You are the one who brought up Kevin McCarthy. As though the Democrat Chair could not have afforded some procedural due process even in Kevin McCarthy's absence.Sam Lowry said:Cute, but you know it's not a question of rules. You can't confront a witness if you don't show up.He Hate Me said:Kevin McCarthy did not design the Committee rules. LOL.Sam Lowry said:That's exactly why McCarthy doesn't want it.He Hate Me said:Nothing like a lack of cross-examination to find the truth, eh?Sam Lowry said:It is like a continuation of the second impeachment in some ways. Impeachment has always been a political process. Until Mitt Romney in 2020, no senator had ever voted to convict a president from his own party. It's also like a grand jury in some ways. That process is notoriously one-sided.He Hate Me said:I know he is not in court, Sam. However, Congress is accusing him of something that is tantamount to criminal conduct. The committee is a continuation of the second sham impeachment. That is why the accused should have been afforded the opportunity to confront witness and put on evidence. The committee members would not apply these same standards to themselves.Sam Lowry said:He's not in court. I don't know how I can emphasize that enough.He Hate Me said:Right. The illegitimate committee does not want Trump to cross-examine or present witnesses. This even though the entire charade is pointed at Trump and damaging his political career. The committee has no legislative purpose. The committee has an intended result in mind and is working backwards toward that result. That is why they do not dare allow Donald Trump to cross-examine or present evidence. That is why the only Republicans who could be found to participate on the committee are Liz Cheney, whose carpet-bagging career in Wyoming politics is over, and Adam Kinzinger, a Trump adversary who is not seeking reelection.Sam Lowry said:
Thompson stated that Trump was welcome but he would have to speak under oath and not perjure himself. The chances of that are slim to none.
Trump himself has no standing to cross-examine. Republicans in Congress had the opportunity, but McCarthy refused because he wanted to discredit the committee.
In other words, the truth is so important to this committee that the man whom it is attacking as the root cause of what has been termed an insurrection is not being afforded the due process provided to a defendant in small claims court.
And they did find Republicans to participate. McCarthy chose not to send them.
Because this isn't a trial, the format of the investigation doesn't allow Trump to confront witnesses. That was never going to change. The best he can do is testify himself, and the best his allies in Congress can do is send representatives to confront the witnesses. They have chosen not to do these things.
The result is a process that's more inquisitorial than adversarial. It has no validity as an ultimate determiner of truth. I'll go on to add that there's little logic in the way the narrative is being presented. It's difficult to see how the snippets of testimony relate to a coherent theory or how accurately they portray the events without fuller context. Because there's no confrontation, the hearings lack drama. They're obviously scripted, yet the production values are laughably bad (see for example Cassidy Hutchinson staring dumbly at a video screen for ten minutes while the audience at home wonders what she's looking at). The whole presentation feels amateurish and manipulative at the same time. Worst of all it's insufferably boring.
I get all this. It doesn't change the fact that these are credible witnesses testifying under oath. They're taking a real risk if they don't tell the truth. And they were in a position to know. You can find excuses to ignore it, but excuses are just that.