Middle school prank

William Taylor is the Ambassador to Ukraine. He got the job when Marie Yovanovich was forced out for standing against corruption. Last Tuesday Taylor testified before the House committees investigating impeachment.

Taylor said Ukraine is vital because it has been under attack by Russia for the last five years. America needs to help in that defense. But once in Kyiv Taylor saw an irregular informal channel of US policy making involving now well known operatives. Short version: Yes, there was indeed quid pro quo of the nasty guy trying to get Ukraine to dig up (create) dirt on Joe Biden. I’ll let you wade through the damning details.

On Wednesday two dozen GOP House members complained that the impeachment hearings were being illegally held in secret. They entered the hearing room and disrupted the proceedings for several hours.

This was a Bad Thing for several reasons.

* The room is electronically secure so that highly confidential matters can be discussed without outside snooping. These GOP members compromised that security by entering the room with their cell phones, requiring a long process to resecure the room. There is a bit more about that here, but for obvious reasons technical details of what harm the phones did is not included.

* Half of those Republicans who compromised the room are members of the impeachment committees and have been active in questioning witnesses and receiving testimony – as have another 34 GOP members. These proceedings have been done with full knowledge of Republicans.

* If those Republicans want to make those proceedings less secretive they could release some of the testimony. They have already talked to the press, trying to characterize testimony as either untrustworthy or not at all damaging.

* This stunt had the knowledge and approval of GOP House leadership and the nasty guy.

So why did they do a prank worthy of middle school? Because they have nothing that would exonerate the nasty guy.

Sarah Kendzior tweeted a link to a Buzzfeed story that is deeply troubling. One of those 46 Republicans sitting on various impeachment committees is Greg Pence, the vice nasty guy’s older brother. A commenter wonders why this isn’t being talked about in the mass media.