The House GOP has released their impeachment witness list and it is a pile of garbage filled with names that will never approved, such as Hunter Biden, the anonymous whistleblower and Nellie Ohr (why?). The list was due on Saturday and included many names that make sense if you are still trying to push the conspiracy theories and the corruption/Biden narrative to avoid a real impeachment investigation.
The House passed a resolution outlining the process which gave Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, or a majority of the committee members, the right to approve the witnesses to be called. On Saturday the White House spy, Rep. Devin Nunes, sent a letter to Schiff that provided a list of witnesses and complained that the investigation was a “sham impeachment process."
Womp womp.
The list of witnesses include the following people: Joe Biden's son, Hunter. Why? Who knows? Hunter Biden has literally nothing to do with Donald Trump's attempt at extortion and bribery in regards to Ukraine and his politically motivated withholding of military aid, other than being the subject of a Breitbart conspiracy theory. But, that does not help the Republicans continue to push their stupid, fake narrative about this somehow being 3-D political chess at the hand of the master of all foreign policy, Donald Trump.
Schiff told NBC on Saturday that he does not intend to call Biden, saying “This inquiry is not and will not serve, however, as a vehicle to undertake the same sham investigations into the Bidens or 2016 that the President pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit."
For the Democrats' part, they have not announced everyone they intend to call. So far, they have stated that they will have public hearings this week with William Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine; George Kent, an assistant secretary in the State Department; and former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
So who DO the Republicans want to call?
The anonymous whistleblower. Never. Gonna. Happen. Why? Because everything s/he has alleged in their complaint has been corroborated by other witnesses. There is nothing to benefit from outing this person. For their part, the whistleblower has offered to answer questions in writing, but of course, the GOP is against that.
Hunter Biden and business partner, Devon Archer. Both Biden and Archer served on the board of directors at Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company. Again, these two witnesses have nothing to do with the impeachment inquiry as they were not involved in Trump's bribery and extortion scheme.
Alexandra Chalupa, former DNC contractor. Weird connection. Chalupa used to work at the DNC. Trump really really really wants to find a way to blame Ukraine for interfering in the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton so he can let Russia off the hook. He is also still buying into the conspiracy theory that the DNC server is a physical thing, housed somewhere in Ukraine.
Nellie Ohr, former contractor for Fusion GPS. Again, this is tied to a baseless conspiracy theory that has zilch to do with the impeachment investigation.
Tim Morrison, former White House aide for Europe and Russia policy. This witness is actually relevant. But this is an odd witness for the GOP to insist upon, as it has been reported that during his closed doors deposition he told the investigators that there WAS a quid pro quo: military aid in exchange for an investigation into the Bidens.
David Hale, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. This witness has also spoken with the House committees behind closed doors. He is expected to say that Rudy Giuliani pushed to remove Yovanovitch from her position, which may try to take the heat of Trump and make it seem less as a political move.
Kurt Volker, former US special representative to Ukraine. Volker would already be on the Democrat list, most likely. In Volker's case, he was involved in numerous texts that showed he was a willing participant in any scheme to withhold aid.
So who will the Democrats approve? They cannot flat out exclude everyone. But clearly bringing in people like Hunter Biden, Nellie Ohr and Alexandra Chalupa serve no purpose other than to make this investigation a complete sideshow.
