The longtime Washington, D.C., lawyer who Republicans called to testify in defense of President Trump during the public impeachment proceedings belittled the articles House Democrats are preparing to file at the end of their process.
“On the modern impeachments, this is a rocket docket and it’s a very thin record to go to the Senate,” said Jonathan Turley on Monday. “This is almost designed for failure.”
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Turley was one in a slew of legal experts the House Judiciary Committee called to testify about the legal standard for impeachment and interpret whether or not Trump committed an act that justifies his removal from office.
The impeachment proceedings center on Trump’s contacts with the government of Ukraine and his July 25 call with the country’s president. During the call, Trump asked the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a political rival. Democrats say this was an abuse of power that warrants impeachment.
“I get it. You’re mad. The president is mad. My Republican friends are mad. My Democratic friends are mad. My wife is mad. My kids are mad. Even my dog seems mad. And Luna is a golden doodle, and they don’t get mad. We are all mad, and where has that taken us?” Turley said during his testimony. “Will a slipshod impeachment make us less mad, or will it only give an invitation for the madness to follow every future administration?”
Republicans on the committee and staff lawyers have pointed to Turley’s testimony as a reflection of general attitudes toward impeachment among citizens.
“This is a clock and calendar impeachment,” complained ranking member Georgia Rep. Doug Collins.
The haste with which the impeachment process has moved after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced formal proceedings in September has cheapened the process and revealed a political bias against the president, Republicans say. Turley echoed that sentiment.
“This is arguably the shortest impeachment investigation in history,” he said.
