# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 161
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3201 "2019-10-23T21:16:56Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Personally I’d like nothing more than to help plan what to do if they pull this again. First - are there bathrooms available without leaving the space? If so, step one is to lock them or otherwise put them out of commission. > > Step two - “hey, just to prove we can still behave like civilized human beings, we’ve brought a few cases of soda to share. Drink up!” Cute, but I’d prefer zip ties and frog marches. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3202 "2019-10-23T21:24:12Z")
Couldn’t they be expelled from Congress for this? ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3203 "2019-10-23T21:28:06Z")
At the very, very least, those members who were not authorized to be in the SCIF, or who brought electronic devices, should have their security clearances suspended pending review. They appeared to put politics ahead of national security, which should lead to revocation of their security clearances. Re Trump being called to testify, I think people around him will try to keep him from showing up, no matter what. It isn’t just perjury he has to be afraid of. I’m certain he would quickly be in a position with the following 3 choices: 1. Admit a crime for which he can be prosecuted after he leaves office, 2. Commit perjury, 3. Take the 5th. Anyone with any sense would advise him to even accept contempt sanctions over that. BUT, Trump himself doesn’t have much sense. (Also, he is unlikely to recognize when he is in that 3 choice position.) I think Democrats (not House Democrats, necessarily), should start a campaign of baiting him into it. Like, someone with bigger hands would testify. He’s clearly afraid that Schiff and Pelosi will outsmart him, etc. Re What Republicans are arguing. For a while, there seemed to be no coordinated defense, and Republicans were stepping on themselves, and having the White House turn around and undermine the idiotic defenses being put out. Now, it seems like they are coalescing on criticism of the process, regardless, of course, of the validity of the criticism. But it does mean that they don’t have to say whether Trump did anything, or if he did, whether it was bad, or if bad, bad enough to be impeachable. My guess is that, first and foremost, Trump would not tolerate Republicans saying he did anything other than have a perfect phone call. Second, no one could keep up this kind of defense given the chaotic messages from the White House, ranging from “Yeah, we did it. Get over it,” to “but there was no quid pro quo,” to “it was a perfect phone call, no pressure.” (All quotes are intended to be close paraphrases.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3204 "2019-10-23T22:01:28Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > Many of the Republicans engaged in the protest were at a White House on Tuesday meeting with Trump, and a person familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump had advance knowledge of the plans to enter the space. They should all, including Trump, be charged with obstruction of justice and have their clearances suspended. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3205 "2019-10-23T22:04:41Z")
Im 98% sure Congresscritters don’t need, or have, security clearances. Their election gives them clearance. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3206 "2019-10-23T22:31:44Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Im 98% sure Congresscritters don’t need, or have, security clearances. Their election gives them clearance. But the House can simply decide not to let them in classified briefings. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3207 "2019-10-23T23:54:37Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > “The private ones always produce better results."–Republican, former congressman Trey Gowdy, who conducted the Benghazi investigation into Hillary Clinton a few years ago and pushed back against criticism that most of the hearings were in private. [Here’s the relevant section](https://twitter.com/jwpetersNYT/status/1187104737637781504) from the House Select Committee’s Benghazi report: > [@](#): > > The Committee’s preference for private interviews over public hearings has been questioned. Interviews are a more efficient and effective means of discovery. Interviews allow witnesses to be questioned in depth by a highly prepared member or staff person. In a hearing, every member of a committee is recognized - usually for five minutes - a procedure which precludes in-depth focused questioning. Interviews also allow the Committee to safeguard the privacy of witnesses who may fear retaliation for cooperating or whose work requires anonymity, such as intelligence community operatives. > > Both witnesses and members of Congress conduct themselves differently in interviews than when in the public glare of a hearing. Neither have an incentive to play to the cameras. Witnesses have no incentive to run out the clock as long-winded evasive answers merely extend the length of the interview. Likewise, Members have no need to interrupt witnesses to try to ask all their questions in five minutes. Perhaps more importantly, political posturing, self-serving speeches, and theatrics serve no purpose in a closed interview and, as a result, the questioning in interviews tends to be far more effective at discovering information than at public hearings. For these reasons, nearly all Executive Branch investigations are conducted in private and without arbitrary time constraints. This is no less true in a Legislative Branch investigation, yet the manner in which the media portrays these investigations is starkly different. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3208 "2019-10-24T01:37:53Z")
So why has Matt Gaetz taken it upon himself to be The Orange Menace’s personal henchman? This is the second time he’s crashed a hearing where he was not authorized to be in attendance. Also, what is the door security situation? I would think officers would bar unauthorized entrance. Are there no security officers to stop them? I’m beyond ready for the Dems to start baring teeth. They have looked feckless and weak through this whole process. I’m ready for a perp walk next time someone breaks a law. Instead, it’s like “well yea that WAS against the law, buuuut…” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3209 "2019-10-24T01:53:06Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > So why has Matt Gaetz taken it upon himself to be The Orange Menace’s personal henchman? [He knows where his bread is buttered.](https://www.google.com/maps/search/trump/@30.4404129,-86.7393903,11z/data=!4m8!2m7!3m6!1strump!2sFort+Walton+Beach,+FL!3s0x889116d2aaa0387d:0xe3a6ad0f3c9e67c7!4m2!1d-86.6170308!2d30.4200708) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3210 "2019-10-24T02:06:25Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > Many of the Republicans engaged in the protest were at a White House on Tuesday meeting with Trump, and a person familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump had advance knowledge of the plans to enter the space. Also, notably, of the 24 congressmen protesting that they don’t have access to these private meetings, 12 of them are on the relevant committees. So, they stormed a meeting to demand access to a meeting that they are cordially invited to attend. “Notably, according to a list provided by Gaetz’s office of the Republicans who RSVP’d to join the protest, 12 of them are members of the Oversight or Foreign Affairs committees — including Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member on the Oversight Committee — meaning they have been allowed to sit in on all depositions held in the SCIF in recent weeks.” > **[Republicans Stormed Into The Impeachment Investigation's Secure Room, And It...](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/addybaird/republicans-storm-scif-impeach-trump-pizza-phones)** > > Republicans brought pizza, Chick-fil-A, and their phones into the secure (no-phones-allowed) space Wednesday morning to protest the investigation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3211 "2019-10-24T03:09:56Z")
Did they shout “Dems will not replace us”? ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3212 "2019-10-24T04:09:55Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Also, notably, of the 24 congressmen protesting that they don’t have access to these private meetings, 12 of them are on the relevant committees. So, they stormed a meeting to demand access to a meeting that they are cordially invited to attend. > > “Notably, according to a list provided by Gaetz’s office of the Republicans who RSVP’d to join the protest, 12 of them are members of the Oversight or Foreign Affairs committees — including Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member on the Oversight Committee — meaning they have been allowed to sit in on all depositions held in the SCIF in recent weeks.” > [Republicans Stormed Into The Impeachment Investigation's Secure Room On Capitol Hill](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/addybaird/republicans-storm-scif-impeach-trump-pizza-phones) > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quoting a member of the committee from the article cited above: “He said that rather than try to eject the members, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff and the House sergeant-at-arms decided to wait them out so as to not escalate the situation.” There’s “not stooping to their level” and then there’s “letting them walk all over you with no consequences”. I think ceding the room to them for FIVE HOURS was in the second category. Capitol police or the sergeant- at- arms for the House should have summarily ejected the jokers that didn’t belong there. No speeches, no grandstanding, just frog-march their trespassing little behinds to the other side of the door. Don’t let them eat pizza and laugh at you. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3213 "2019-10-24T04:29:15Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > I’m watching the news. This is beyond ridiculous. A large group of Republican Congress- people have stormed the closed door inquiry hearing and are refusing to leave. Are these grown-ups adults or petulant toddlers? It’s reportedly a mob scene, and they’ve settled in, refused to leave, and ordered a fricken pizza. One hopes that Capitol police are at least able to prevent a Domino’s driver out of the room. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3214 "2019-10-24T04:29:58Z")
> [@](#): > > . I think ceding the room to them for FIVE HOURS was in the second category. I respectfully disagree. They looked like idiots, it was _horrible_ TV, they couldn’t even rustle up 15% of the House Republicans, and they all did it for a man whom over half the country _already want him out_, a President who will betray them in a heartbeat… and speaking of heartbeats, looks and sounds a fuckton worse than he did in 2016. This, literally, is their defense. They had their one shot, they couldn’t muster up support, and the Dems made them look like the spoiled asses they were. Hell, even my Uber rider tonight, an older white guy, brought this up negatively. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3215 "2019-10-24T04:56:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I respectfully disagree. They looked like idiots, it was _horrible_ TV, they couldn’t even rustle up 15% of the House Republicans, and they all did it for a man whom over half the country _already want him out_, a President who will betray them in a heartbeat… and speaking of heartbeats, looks and sounds a fuckton worse than he did in 2016. > > This, literally, is their defense. They had their one shot, they couldn’t muster up support, and the Dems made them look like the spoiled asses they were. Hell, even my Uber rider tonight, an older white guy, brought this up negatively. I’m with you. Decorum always matters in the halls of Congress. More as time passes and people grow (more) weary of the appalling behavior of Trump Republicans. It’s a serious impeachment investigation covering serious subject matter, not a barroom brawl. Dems handled it fine. For as long as we’ve been waiting, I can give them an extra 5 hours. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3216 "2019-10-24T05:03:59Z")
Thank God the police didn’t over-react! Sometimes, they can be very understanding when it comes to civil disobedience. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3217 "2019-10-24T05:16:57Z")
A number of pundits described it as a frat party by a bunch of spoiled, over-entitled dipshits (ok, I added the dipshit part) as led by the original spoiled, over-entitled dipshit, Matt Gaetz. He’s one of Trump’s favorite pets. I can picture it. Gaetz: “Razz, razz, razz, ha ha ha, neener-neener!! We’ve crashed your impeachment party!!” Schiff: “Ok.” Five hours later… Scalise: “So… now what?” Gaetz: “Take _that_, stupid libs!!” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3218 "2019-10-24T10:49:31Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Thank God the police didn’t over-react! Sometimes, they can be very understanding when it comes to civil disobedience. Yeah, there were [del]guns[/del] cellphones out, I’m surprised nobody was shot. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3219 "2019-10-24T11:32:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Yeah, there were [del]guns[/del] cellphones out, I’m surprised nobody was shot. I’m guessing they were all white men, so it’s less surprising. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/3220 "2019-10-24T11:33:42Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > A number of pundits described it as a frat party by a bunch of spoiled, over-entitled dipshits (ok, I added the dipshit part) as led by the original spoiled, over-entitled dipshit, Matt Gaetz. He’s one of Trump’s favorite pets. > > I can picture it. > > Gaetz: “Razz, razz, razz, ha ha ha, neener-neener!! We’ve crashed your impeachment party!!” > > Schiff: “Ok.” > > Five hours later… > > Scalise: “So… now what?” > > Gaetz: “Take _that_, stupid libs!!” Yes, he is a spoiled, over-entitled dipshit, a shameless showboat, a bully, and a smarmy, lawbreaking shit-stirrer with a mean streak who isn’t nearly as clever as he thinks he is. Frighteningly, he is also young, and millions of people now consider those qualities “presidential.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=160) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=162)