Oops, so sorry, Republicans, but Judge Andrew Napolitano is right: The rules Adam Schiff is following were written in 2015 by the Republican House Majority under John Boehner.
During his appearance on Fox and Friends Thursday morning, Judge Napolitano laid it out for Fox & Friends and their audience of one. “They can’t change the rules,” he told his fellow couch dwellers. “They follow the rules. When were the rules written last? In January of 2015. And who signed them? John Boehner. And who enacted them? A Republican majority.”
If you listen carefully, you can hear the shattered lie falling away into the void. What? Republicans wrote the rules? Say it isn't so!
“The rules say this level of inquiry, this initial level of inquiry can be done in secret,” Napolitano explained. “What happened in the Nixon impeachment? My former boss. I was his page in the House of Representatives. Peter Rodino, instead of holding the hearings in secret, interviewed the witnesses in secret. Congressman Henry Hyde in the Clinton impeachment, witnesses interviewed in secret and presented in public. Congressman Schiff, with a different set of rules, chooses to do initial set of interviews in secret.”
Oh, shoot. That pretty much destroys the process arguments Republicans are making.
“Secret doesn’t work in this world,” Napolitano warned. “Eventually there will be a public presentation of this. At which point lawyers for the president can cross-examine these people and challenge them. This is like presenting a case to a grand jury, which is never done in public. "
Oh hey, look at that! And when that public presentation is made, who wants to be the guy that tells Trump he's got to resign before the Senate removes him from office?
"So, I get it. The Republicans are frustrated," Napolitano said. "And they wanted to make a point. And they made their point. But this is just not the most effective way to show respect for what your colleagues are doing.”
Let's just call that stunt what it was, in Jackie Speier's words: A high school prank by a bunch of 50-year-old white men.
It's too bad that anytime someone tells the truth on Fox News they're given the Trump treatment. How long before he launches another tirade about how Napolitano wanted a Supreme Court appointment from him?
