THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS
‘Literally Just Making Things Up Right Now’: Legal Analyst Wallops Turley’s Testimony Against Impeachment as ‘Nonsense’
“A tap dancing exercise in intellectual dishonesty”
George Washington University Law School Law professor Jonathan Turley was the GOP’s only witness during Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings, and based on the reactions of legal experts, it did not go well for him or the Republicans.
Professor Turley made many claims, with MSNBC hosts at one point declaring what he was really doing was offering new amendments to the U.S. Constitution, suggesting his arguments against impeaching President Trump did not hold up.
CNN National Security and Legal Analyst Susan Hennessey is calling Turley’s claims “nonsense,” and says Democrats should turn their attention to him to “demolish” his arguments.
The Democrats should use a few rounds of their time just allowing the other witnesses to respond to Turley. Each one can and will thoroughly demolish it as nonsense.
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) December 4, 2019
Hennessey, who is also the Executive Editor at the highly-respected Lawfare blog, goes on to say, “Turley is literally just making things up right now.”
Turley had argued that House Democrats were guilty of abuse of power for attempting to impeach Trump for using the courts as a shield to refuse to hand over any subpoenaed materials and to block key witnesses from testifying.
Hennessey clearly disagreed:
I cannot emphasis enough that Turley is literally just making things up right now. Claiming that impeaching on obstruction without waiting for the courts to weigh in is abuse, that’s literally just a thing he’s saying with no precedent or constitutional grounding whatsoever.
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) December 4, 2019
She was not yet finished, accusing Turley of engaging in “a tap dancing exercise in intellectual dishonesty.”
To the extent he wants to now turn to obstruction of justice Turley fails by his own terms, because Mueller demonstrates all statutory elements are met. This is a tap dancing exercise in intellectual dishonesty
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) December 4, 2019
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