Napolitano to Fox Hosts: Closed-door hearings are Dems FOLLOWING THE RULES MADE BY A REPUB MAJORITY

[kpete]

Link to tweet

[empedocles]

1. What did the 'bewildered' fox con hosts say to that?

[Javaman]

9. nothing. they were still bewildered. LOL nt

[BlueJac]

2. They hate the truth!

Lmao

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. Oh those pesky facts

[Midnightwalk]

4. But are the rules good

I’m not a lawyer but is the comparison to a grand jury apt? Seems like it might even be earlier that in the process. Impeachment seems akin to an indictment. These preliminary meetings are more like interviews by the police or a prosecutor. Even more reason to keep the meetings closed

Either way l think holding the depositions in closed sessions is a good thing. The focus needs to be on getting facts not on the circus open meetings will be.

I’ll admit l may he hypocritical because l didn’t like the Benghazi investigations but claim that’s because they main or only motivation was political. I didn’t complain about the meetings being closed

[Thomas Hurt]

5. Exactly, the real problem the GOP has with it, is the GOP drama queens can't take the stage.

[gratuitous]

7. We're at the inquiry stage

It's not always apparent what evidence or testimony might be classified, so it's prudent for the House (in the absence of the Department of Justice, which has abandoned its investigatory duty) to start things off behind closed doors to avoid airing state secrets. In the investigation stage, the House will elicit public evidence and testimony that they know to be not classified, and use that as the basis to draft articles of impeachment* if there is a reasonable basis for concluding that the President has committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The committee will then vote on whether to refer any of the articles to the full House for consideration.

We're very, very early in the process. We've barely completed the first mile of this marathon.

*Quick refresher: Two of the articles of impeachment that were being considered against Nixon at the time of his resignation were for obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

[Midnightwalk]

26. Good point

Another good reason to keep the investigation meetings closed.

Napolitano never came out and said whether he agreed the change in 2015.

[gratuitous]

30. Yes, that too

I shoulda mentioned it; thanks for bringing it up.

[Midnightwalk]

25. I hadn't thought of classified as a reason

It is a good point but l still like completing much if not all the investigation in closed meetings. Even when there is no classified issue.

Besides avoiding a circus geralmar makes a good point about avoiding coordination of testimony intentionally or not.

Even the republicans know that Schiff has committed to making the unclassified testimony public and half the committee members are republicans so their complaints are just attempts to distract.

[forgotmylogin]

17. Trump can meet with Russia and their press and shut US press out...

...they can pull their panties out of their buttcracks over a BIPARTISAN congressional closed-door meeting.

This is like when you close the bathroom door and all your pets gather outside wanting in.

[Bettie]

31. And if the meetings aren't public

the Republicans in them will be less "scream-y". Slightly less.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. Lady at the end...on and on and on?

Um, they already found wrongdoing you fool, this isn't an effort to find wrongdoing, this is an effort to find the truth.

[DENVERPOPS]

11. Duh

It goes on and on and on, because Trump and Republican corruption goes on and on and on as we are discovering. it's like an epidemic.

[aggiesal]

22. They seem to forget that Ken Starr did exactly that ...

The Starr commission cost us $50M
Yet GW McIdiot wouldn't spend more that $10M on the 9/11 Commission and it was run
from the White House.

[NCjack]

8. What is good for gander is unacceptable for the goose. In the words of

that infamous Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney of the White House: "Get over it."

[berni_mccoy]

10. Such jagged little pills for them to swallow

It must hurt! The poor things.

[Hulk]

12. Now, watch how quickly they develop amnesia, and tomorrow they are screaming bloody murder for these

...."Soviet style hearings". Sweet Jesus, they are good at messaging. I've heard this coined phrase a dozen times on the networks now...."Soviet style hearings". Absolute BULL SHIT! But they get away with it, because they are GOOD AT IT!!

It needs to be called out each and every time they use the g'damned phrase. If they are allowed to plant that seed in the feeble minds of the cult and the ill-informed, THEY WIN! The whole process becomes "illegitimate".

[NonPC]

19. Agreed, but there are NO Soviet Style Hearings

Putin's style of government is to dictate, not investigate and debate.

[dustyscamp]

27. Same Day

Link to tweet

[Chakaconcarne]

13. Let's say we not invite him back to the show....

[Pepsidog]

14. As much as we jump around at things Rs do, they jump around at what we do because they don't know

any different because of the shit Fox feeds them. That Sean Dufus Duffy was arguing on CNN some nonsense that I really think he believed about Ukraine. The problem is these single cell no minds take what Fox tells them as the gospel truth. There is no attempt to discover the truth. When I read something that doesn’t sound right I research the issue. When you are a Republican you just have Fox, Facebook and other right wing trash talkers who care little about the truth. Rachel Maddow should be required watching for all Americans. Watch Fox only for 2 weeks, if you can stomach it, and see the mind F’ing they practice on their audience. Murdochs should be publicly shamed.

[safeinOhio]

15. Wait, that's not fair at all....

The Republicans wrote those rules to get Hillary, not for Jesus when he returned.

[Ilsa]

16. I hope Judge Nap is wearing a bulletproof vest these days.

Fox viewers might try something.

[lastlib]

18. I also hope he has his resume tuned up--

he may be looking for a new gig before long......

[Harker]

28. He'll be jackbooted to the curb...

or maginalized. They can't withstand much more than superficial or feckless contrariness from within.

[aggiesal]

21. Booo, I wanted to see their reaction ...

Video stopped when Napolitano finished.

[usaf-vet]

23. Fox hosts haven't forgotten anything they just want to BITCH to rally their rabid base.

Fox hosts haven't forgotten anything they just want to BITCH to rally their rabid base.

If it takes lies to rally the base that fine with FOX.

[LiberalLovinLug]

24. Yet another example how half the country doesn't KNOW the Democrats are just following procedure

So Republicans can just invent reality. And sell it to their cult.

I know the MSM is the most to blame. Reneging on their duty to inform the public. But where are the Democrats in shouting this out? How is there a perception that they are having this secret, deep state, illegal investigation? How does that even get any legs? Let alone fester and settle into the mindset of the public?

It helps feed the anger for people like that baseball ump that vows to join a civil war if Trump is impeached (by these secret illegal witch hunts).

Democrats have for decades now, just ASSUMED everyone knows, or should know, they are not in the wrong. That they are above having to explain everything to the public. Leave it to the remaining semi-competent MSM to explain it. Only problem is that the MSM have their own agenda. They may be off on a 24/7 cycle on some latest Trump tweet.

Maybe there is nothing more they can do, but its been happening for decades. All through the Obama term. Republicans are first to the mic to spread their disinformation after some incident, and it just seems like Democrats just smirk, roll their eyes, shake their heads, and carry on, business as usual. Seemingly obvilcious to the reality of how deadly politically that is to leave things hanging the air like that. To be twisted and turned on its head by the army of RW media outlets.

Case in point. Benghazi. Probably almost half the country "knows" that Hillary was responsible for the loss of life of those Americans. And got away with it. "The History Books" don't do them any good. They have already accepted another version of history backed up by hundreds of media outlets. Yes, the general in charge had already, over and over, stated how it was HIS responsibility, but that he made the decision that they could not be reached in time, and determined it was futile. You'd think after 11 separate investigations and hearings these facts would eventually be established. But that situation, and many other factual interpretations of other events, remain clouded or worse, a fake history is written about them for half the population. And these 'historical facts' have a cumulative build up over the decades, cementing that Democrats are all crooks or communists who can never be trusted.

[TheRealNorth]

29. Part of the problem is that Democrats tend to be independent thinkers...

And approach issues from different angles, and speak about issues from different perspectives. Republicans have a single talking point about an issue and everyone drills down on that. Repetition makes things easier to remember (even if it is BS).

[Vinca]

32. I had to go to the car dealership today to get work done on the Rav and guess what channel

was playing in the waiting room. I watched for a few minutes and it was like dropping into a parallel universe. Then, of course, I switched the channel to MSNBC. No one complained.