The Trump impeachment inquiry is fast approaching the stage of the full House voting on formal articles of impeachment, and after those articles presumed approval, the case would move to the Senate, which unfortunately for those concerned about Trump’s corruption, remains controlled by Republicans. In an unhinged appearance on Meet the Press this weekend, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz railed against the House impeachment inquiry as supposedly a “kangaroo court” and insisted that the conspiracy theories that Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate before getting aid are completely legitimate. The revelation of that quid pro quo plot kickstarted the impeachment inquiry.
Cruz complained:
‘This is a kangaroo court in the House. They are going to impeach, not because they have the evidence, but because they hate the president … It’s going to go to the Senate. It’s going to go nowhere.’
At this point, considering the witness after witness who have testified publicly and the ample evidence that Democrats leading the investigation have also made available publicly, it’s unclear that there is a single piece of evidence in existence that would get Republicans to admit that Trump had done anything wrong. Even if Trump stood in front of them and confessed, they’d likely still refuse to admit wrongdoing — after all, at this point Trump has already stood on the White House lawn, in front of news cameras, and demanded foreign election interference.
The conspiracy theories that Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate include the idea that there was something corrupt about then-Vice President Joe Biden’s pressure for Ukraine to fire a top prosecutor who happened to have previously looked into a company that Joe’s son Hunter worked for. There’s no evidence of wrongdoing, making Trump’s relentless push nothing but a political ploy, in reality.
Cruz insisted anyway:
‘I believe any president, any Justice Department, has the authority to investigate corruption. In this case, there was serious evidence on the face of corruption.’
Wrong.
The only “corruption” that Trump asked Ukraine to investigate centered on his political rivals. The only shred of demonstrable “evidence” suggesting any kind of wrongdoing is the shared last name of Joe and Hunter Biden. There’s nothing else. Republicans’ hunches don’t magically become compelling evidence because they repeat them enough times.
Cruz went on to defend the Russian propaganda conspiracy theory that Ukraine led meddling in the 2016 elections, which would exonerate Trump’s pals the Russians. There’s no evidence for this either, although just recently, Trump ally Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) even claimed that a Ukrainian president was “actively working” for Hillary Clinton. That just didn’t happen.
No matter, Cruz insisted as follows — and as he speaks, what are seemingly laughs can be heard in the background, presumably from show staffers:
‘Chuck, let me point out a game that the media is playing — a question that you’ve asked a number of people. You’ve said to Senators, sort of aghast — do you believe that Ukraine, not Russia interfered in the election?… Of course Russia interfered in our election… Because Russia interfered, the media pretends nobody else did. Ukraine blatantly interfered in our election.’
The “evidence” that he presented for this meddling included a single, solitary article that a Ukrainian official wrote criticizing Trump. That is nowhere near the “meddling” that Russia completed. These desperate gambits come as Republicans still struggle to put together any kind of systematic defense.
WATCH: @SenTedCruz says he believes Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election. #MTP #IfItsSunday pic.twitter.com/WgMI38DKW7
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 8, 2019
