Page 21 - Process Argument News Today

Theyre fighting it entirely, almost entirely, on process matters. so theyre not arguing -- we dont hear them arguing, anymore, at least, that there was really, you know, litigating the conduct of what the president did on that call with ukraine. of course, the president maintains that that was a perfect call, but theyre focused on the process, theyre focused on the whistle-blower, theyre focused on the things that chairman adam schiff has done. theyre focused on the way in which the democrats ha...

He wants rudy giuliani to testify. democrats have been leary on that on republican terms and diane fine sti dianne feinstein seems to be behind this. what do you expect? rudy giuliani would he appear if. >> if he appears in the senate hes made clear what his terms would be and if that is the way the senate hearing goes then it would make it difficult, i think, especially picking up on the process argument and the fairness argument for the house then to come back and ask the kinds of questions th...

The ambassador to the european union, he is not in the european union, he is someone dhochosen take the lead and he is at the center of this controversy. >> the white house argues this is a process argument. you dont have an impeachment inquiry, therefore we wont cooperate. the democrats think its sub stan stant actubstantive, that theye cooperating? >> they want an impeachment in the next couple weeks. they believe their view of obstructing these witnesses to come guard will add to the obstruct...

Whistle-blow whistle-blower, no, no, i was there. they knocked down that defense. instead of looking for the answers and looking for a defense thats true, theyre looking for any defense that works. if the public will buy it, thats what theyre looking for. >> you know, im glad you laid it out, david. you have seen each of these straw men as it were knocked down by the facts. yet the pushback continues. a.b., i wonders when you speak about this republican silence, some are willing to actively defe...

Remember, the first whistle-blower, it was hearsay. he wasnt even -- >> secondhand knowledge. >> we now have the transcript. had the speaker of the house, n nancy pelosi, waited 48 hours, we wouldnt be tearing this country apart, trying to remove this president. if she followed her own directions like every congress before, if she really thinks you should have an impeachment inquiry have a vote. >> the scatter shot defense presented by republicans saying the whistle-blower and the transcript and...

Cooperate with this impeachment investigation until the speaker holds an official floor vote as we heard there, leader make c-- >> it might look like the shrug emoji. theres no rule that says the house has to do a formal vote to continue what theyre doing on impeachment, if and when there are articles of impeachment to be voted on thats a separate step. there is precedent here, the bill clinton impeachment, there was a formal vote to start that process. thats what house republicans are calling f...

Rudy giuliani as well. but republicans themselves are kind of in the dark about what additional shoes will drop. >> david, we keep hearing this interesting talking point on right wing media which is theres not even an impeachment inquiry happening right now because there was no formal vote. she never held a formal vote. therefore the impeachment cant happen. >> kevin mccarthy is going to make that a central line of attack, continue to do so against. st pelosi. they believe -- the republicans bel...

Wasnt an abuse of power. im not saying that the burden of proof is on the president but you have help understand the situation. >> i still get back to what we talked about two days ago, which is at the end of the day, what was this hearing about yesterday before the intelligence committee in the house? mostly it was about process. >> you didnt want us to see this because you knew it was bad for him and thats not what youre supposed to be doing. >> okay. and the justice department made a call on ...

Executive privilege -- or the white house did with regard to executive privilege and the justice department made a call in connection with whether or not it satisfied the particulars of the statute. you may disagree with the answer, but theres a ten-page off of legal counsel opinion that represents the view of the government about what the law is with regard to the issue. >> right. >> and in any event, after all of that and all this process, the whistle-blower complaint has been released and the...

Answ guy answer law. so you dont have a high crimes or -- >> be a bus of power is also what you here. >> and then the narrative shifted. we went through the trail of those four and we have now landed in essentially a process argument about whether or not we got the whistleblowers complaint in time and also what the activities were within the white house about trying to conceal what was happening here. >> and you can -- the house can impeach based on crime or abuse of power. i think we have a cri...