The following is republished from November 14, 2019. It’s part of a series of blogs I wrote in the wake of Donnie Trump’s July 25, 2019 phone call with Ukrain’s president-elect, Volodymyr Zelensky.

That call was icing on the cake that Donnie had been baking for years, offering up Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. You can refresh your memory of the event that led to Donnie’s first impeachment by clicking HERE.

Looking back, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was either a liar or an idiot when she said that Donnie had “learned his lesson.”

Lucky for her, Republicans’ super power is rewriting history.

THE four people mentioned in the title earned their way there with a common, inexplicable character flaw.

Jordan, Meadows and Nunes are hyper-partisan operatives in the House of Representatives.  They have abandoned their oaths to defend the Constitution in favor of protecting a criminal, which makes them accomplices and co-conspirators.

Other co-conspiring luminaries include Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, Nikki Haley, Mick Mulvaney and John Ratcliffe and the list grows hourly.

Ratcliffe is a congressman.  Paul is the junior senator from Kentucky, Graham the senior senator from South Carolina.

Mick Mulvaney is Donald Trump’s acting Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of Management and Budget and he’s getting paid for both jobs.

Nikki Haley is the former governor of South Carolina, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and undoubtedly, a future presidential candidate.  She is the most recent recruit into the Trump Crime Syndicate.

John Kass is a respected columnist, a member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board and a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary.

It might seem odd to put Kass’s name in the title with three lying liars, but they share a defining criterion; irrational defense of the indefensible.

Last weekend Nikki Haley made three assertions that defy believability.  She said that Donnie Trump is truthful, listens well and was a good boss.

Only Haley can tell us why she said those things, but all available evidence screams the contrary.

Haley also said that since Ukraine eventually got the military aid as promised-AFTER the whistleblower report-and President Volodymyr Zelensky did not make requisite allegations against Joe Biden, there was no quid pro quo.

Forget quid pro quo.  Unless Julius Caesar is visiting, there’s no reason to get bogged down with a dead language.  It’s bad enough Donnie Trump is killing English.

This particular crime is pretty straightforward.   Trump tried to extort actions from the president of Ukraine by withholding desperately needed military assistance.

He tried to bribe him to do his personal bidding with taxpayer dollars that were earmarked by Congress for Ukrainian defense.

The fact that Trump’s efforts were ineffective and when caught, he released the aid to Ukraine does not make it less of a crime.

Lindsey Graham said that Trump was too stupid and his foreign policy too disorganized to perpetrate extortion.

As Stephen Colbert noted, If being bad at something determined whether or not you are that thing, then Trump is neither a businessman nor a husband.

In John Kass’s recent column, The ‘Whistleblower’ and Rep. Adam Schiff should be first to testify in Trump Impeachment Theater  he makes three assertions, two of which are right there in the title:
1. The impeachment inquiry has been unfair to Donald Trump
2. Adam Schiff should testify
3. The whistleblower should testify

As a matter of policy, common sense and constitutional law, the closed-door hearings held in the impeachment matter were not only appropriate, but constitutionally mandated.

Think of impeachment as an indictment, which is generally preceded by a grand jury investigation before any charges (impeachment or indictment) are brought against the subject of the investigation.

Grand jury hearings are secret.  Only the prosecutor calls witnesses and the subject of the investigation rarely appears, but is not even allowed to have a lawyer in the room if he does.

During the impeachment inquiries, members of the President’s party were not only present, they were able to question witnesses.  As we’ve seen in the open hearings begun yesterday, their only purpose seems to be to discredit witnesses, not to uncover facts.

Think of Adam Schiff as the lead prosecutor or the judge, whichever works for you.  The question is, when have you ever heard of a prosecutor or judge being called as a witness?

Schiff is neither a party nor a witness to the events in question.  His job is to find out if Donald Trump committed acts detrimental to the security of our nation.

Bribery happens to be one crime specifically mentioned in the Constitution as an impeachable offense.  A really high crime.

We are constantly reminded that If you see something, say something.

Whistleblowers are protected by law and should not be subjected to the kind of intimidation that rains down on anyone who crosses Little Donnie.  He’s already accused the whistleblower of treason and suggested that he should suffer the fate of traitors (death).

Protecting whistleblowers the best way we have of protecting the integrity of our government, our national security and ultimately, ourselves.

Where would we be if fire chiefs demanded to know who sounded the alarm and why before responding to calls?   We’d have a bunch of burned down houses, that’s where.

There’s a fire in the White House.  Maybe it’s time to put it out before the house burns down.

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