With all due respect, Rep. Hurd is an intelligent man, however, Rep. Hurd is dispelling the testimony over the past two weeks by extremely qualified people. His time for questioning was used for a speech and eliminated any questions that were to be answered competently by the two witnesses.
He stated the witnesses were appearing because of five words, "Do me a favor, though..." in relation to the 2016 (error - 2020) election and the mention of the word (error - name) Biden." That is grossly incorrect. The hearings are not a political agenda item on the DNC platform, it is a hearing necessitated by a president abusing his power.
The complaint by the whistleblower and the attached letter is extensive. The five words and the name Biden are only among the many references to the abuse of power which insists on Rudy Guiliani, supposedly the president's personal attorney, handle the matter of an investigation of Hunter Biden and Burisma.
In his soliloquy, Rep. Hurd bemoans not hearing from Hunter Biden, Rudy Guiliani, and the Whistleblower. Then on top of what are probably obvious reasons to hear from these folks, Hurd goes on to demand knowledge of whom the whistleblower spoke to before his complaint was filed; disguised in the words "We need to understand the motivation and level of coordination prior...." In stating "We" (Congress, I guess.) need to understand more, he raises the legitimacy of the complaint. That would ONLY be a legitimate concern if all the witnesses of the past two weeks disputed the complaint. That didn't happen. The majority of witnesses validated the complaint and THE WORDS OF THE PHONE CALL TRANSCRIPT. I find Hurd's skepticism an insult to the whistleblower, subsequent witnesses AND THE PROCESS of the US House Impeachment Inquiry.
Rep. Hurd recognizes the abuse of power and the attack by Trump against Ukrainian interests. Rep. Hurd also goes on to state the hearings were to illustrate a subservient Ukraine that could not function without the USA. But, instead, Rep. Hurd states "...they are holding their own..." to indicate the Javelins weren't even necessary. Rep. Hurd also states the US House Intelligence Committee is being used inappropriately in hearing a serious impeachment inquiry and goes on to state there are many different opinions among those that testified as to whether the call was concerning or not.
For real?
The majority of the witnesses believe the call was inappropriate and dangerous in indicating a civilian attorney would be conducting USA foreign policy as a domestic political favor was needed to allow that to happen.
I am quite certain the witnesses of the past two weeks are insulted by Rep. Hurd's assessment. Former White House assistant, Fiona Hill, felt she needed to clarify the brevity of the false narrative being propagated by Russian intelligence and welcomed by Republicans as a basis to justify the abuse of power by the president. Dr. Hill in her opening statement reiterated the dangers of allowing Russian narratives to invade USA dialogue.
"The impact (click here) of the successful 2016 campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined.
That is compelling and urgent testimony. It is a lot more than five words and a name. She also stated:
"When we are consumed by partisan rancor, we cannot combat these external forces as they seek to divide us against each another, degrade our institutions, and destroy the faith of the American people in our democracy."
She is correct and Rep. Will Hurd is practicing the very dynamic Dr. Hill warned of in her opening statement. Hurd goes on to state, perhaps in self-affirmation, "An impeachment has to be compelling, overwhelmingly clear and unambiguous." I dare anyone, including Rep. Hurd, to state the whistleblower complaint, the transcript and two weeks of public hearings do not have all three aspects of that dynamic. With those three conditions stated, it is now clear Republicans have sought to undermine the legitimacy of all that is before the American people in a compelling, overwhelmingly clear and unambiguous abuse of power by Donald J. Trump and his assistants such as Rudy Guiliani.
Representative Will Hurd is a very clear example of the obtuseness, either naively or willfully, of the Republicans that seek only to justify their own political preferences RATHER THAN THE TRUTH. The Republicans are a danger to the USA Constitution.
The Republicans have no problem with a president that abuses the powers of his office and prefers the company of strong man dictators over that of allies. That is very, very worrisome.
