'Overwhelming and bipartisan'? Nine months later, Pelosi changes

FPI / December 5, 2019

Republicans slammed House Judiciary Committee Democrats for calling a trio of partisan law professors they say clearly suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome as witnesses in Wednesday’s impeachment hearing.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, tweeted: “Democrats still don’t get it — they are pushing ahead with impeachment based on opinions from liberal law professors from coastal universities. This is the reason that Donald Trump won in 2016, and it’s the reason he will win again in 2020.”

McCarthy on Tuesday had challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to meet the standard for impeachment that she had set nearly nine months ago.

“Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country,” Pelosi told The Washington Post in March.

“What she said I think everybody agrees with,” McCarthy said on Dec. 3, asserting that the impeachment inquiry has “failed each one” of Pelosi’s standards.

“There is nothing compelling, there is nothing overwhelming and the only bipartisan vote we have had in this House is not to move forward with impeachment inquiry. That has not stopped them.”

“If she set a criteria to have to march forward, she needs to answer the question: What is compelling, what is overwhelming and where is the bipartisanship? Because that would put an end to this nightmare, where we could work forward to make America stronger,” McCarthy said.

Pelosi on Dec. 5, however, signaled that the nightmare would continue, saying that House Democrats would proceed with articles of impeachment against the president because his conduct, "leaves us no choice but to act."

Former special prosecutor Ken Starr told Fox News on Thursday: "Where did she get this power. I am honestly surprised. Then again, why shouldn't I be surprised? Because back early in the fall, she unilaterally with no debate in the people's House says, 'we now have an impeachment inquiry.' Now she's dictating the committee to actually draft articles of impeachment? It is an abuse of power."

Rep. Lee Zeldin, New York Republican, tweeted of Wednesday’s hearing: “Congrats to the professors who won the Dems’ nationwide talent search for the most elitist, unhinged anti-Trump professors in America. These meltdowns based on triggered emotions, 3% of the facts & ignoring the other 97% of the story is a permanent stain on U.S. history. Good work.”

The Democrats’ witnesses were University of North Carolina Law School professor Michael Gerhardt, Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman, and Stanford Law School professor Pamela Karlan. All three suggested on Wednesday that Trump committed an impeachable offense.

Rep. Jody Hice, Georgia Republican, tweeted: “The impeachment circus continues today with Ringleader Nadler and his ensemble of biased, anti-Trump law professors. Meanwhile, @POTUS is overseas strengthening relationships with our allies and standing up for American foreign policy goals. What a contrast!”

Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, tweeted: “Just what we need: three liberal law school professors lecturing the American people. Shocking that these witnesses — called in by @RepJerryNadler — think President Trump should be impeached.”

Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, tweeted: “Democrats are holding a national T.V. hearing to ask three liberal law professors why President Trump should be impeached. Really something.”

Some of the harshest criticism was reserved for Karlan, who acknowledged during the hearing that she was a Hillary Clinton donor in 2016. Some observers say Karlan is bitter because she felt she may have been a Supreme Court nominee in a Clinton presidency.

Karlan was quoted as saying "Liberals tend to cluster more. Conservatives, especially very conservative people, tend to spread out more, perhaps because they don’t even want to be around themselves."

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, said Karlan should be ashamed of herself for showing such arrogance and looking down on half of America.

"She thinks that you are less than her. And I've had it... who the hell are you lady, to look down on half the country?" Conway said.

"She's the star witness, she didn't educate us. She spent her life lecturing people, she hobnobs with the elite," Conway said. "I took out six figures worth of student loans to put myself through law school and college with my single mother working her tail off to supplement that. I resent someone like that looking down on half of America. She sounds like Hillary Clinton with the 'deplorables.' "

Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, tweeted: “The American people know this is a sham process – this is a deranged attempt by Democrats to further their own political ambitions.”

Free Press International