The New York Post released its Wednesday cover late on Tuesday night mocking Democratic House leaders ahead of their public impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump over his July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The cover shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff dressed as clowns and features the headline: “GUILTY! NOW FOR THE TRIAL…”
Columnist Michael Goodwin writes that Schiff “takes his magic act public Wednesday as the impeachment hearings burst out of a Capitol Hill dungeon and onto television. Donald Trump’s presidency and the 2020 election likely hang on whether Schiff’s sleight of hand can survive the bright lights of public exposure and cross-examination.”
“Operating in darkness, where he controlled the witness list and leaked snippets of testimony that the Dems’ media echo chamber turned into proof of Trump’s guilt, Schiff has been a first-rate illusionist,” Goodwin continued. Even his exterior calmness is deceptive; he burns with a zeal to kill the king.”
WATCH:
As always, the New York Post delivers.
Tomorrow is going to be a total Schiff show. pic.twitter.com/Rr9jxDq3ZN
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 13, 2019
Writing about the CIA whistleblower, Goodwin notes that the Democrats “have relied on members of the resistance embedded in the government to serve as the hanging party. Some wear military uniforms while others are in the CIA and FBI.”
Schiff told NPR during an interview on Monday that he believes that Trump has committed bribery and other impeachable offenses.
“Bribery, first of all, as the founders understood bribery, it was not as we understand it in law today. It was much broader,” Schiff said. “It connoted the breach of the public trust in a way where you’re offering official acts for some personal or political reason, not in the nation’s interest.”
“The basic allegations against the president are that he sought foreign interference in a U.S. election, that he conditioned official acts on the performance of these political favors,” Schiff continued. “And those official acts include a White House meeting that the president of Ukraine desperately sought with President Trump, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded military assistance for a country that is at war with Russia and a country that the United States has a deep national security interest in making sure it can defend itself.”
Schiff also told NPR that he is not concerned if the Democrats bring articles of impeachment against Trump and then the Senate does not remove him from office.
“Impeachment is not only a remedy to remove a president. It’s also the most powerful sanction the House has. And if that deters further presidential misconduct, then it may provide some remedy even in the absence of a conviction in the Senate,” Schiff said. “But again, I have to hope that my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle will keep an open mind, will do their constitutional duty, will set aside the party of the president. Because otherwise, why are they even there and what does their oath of office really mean?”
Democrats’ impeachment hearings – which drew no bipartisan support from Republicans and even saw a couple of Democrats join the Republicans – are slated to kick off Wednesday at 10 a.m.