Rep. Eric Swalwell NAILED It: Trump Knew Everything

By Red Painter — December 9, 2019

Rep. Eric Swalwell must have been an amazing prosecutor before he left California to come to the Washington, DC to work in the House of Representatives. He has this amazing, clean and concise way of getting right to the heart of the matter. It is exceptionally hard to use your 5 minutes well in these hearings, and it is even more difficult when the other party is throwing tantrums, flinging (verbal) feces and trying to prevent the truth from coming out.

But, Swalwell persists.

Here is some of an exchange he had with the Democrat Counsel, Daniel Goldman (who, by the way, absolutely killed it today - and at previous hearings).

First, Swalwell hammered the White House for their blanket obstruction:

SWALWELL: Mr. Goldman, would you welcome the problem of having 8,000 documents given to you by the White House.

GOLDMAN: It would be a wonderful problem to have.

SWALWELL: How many have they given you?

GOLDMAN: Zero.

Then Swalwell swiveled over to Castor and eviscerated him on live tv:

SWALWELL: Okay. So you talked about the "anti-corruption President" that we have in Donald Trump. The person who had a fraud settlement relating to Trump University. The person who just recently, with his own charity, had a settlement related to fraud. Let's talk about that anti-corruption President of ours. Take a wild guess, Mr. Castor, how many times has President Trump met with Vladimir Putin or talked to him.

CASTOR: I don't know the number.

SWALWELL: It's 16. How many times has President Trump met at the White House with President Zelensky?

CASTOR: Um --

SWALWELL: It's zero. And who is President Trump meeting with at the White House tomorrow, do you know?

CASTOR: I'm not --

SWALWELL: It's Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.

CASTOR: Okay.

That sound you just heard was the last vestiges of Castor's professional career going out the window.

Swalwell got back to Ukraine and the withholding aid, how that affects U.S. national security. He also had a back and forth about how this decision would hurt the United States reputation.

And then Swalwell drops the hammer:

SWALWELL: During Watergate, the famous phrase from Senator Howard Baker was asked: "What did the President know and when did he know it?" There is a reason that no one here has repeated those questions during these hearings. We know what the President did. And we know when he knew it. Mr. Goldman, who sent Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to smear Joe Biden?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who fired the anti-corruption Ambassador in Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who told Ambassador Sondland and Ambassador Volker to work with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who told Vice President Pence to not go to President Zelensky's inauguration?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who ordered his own Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney to withhold critical military assistance for Ukraine?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who refused to meet with President Zelensky in the Oval Office?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who ignored on July 25 his own national security council anti-corruption talking points?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who asked President Zelensky for a favor?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who personally asked President Zelensky to investigate his political rival Joe Biden?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who stood on the White House lawn and confirmed that he wanted Ukraine to investigate Vice President Biden?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: Who stood on that same lawn and said that China should also investigate Vice President Biden?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump.

SWALWELL: As to anything that we do not know in this investigation, who has blocked us from knowing it?

GOLDMAN: President* Trump and the White House.

SWALWELL: So as it relates to President Trump, is he an incidental player or a central player in this scheme.

GOLDMAN: President Trump is the central player in this scheme.

SWALWELL: There is a reason that no one has said "what did the President know and when did he know it?" From the evidence that you have presented, Mr. Goldman, and the Intelligence Committee findings, we know one thing and one thing is clear. As it related to this scheme, the President* of the United States, Donald J. Trump, knew everything.

Donald Trump knew everything because he orchestrated it, pushed for it, checked up on it and continues to encourage it. He is a criminal.