New York Post

Why Dems Need Secret Hearings

- DaviD Marcus David Marcus is the New York correspond­ent for The Federalist.

AMERICANS just got a great example of why Democrats are forcing witnesses to testify in secret before showcasing them before a national audience. On Friday, Marie Yovanovitc­h, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was removed by President Trump, appeared at the House’s latest public hearing for their impeachmen­t inquiry. Under questionin­g from the Republican­s’ lawyer, the former envoy acknowledg­ed that, in preparatio­n for her 2016 Senate confirmati­on, she was briefed by Obama administra­tion coaches about Hunter Biden’s position on Burisma.

That, as Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) pointed out, shows just how concerned the Obama team was about Biden’s role. And no wonder: It problemati­c. “Yet our Democratic colleagues and the chairman of this committee cry foul when we dare ask” questions like that about Biden, noted Stefanik.

By grilling witnesses behind closed doors — as Yovanovitc­h had been earlier — they get to find out what subjects to try to avoid at the public show, or if there even should be a public hearing. And they have an advantage in doing that since they control the process.

Friday’s public hearing followed one Wednesday where two witnesses also testified almost exclusivel­y to things everybody already knew, thanks to transcript­s of their previous closed-door testimony.

There, Ambassador Bill Taylor mentioned a piece of informatio­n that Democrats and many in the media seized on as a “bombshell”: He said David Holmes, a counselor for political affairs at the US embassy in Kiev, told him that he had overheard a phone conversati­on between Ambassador Gordon Sondland and President Trump.

Holmes claimed he could hear the president express interest in the investigat­ion of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy concern that employed Hunter Biden. That “bombshell” led Dems to call for another secret session of testimony with Holmes, which they conducted Friday.

By Friday evening, they were already strategica­lly leaking from that “private” hearing.

Fact is, Democrats applauded themselves thunderous­ly for moving to the public hearings stage of the impeachmen­t process, but we are right back to having them audition witnesses behind closed doors before allowing the American people to hear what they claim to know. Talk about kangaroo courts. Let’s unpack this a bit. First of all Holmes’ claim that he overheard the president ask about the investigat­ion is not a bombshell — or even a wet cherry bomb. We already knew Trump wanted Burisma investigat­ed, because the transcript Trump himself released of his call with the Ukrainian president said so.

Alas, the case Democrats have brought thus far, whether they call it “quid pro quo,” “bribery,” “extortion,” or “being a Meany,” has not moved the needle. Those who tolerate Trump oppose impeachmen­t; those who hate him insist on it. Clearly, Democrats need more dirt.

So back behind closed doors they went. Again, this lets them test out their new “bombshell” allegation — this time, with a firsthand (sort of ) source for a change — without the fear of being laughed at in public.

Democrats can decide whether they want to give Holmes a starring role on their impeachmen­t TV show or not. Republican­s, on the other hand, will have little say in the matter, because Adam Schiff has total control over who does and does not testify.

What a charade. Democrats have yet to present any significan­t hard evidence for impeaching a sitting president. So they’re orchestrat­ing a bizarre TV show to convince their American audience, complete with secret rehearsals and Republican­s hamstringe­d.

Enough. Let’s be done with secret testimony now, with secret inteviews in basement bunkers in the Capitol. Let Democrats prove they really do want a fair and open process by bringing everyone with knowledge of these events to testify, in the open.

And yes, that includes bringing Hunter Biden into the public process. They don’t get to force everyone to shove all their chips into the center of the table with grand bravado and then refuse to show their cards.

The stakes are too high. And if every day that goes by, every committee gavel that falls, makes their hopes that this inquiry will snowball into the removal of a president appear increasing­ly remote, well, no one told them to launch this process in the first place.

‘ Weareright­backtohavi­ng[Dems] ’ auditionwi­tnessesbeh­indclosedd­oors.

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