RUSH: Matthew Whitaker who is the acting attorney general who’s gonna be leaving office next week after they confirm the fulltime attorney general, William Barr, has been testifying before Jerry Nadler’s House Oversight Committee. It has been hilarious.
This guy Whitaker is a genius. This guy Whitaker is amazing to watch, because this whole thing, this whole hearing today is a total sham. It’s actually the first House hearing chaired by Democrats which is aimed at trying to move along the whole concept of impeaching President Trump. And so every one of these Democrats – in fact, I’ll tell you, Nadler, of course he’s the chairman so he’s asking the first series of questions, and each congressman gets five minutes.
Whitaker’s giving ’em nothing. The questions are basically, “Did you tell Ivanka Trump that you think Mueller is full of crap? Did you discuss the special counsel with the Jared Kushner? Did you discuss the special counsel with President Trump? Did you tell anybody even before you got to Washington that you think Mueller is a lying skunk?” It’s those kinds of questions.
“Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that question. Of course I am not permitted to discuss my private –”
“Yes or no. I don’t care what you did. Yes or no. Did you talk to anybody about how you think Mueller is a creep?”
“Ah, Mr. Chairman, I really appreciate that question. That question is really –”
“I didn’t ask whether you appreciate it. Yes or no. Yes or no.” And he’s not answering anything. And as Nadler was approaching the end of his five minutes, he’s in the middle of a question and Matt Whitaker says, “Mr. Chairman, I see your time’s about up.” (laughing) And the whole room busted up in laughter as the witness is telling the committee chairman that his time is up.
Now, right before the program began, this is a show into and unto itself. Sheila Jackson Lee was attempting to interrogate the witness, Matthew Whitaker, the acting AG, and she was getting frustrated because she’s demanding that he answer yes or no. He’s refusing to answer anything, period, much less yes or no. He keeps telling them how much he appreciates the question and how valuable the question is, and then he said, “I’ve answered this.”
And they are. They’re asking him the same questions over and over. It’s a perjury trap. What they’re setting here really is a process crime, perjury trap, but he’s a very smart guy. He’s very much aware what they’re trying to do here. This is like Sheila Jackson Lee (imitating Lee), “Are you aware that the Russian interference in the election in 2016 is one of the worst things that ever happened in America? Do you oppose it or are you in favor of Russia interference? Mr. Whitaker, you ran for the U.S. Senate; right? Did the Russians help you in your election?”
“Madam congressman, if the Russians had sought me or foreign agents I think I would have called the FBI. But it didn’t happen so I didn’t call the FBI. I’ve not known any foreign nationals attempt to intimate me or influence any other election.”
And like all liberals, they think everybody else is the idiots and they’re the geniuses, and in practically every case they have their lunch handed to ’em. It’s been fascinating, funny to watch, frustrating at the same time. But the Democrat incompetence has been on parade. But that is nothing new.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
I got a sound bite here of Sheila Jackson Lee trying to get something out of Matthew Whitaker. I opened the program telling you how hilarious this was, how enjoyable this was to watch. Cookie went out there and found it. It runs about a minute. But it’s classic. The House Judiciary Committee hearing about the special counsel investigation.
And again, they’re trying to get Whitaker to admit that he’s told everybody what’s going on, and he thinks Mueller sucks and he thinks Mueller is a criminal and he thinks this whole thing’s an outrage and they’ve been asking him every which way from Sunday, “Did you talk to the president about the special counsel? Did you talk to the attorney general? Did you tell Ivanka Trump that you think Mueller ought to be in jail? Did you have anything to do with CNN knowing what was going on with Roger Stone?” All of this stuff. And he’s refusing to answer as much of it as he can. And when he came up against Sheila Jackson Lee, I don’t know how he kept a straight face.
LEE: You did not have a confirmation hearing and you have not yet appeared for an oversight hearing? Yes or no? Yes or no?
WHITAKER: Congresswoman, I am the acting —
LEE: Yes or no. Have you appeared before an oversight hearing in the Congress?
NADLER: Witness will answer the question as asked, please. The member has only five minutes. And if she wants a “yes” or “no” answer she’s entitled to it. I will not allow the witness to stall and waste the member’s time.
NADLER: Yes, you may.
LEE: Mr. Attorney General, the question is, did you have a confirmation hearing, and has it been more than 10 years since you testified before Congress? Can the clock be restored?
NADLER: It was.
WHITAKER: I don’t know if your time’s been restored or not.
LEE: Mr. Attorney General, we’re not joking here, and your humor is not acceptable. Now, you’re here because we have a constitutional duty to ask questions, and the Congress has the right to establishment government rules. The rules are that you are here. So I need to ask the question, and I need to have my time restored so that you can behave appropriately.
RUSH: Yeah. And then she said she needed to go on and pursue her next line of inquiry, and then he refused to answer. (imitating Lee) “I need to go pursue more questions. Mr. Attorney General, are you aware that there is a flag from the United States on Mars, placed there by astronauts?” And she did say that one time. There is no flag on the surface of Mars. It’s the Moon. But she didn’t know that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Open Line Friday. Back to the phones. Matt, Bristol, Connecticut. Great to have you, sir. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How you doing?
RUSH: Good. Thank you, sir.
CALLER: My question which I’ve been worried about, is William Barr actually gonna do his job or will he be another Jeff Sessions?
RUSH: Oh, no, he’s not gonna be Jeff Sessions. What is your complaint about Sessions? I guess I should ask that before I actually answer.
CALLER: Complete inactivity, not following up or doing —
RUSH: All right. Well, I can assure you that Barr is not inept. I can assure you that he is engaged. I can assure you that he’s not an idiot. But I can’t assure you beyond that. I mean, I don’t know, for example, if you’re asking me what he’s gonna do vis-a-vis the Mueller investigation. Couldn’t begin to tell you. Now, this hearing that’s going on today, these Democrats are losing their minds today talking to Matt Whitaker.
And they’ve got themselves tied into pretzels believing that he has. And not just him. They think that everybody that works for Trump has been trying to sabotage and undermine the Mueller investigation, and they will not let this go. And they are really out of their minds angry today. And this hearing today, if you have a chance to follow, look at it, it’s a forerunner of what the next two years are gonna be. This is all the Democrats are gonna do, even after the Mueller report comes out, if it’s not what they want it to be, they’re gonna be looking at people that they think undermined it, sabotaged it.
But everything I know about Barr is great reputation, brilliant guy. The one memo he wrote about this Mueller investigation was not complimentary of it at all. He wrote a memo suggesting that the Mueller focus on obstruction of justice was just absurd, which was correct. But beyond that I know no more than you do.
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