up at some point with the Secretary. I understood that he did call Sean Hannity.

Q       You understood the Secretary called Sean Hannity?

A       Yes.

Q       What did you understand that the Secretary said to Sean Hannity?

A       What the Secretary had consistently been saying,