Rep. Mo Brooks today schooled CNN reporter Manu Raju about the opening statement of Bill Taylor that was leaked yesterday:
Tried to ask Rep. Mo Brooks about Taylor testifying that he had been told Trump wanted probes announced before releasing aid and he erupted over the question. "The opening statement doesn't make any difference!" he said. Asked about the substance, "it doesn't make any difference" pic.twitter.com/1O7KXkvClE
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 23, 2019
Manu Raju is trying to get Brooks to weigh in on the substance of Taylor’s leaked opening statement. But Brooks refuses to, explaining that we don’t know if what Taylor said is true or not because no other testimony was released with it. Brooks says in a court of law no one would simply rely on the opening statement and neither should this CNN reporter, saying there should be cross-examination and rebuttal witnesses to determine if what the first witness says is accurate.
Brooks called the secret hearing a ‘sham process’, something that CNN seems to think is ridiculous.
UPDATE: Here’s more Mo Brooks:
Rep. Mo Brooks: "By golly, if they're going to do it, do it in public. Don't hide it from the American people. Show your face where we can all see the travesty that you are trying to foist on America & the degradation of our Republic that you are engaged in." pic.twitter.com/3TRYJDnUFa
— The Hill (@thehill) October 23, 2019
Earlier today Republican stormed the hearing room after their speech this morning and created a standoff with Schiff and his secret hearing until the House sergeant at arms came and told them to leave. They apparently brought their cell phones in to the secure room, so the room had to be secured once again before shifty Schiff could continue with his secret hearings:
POLITICO – The two sides were at an impasse on Wednesday afternoon after trying to settle the standoff, with Republicans who do not sit on the committees leading the inquiry refusing to leave the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in the basement of the Capitol, and Democrats insisting those lawmakers had no right to be there.
An official working on the impeachment inquiry later said that the House’s parliamentarian concluded that the GOP lawmakers who stormed the facility violated House deposition rules.
According to people familiar with the matter, some GOP lawmakers brought their cell phones into the secure area — a significant violation of House rules. Another person said the room had to be fully swept for potential security breaches, and Democrats said the Republicans compromised national security by bringing electronics into a secure area. An official said some GOP lawmakers “refused to completely remove” their devices even after being reprimanded by security personnel and the House’s sergeant at arms.
Republicans said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was threatening GOP lawmakers with ethics violations. Schiff was also consulting with the House’s sergeant at arms, while Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper — who appeared for her deposition Wednesday morning — was still waiting to testify behind closed doors.
If Republicans were holding secret impeachment hearings of Obama like the ones Schiff is holding now for Trump’s impeachment, I guarantee you the media and Democrats would be just as upset as Republicans are now. And if Democrats pulled a stunt like Republicans did today, it would be the end of the secret hearings because they would be heralded as heroes and the media would be dragging Republicans through the mud.
But as you see in the media now, it’s Republicans who are vilified and accused of simply trying to protect the president when they are trying to expose a sham process. I had CNN on my TV a few minutes ago and I simply had to turn it off or I might have ripped it off the wall and thrown it out the window. That’s just how pissed this garbage makes me.