RUSH: One of the greatest misunderstood things about this program is that both sides are — like we’re gonna discuss impeachment today, you’re gonna know everything about what Adam Schiff is doing and why. You’re not just gonna hear him criticized. You’re gonna hear reasons why he’s criticized.

And, by the way, speaking of little Pencil Neck, have you noticed now (imitating Schiff), “You know what, maybe we don’t need the whistleblower.” Really? You don’t need the whistleblower? Why not? “Well, I’m not sure I can guarantee his safety and his anonymity.” Come on, Pencil Neck. That’s not the reason. You don’t need the whistleblower because he doesn’t know anything!

The whistleblower doesn’t have firsthand knowledge. When the transcript of the phone call was released, the whistleblowers became irrelevant. So now you know what the media’s doing? The media’s got stories that there may be 10 more whistleblowers. Could be 15 more. That many, many people are thinking of blowing the whistle. This is all about the continuation of the illusion that Trump has done something so outrageously wrong that an increasing number of people can no longer stay quiet!

And it’s all made up, like everything designed to get rid of Donald Trump, it is all made up! And so Pencil Neck is now trying to walk back his whistleblower business because the whistleblower can’t add anything! And I’ll guarantee you what, the whistleblower probably doesn’t want to have anything to do with this now because the whistleblower has to know he doesn’t know anything. Nobody is gonna tell you that, by the way.

Nobody is gonna lay this off on the whistleblower because the media’s invested too much in the whistleblower. The whistleblower is the biggest invisible hero on the left at the moment. They can’t blow up the whistleblower. They’ve gotta make it look like Trump is the reason is whistleblower won’t come forward. The whistleblower fears for his life, don’t you know. The whistleblower fears for the safety of his family, don’t you know. The whistleblower’s afraid of this or that.

Meanwhile, all of these allegations and all of these fears, not a single fact of any substance undergirds any of the allegations that have been made about Trump or against Trump since all of this began even prior to election night in 2016.

Now, what I was gonna say, I was gonna say I really wish I had been here Friday after that Trump rally Thursday night in Minneapolis. Let me ask you this. Did Richard Nixon ever go to a state that he lost and do a rally during impeachment or during the run-up to? No. Did Bill Clinton ever go to a state that he lost while he was being impeached for the cigar and the other stuff, the suborning perjury? Did he ever go to a state and do a rally that he lost while he was under the process? No.

And yet there’s Trump in Minnesota. And what a great contrast. You had in Minnesota, the Democrat Farm Labor state, you’ve got deliriously happy people inside that arena. Do you know there’s even a story, you gotta tell me if this made news on Friday because I was totally out of commission on Friday. It’s one of the reasons I wish I’d have been here.

There was a story about how young teenage girls were inside the rally reacting as though it was a Justin Bieber concert. Young teenagers were going bonkers over Trump. And then, of course, what was going on outside? A bunch of filthy, skanky, leftist Democrat protesters showing up and trying to beat people up and dump on the cops.

So what does Trump do? You know what the mayor of Minneapolis, what a brave and courageous guy this clown is. He told the cops they cannot attend the rally in the uniform of the Minneapolis police. So they showed up in red T-shirts. And Trump calls ’em up on stage and fetes them and gives them great credit, thanks them for their work and their sacrifice and their devotion to law and order. Who wins that one? Trump. I mean, and he scalded Ilhan Omar. I mean, he was on fire.

Did this look like a guy who’s bothered by any of this that’s going on? This is the thing that struck me. He’s perfectly fine, he’s perfectly happy. He’s not distracted. I mean, he’s bothered by it in the sense that any human would be bothered, but it’s not got him, you know, walking the hallways at night like Nixon supposedly was doing, asking portraits of presidents how to get through it. Trump isn’t doing that.

And he was asked about it. (paraphrasing) “No, I’m energized by this. We’re draining the swamp, bro, we’re draining the swamp, I’m into this.” We got audio sound bites of this that I made sure we had because I would have used them on Friday had I been here.

There’s also this. I’m almost tempted — you know what? I’m not gonna mention it. I am not gonna give this thing the first segment of my program. I’ll save this for another program. No, no, don’t even goad me into trying to say — everybody probably knows anyway.

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RUSH: Now, about the illusion. This is really important to understand. I know it’s hard to accept because the media is so omnipresent, and it smothers. You can’t escape it. You simply can’t escape, no matter where you go, you’re gonna find you’re gonna be touched by some element of Drive-By Media. And they are all unified, they are all in unison. There isn’t any journalism anymore. They’re all on the same page with their agenda to overturn the election results of 2016. This is really what this is about. They simply cannot accept the election results.

And, folks, this is a serious problem. That’s one of the pieces of glue that’s held the country together throughout our history. And we’re in a dangerous time now because that’s all these driving this. Donald Trump is not corrupt, he’s not a criminal, he’s not a traitor, he’s none of the things he’s been alleged to be by these people, and yet they persist. And the unwillingness to accept the outcome simply ’cause you don’t like the person or any other nefarious reasons a dangerous, dangerous place.

So all they have is to try to drum up public support. They’re trying to impeach him. They’re trying to defeat him in 2020. This requires public opinion to turn against him. That’s the entirety of their effort. There isn’t any substance. Is anybody asking a very salient question? How many years in a row were we told that Trump colluded with Russia and then the Mueller investigation happens, Mueller was it, Mueller was gonna release all the details and Trump was gonna be gone, the jig was gonna be up.

Guess what? Mueller laid an egg. There wasn’t any evidence of any collusion or any obstruction. That should be have been end of it. But nope, we move on now. So now we’re gonna impeach Trump over a phone call, a phone call that had not been made in 2016, a phone call that had not been made in 2017. A phone call that had not been made in 2018. We’re gonna get Trump in all those years, we’re gonna get him on collusion with Russia, we’re gonna get him on hiring prostitutes to pee on a bed in Moscow, we’re gonna get him for the emoluments clause, we’re gonna get him on whatever we’re gonna get him on, none of it, none of it was true!

None of it had any fact as a foundation. So now we’re gonna impeach Trump over a phone call. The American people are gonna be pulling their hair out over there, people paying attention to this, this has gotta be driving people crazy. There is nothing there other than this effort to create this ongoing illusion that they keep piling on.

The reason there are more whistleblowers is to create the depth of the illusion. Don’t care how many whistleblowers there are. They do not know more than what Trump said on the call! They don’t even know as much. They weren’t there. They’re secondhand. So now Schiff is talking about dumping the whistleblower, well, because of concern for safety, concern for his anonymity, may not even need the whistleblower now.

Why not? The whistleblower was the whole case! So we were gonna get Trump for colluding with the Russians and stealing the election, tampering with voting machines and all that, and then (raspberry) nothing. Now we’re gonna impeach Trump over a phone call? Really? A phone call between him and the president of Ukraine and the transcript of the phone call has been seen by anybody that wants to read it. I have even read to you the salient parts of that call relating to Biden and the request for the Ukrainian president to dig up dirt.

But not dig up dirt. The Ukrainian president was not asked to dig up dirt or make up dirt like the Democrats are saying. The fact they want to pull the whistleblower, I think it indicates they failed, even though they’re telling us that their internal polls show that the public is moving toward being in favor of impeachment, I’m not sure I believe it because their actions don’t portray that.

So it’s mind-boggling when you stop and think about it. A phone call that was not made in 2016, ’17 or, or ’18 is now the reason we got get rid of Donald Trump. But, no, we had to get rid of him in 2016 because he was cheating, he stole the election, he worked with the Russians, Vladimir Putin and all that. Anybody with half a brain paying any attention to this has gotta be asking themselves the very questions I’m raising.

So the illusion. We have two recent examples of how they are painting the illusion.

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RUSH: Laguna Niguel, California, beautiful place. Greg, great to have you with us. You’re up first.

CALLER: Well, I just had a quick comment, Rush. I think you need to reconsider your reasoning for Schiff not wanting the whistleblower to testify. The real reason is that the whistleblower under oath would have to expose Schiff’s own involvement and the involvement of other Democratic operatives.

RUSH: See, I thought of that, and in normal times that would be true. But these people are suborning perjury. Clinton did it during his impeachment. They’re not gonna let this whistleblower get expo. Now, look. In a just world and in a political world where things are working as they should be, that would be the number one reason not to bring the guy in, because you’d be making him commit perjury. But that’s not…

I don’t think they’re worried about that. That’s why this stuff’s gonna be in secret. Nobody’s gonna see it! It’s the first impeachment that nobody is going to see anything of. It’s a great point, that the whistleblower — if under oath telling the truth — would have to explain how Schiff walked him through the whole process, how Schiff was the first person he called. But these two guys, Schiff and the whistleblower, are in on it. They’re not gonna throw each other under the bus.

I think your point is a factor, and I think they believe now that, in addition to the whistleblower being irrelevant, they may think they’ve done so much good work here that the whistleblower isn’t necessary. That they’ve convinced enough people with the media reports on the whistleblower that when to actually need the whistleblower. So I think your point and that one dovetail. Quick time-out. I’m glad you called, Greg. Thanks very much.

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RUSH: I just saw something up there, a Fox News graphic, Doug Collins, congressman, Georgia, saying we can’t win this impeachment fight in public. We’re gonna have to take it behind closed doors. Well, I guess I can go on vacation, then. I just saw the graphic. I didn’t hear any of the report. I couldn’t because I didn’t have time, and I wasn’t wired into it.

Matt Gaetz, Florida, says that Schiff is running a kangaroo court, denying access to members of the House Judiciary Committee to what’s going on. Of course he is! They can’t dare do this in public. They’ve got nothing! This is the first impeachment the American people are not gonna see the process. This is the first impeachment that isn’t gonna be bipartisan. They’re not going to allow people to see what they’ve got because they don’t have anything. They’re going to be making it up behind closed doors for whenever they present it to the American people.

But would somebody track down what Doug Collins said? He’s a member of the Judiciary Committee from Georgia and, you know, he’s up there, not the ranking member, but he’s right behind Nunes, and I want to know what he meant by, “We can’t win this fight in public.” They better win it in public. They damn well better win it in public.

I think I know what he means that they’re gonna have to find their way in to these secret deals and meetings that Pencil Neck is conducting. In a way it’s kind of refreshing that they want to take them on this way rather than sit around and hope and pray that public opinion turns their way.

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RUSH: Okay. I misread the Fox chyron, or maybe I didn’t. But here’s what Doug Collins was — he was quoting the Democrats. Collins said, “Democrats said we can’t win this in public so we’re gonna take it behind closed doors.” Meanwhile, that’s why the Democrats are taking this behind closed doors. The way I read it, I thought Collins was talking about him and the Republicans when he said we can’t win this in public. I said, “Whoa!”

Well, it turns out that he was quoting Schiff, a mock quote. He was explaining the media. What Schiff is saying is we can’t, the Democrats can’t win this in public, so we’re gonna go behind closed doors. We’re working on the sound bite now. Now, good. That makes much — see, this is why — see, if I were a Drive-By Media guy, I would have run with the story and then when I find the truth I would not have fixed it. I would have let you think that Doug Collins had really said the Republicans have no way of beating this. But not me, folks. I wasn’t sure that I was reading that right. I wasn’t sure that it was right, so I waited to track it down. That’s why I am America’s Real Anchorman.

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RUSH: Okay, here’s Doug Collins. You know, another reason why I waited instead of running with what was obviously wrong, my interpretation of what I saw on Fox News was totally wrong. I thought their chyron graphic said that Doug Collins said we can’t win in public. We’re gonna have to take it behind closed doors.

I said, “Whoa, what the hell is that?” You know, he’s one of the ranking Republicans on the Intelligence Committee, which is Schiff’s committee. So I said, “Wait a minute. That doesn’t make sense to me. I better wait and find out what it was.” It turns out he was quoting Schiff. He was actually telling the media, “Look, it’s the Democrats that have to hide what they’re doing. The Democrats have said they can’t win this in public, they can’t do the impeachment in public and win with it. They have to do it behind closed doors.”

Why did I wait? Why was I responsible? Because I am America’s Adult, as well as responsible. Of course, the two go hand in hand. So here’s Doug Collins. This is what the Fox chyron graphic was, and it is from Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo yesterday morning on the Fox News Channel. She’s talking with Doug Collins, and this is where he said the quote in question.

COLLINS: Speaker Pelosi and Adam Schiff had to say we’ve got a failing plan here. We promised the Democratic base that we would impeach the president. And so far, we can’t do it, in fact, we’ve shown that he’s done nothing wrong, except have a great economy, and a great standing around the world. So here’s what they did, Maria, and the viewers need to know this. They say we can’t win this in the public eye, so we’re gonna take it behind closed doors.

And so in the last few days, they have taken it behind closed doors. Adam Schiff who has trouble telling the truth much less spelling it, but he’s a very good leaker, let’s be honest about what he is good at. He’s a good leaker. So what they did is take it behind closed doors, have testimony that I’ve heard from folks that were in the room, they said these transcripts should be released completely because they defeat the entire narrative.

RUSH: Right. So I’m glad that I waited on this because — and I don’t know that the Fox graphic was wrong. I may not have seen the whole thing. But it did say Doug Collins, then colon, and then the quote marks, “We can’t win this in public.” So the graphic made it look like he was talking about Republicans.

Now, here’s Matt Gaetz, who is angry as heck today. This is today on Capitol Hill speaking to reporters about having been kicked out of today’s House intelligence and oversight Foreign Affairs Committee hearing where former White House advisor on Russia, Fiona Hill, was testifying. A Republican got kicked out. Here’s what he said about it.

GAETZ: Why is Adam Schiff trying to run a kangaroo court? Why is he continuing to limit access to evidence, limit access even from members of Congress? So I’m deeply disappointed that, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, on behalf of my constituents I’m unable to participate and listen to the questions and answers.

RUSH: So here are some other headlines along the way that we’ll get into in the next hour. “Democrats Weigh Knee-Capping a Republican Impeachment Criticism.” That’s a Politico story. They’re all excited how the Democrats are thinking about ripping apart one of the Republican criticisms of this.

Then here’s the story about the Fox News poll being erroneous in terms of how its sample was represented. From the Washington Post: “New Revelations About Trump Test Pelosi’s Narrow Impeachment Strategy.” And then there’s a piece by Rachel Bovard, the American Greatness, “The Democrat Impeachment Circus.”

“Ukraine Whistleblower May Not Testify In Person.” “Schiff Says Congress May Not Need To Interview Whistleblower After All.” I’m gonna explain all of these in the next hour. These are the signs of the Democrat plan meeting obstacles they didn’t plan on.

This is CBS News: “Impeachment inquiry: Adam Schiff says whistleblower testimony might not be necessary,” on Slay the Nation. “Joe Biden worked with whistleblower when he was vice president, officials reveal.” “Adam Schiff has two aides who worked with the whistleblower at the White House.” This is such a scam, folks.

What happened to Russian collusion? Two and a half years, nothing. Now this, a phone call that wasn’t even made in 2016, ’17, this is what we’re gonna impeach Trump over? I think there hasn’t been anything this baseless since I can’t remember when.