Republicans say they’re being silenced, transcripts prove otherwise

In this weekend edition of The Point, Chris Cillizza and CNN national security reporter Kylie Atwood discuss the House Intelligence Committee's release of transcripts from the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. #Cillizza #CNN #News

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:
The first elections of the impeachment era brought big wins for Democrats
.

Yovanovitch testified Giuliani undercut US policy
.

'I sensed something odd': What William Taylor told Trump impeachment investigators
.

Sondland Updates Impeachment Testimony, Describing Ukraine Quid Pro Quo
.

Public impeachment hearings will begin next week
.

About me:
I was named "best dressed" in 7th grade. That, along with being CNN's editor at large and author of the daily "Point" newsletter are my proudest achievements. Look for me here every Tuesday and Thursday to find out what’s really going down in politics.

CREDITS
Writer: Chris Cillizza
The Point team: Leigh Munsil and Allison Gordon
Editor: Steven Sevilla
Producer: Arielle Sacks

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83 comments

    1. *MUTE ALL RUSSIAN TROLL-BOT ALERTS & TRUMP’S WHITE NATIONALIST REPUBLICAN MAGA NAZI ASSLICKER’S WHENEVER THEY POP-UP ON YOUR NOTIFICATIONS!!💯😈😈🆗🇺🇸✌😂😂😂*

    2. biggest question is why ameriKKKant’s let it go this far, it really tells the truth about what ameriKKKa is all about, trump might actually get back in because of you. your society is sick, you really need a purge……

    1. @Groot Voël humor is priceless, until you start laughing at the chump that’s as dumb as a trump, then they start bitching or even sue you for slander. Morons Are Getting Angry.

  1. hypocrites , its the devils game from the lawless man. accuse others of what he himself is doing. to divide and confuse by deception

    1. Trump(f) is German for “trump card,” which is a noun that refers to the game of bridge, originally — and other card games — where a playing card of a particular suit ranks above other suits, which can win a trick. He always thinks he has the upper hand…….. that’s his trick. Anyone who follows him walks into a mind trap!!

    2. Agreed. Biden already did this with Obama’s permission. Can’t hold Trump responsible when you aren’t willing to hold Biden responsible.

    3. @David Higgins Biden did it to stop corruption, trump did it to dig up dirt on his political opponent. Similar but not the same. What Biden did was according to American Foreign policy, what trump did is bribery and a crime.

    4. @David Higgins – still slinging that thoroughly debunked Biden bullshit, huh? What’s the matter, fucktard? Can’t you come up with something new?

  2. They keep saying, “no one had a direct conversation with the President telling them the money would be held”! If the President didn’t say hold the money back, who did? Who would have the authority to hold the funds Congress said should go to? Far as I know about government, no one else but the President could do that. No, one else has that kind of power but him. Only his cult of morons is going to believe that everybody else with a fully functional brain knows better.

  3. Is anyone else expecting McConnell to start changing his tune soon given the 2019 election results in Kentucky? He wants to retire in Jan 2025 and not in Jan 2021, and based upon the change of feelings toward Trump that the majority of Kentuckians showed at the polls last week, he definitely doesn’t have a secure win in 2020. According to the message the KY voters just sent, his support of Trump is not going to secure him a win next November. In fact, it seems it will do the exact opposite. Trump told the voters to use their vote to send a message to DC about how they felt about impeachment, and they certainly did!

  4. Is anyone going to ask Sondland or at least cover the fact that Sondland was involved with this b.s. all while Ukraine is not in the E.U.

    1. @Leam D I hear what ur saying I think tamo misunderstood what you meant because sondland was totally on board the Trump train till he realized he might be in trouble

    2. @Leam D – based on the fact that you keep posting amazingly ignorant posts, you are most likely crazy. Is your latest post an admission that you are crazy? Or just incredibly stupid??? Either one works! Now go play in traffic. I am tired of you.

  5. No doubt of the shakedown for election help. Trump can’t win without cheating. The orange fucktard knows that.

    1. @kilgoring troutless awe still looking in the mirror when you try and write. Awe poor s@ntanist, pedo, reprobate, lib.t@ard. Always trying to project what u see in the mirror. It’s all smoke and mirrors to deceive you stupid Dem sheeple. And you fall for it hook line and sinker. Even though none of the other hoaxes panned out. You think the next one will. That really is a special kind of stupid. KAG 2020 🇺🇸 by a landslide. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣

    2. @앤더슨프란 awe. Poor lib.t@rd always projecting. And there’s always gitmo for criminals like u. Aweeee. KAG 2020 🇺🇸 by a landslide 👻😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

  6. They initially did it behind closed doors because A) It was rule the RePUGliKLANs put in place and B) As an ex-investigator I can say you do not conduct investigations out in the open. Only an idiot would even think otherwise. Oh wait…we’re talking about a bunch of corrupt fascist trash.

    1. Anyone who uses stupid names while trying to convince others they know better than most really are showing that they are immature and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

    2. @Jason Branham I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind, I’m just saying. You might have got that if you had an advanced ability to comprehend what you read. What I said about the investigation is correct, valid, and I don’t really care what you think.

    3. You are the epitome of a Democrat. You don’t like others opinions, you name call and probably wake every morning thinking how am i going to be offended or offend today.

    4. @Jason Branham And you can blow me. I’ve got better things to do than waste it responding to trolls and snowflakes.

    1. @B Bodziak so you’re saying these reporters calling at a transcript for morons they’re on CNN so they must be

    2. Exactly credibility. And when Sutherland wants to change his statement that is uncredible so therefore just take him away he has nothing to say that would be credible at this point

    3. Trumpturds can not read. Much like their orange idol, they need pictures and scribble notes instead of pages upon pages of words.

    4. @John :3 and when you read those pages and pages of words guaranteed half of them exonerate the president if that’s what you want to call it exonerate because it second-hand f****** knowledge say all you want. Just like Sutherland now he wants to go and change his opening statement love to see these people in public hearings wait till it’s over oh but that’s right made a mockery out of the molar hearings now you won’t have more marker hearings and you think Adam schiff’s going to be any better don’t think so Trump 20/20

    5. @David Linton sure russkiy, whatever your master tells you to say. Dumb Trump is guilty as hell. Trump and his dumb are, along with his three eldest kids, lusher, pence, Barr, pompeo, mulvaney, and the rest of the GOP are all traitors. Sold their cheap souls to your master, Putinsky. Well played russkiy. Now, yob tvoyu mat, russkiy

    1. @John Griffith Oh God Jon STFU. You make people dumber. Ugh! Big government and media is not your friend. Think about it.

    2. @kimmer824 The Democrats/Liberals are so conned they dont have any idea what hit them. It is like Pink Floyd’s the wall and they are all going to follow big government right off of the cliff into the meat grinder. They wont have a clue.

    3. ​@Firefly – we’re “owned by big government and the rich global elite,” while you get your (bullshit) news from a quasi-news organization owned by a British billionaire and a Saudi prince. You’re a fucking joke.

  7. The GOP are running around like the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. Playing to an audience of idiots. Nothing has to make sense. Just kick up enough dust to create a smoke screen where nobody can tell what is true and what is fake news.

    1. Putin info-war tactics, tried and true. Meanwhile, The Emperor has no clothes, and that mushroom ain’t pretty.

    1. FordManiac

      I would love to read the transcript. If only Trump would stop hiding his sh*t on top security servers.

      Release the transcript!

    2. @FordManiac You are lying. Here is the “transcript” from Fox News. This is the same document published by CNN and NYT. The only people mis-representing the context of this call are Trump, Republicans and Conservative media. And you.
      https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-ukraine-call-transcript-read-the-document

      (bottom of page 2)
      *Zelinsky:* “….. I would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps. specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes.”
      (continuing onto page 3)
      *Trump:* “I would like you to do us a favor though…” (blah blah, Crowdstrke, blah blah, the server, blah blah)

      [Zelinsky reassuring Trump that they are friends, and they will meet with Rudy…]

      (page 4)
      *Trump:* (blah blah, prosecutor, blah blah, ambassador) “…The other thing, There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it…”

      Go ahead, read it. It’s plain as fking day from this record of the call. Tell me how it doesn’t say exactly what it says. Trump is having a conversation with a foreign leader, and the *only* thing he cares about is extorting them into bolstering debunked conspiracy theories and helping him make up dirt on his political opponent.

      And tell me why official after official has testified under oath that what we’ve read from this “transcript” is precisely what was happening as part of a deliberate effort over a period of months.

      And tell me why, after he realized that he was now on the hook for felony perjury charges, the guy who bought his ambassadorship for a $1m donation to Trump, and was part of the whole Ukraine shakedown scheme went back and amended his testimony to basically say “oh yeah, it was exactly what everybody is saying it was.”

      Yeah, tell me that black is white, and that up is down. Tell me that I can’t believe my own eyes, and I can’t believe the “transcript” that Trump himself released, along with his own admissions and his chief of staff, and the parade of others testifying under oath.

  8. “Being silenced”, huh? Like the Dems are regarding cabinet appointees, judges, SJC judges and the dozens of bills sent to the turtle faced grimm reaper? . WHO’s being silenced?

    It’s getting so tiresome; the republitards constantly accusing the Dems of what they themselves are demonstrably guilty.

  9. George Kent said that two US senators were into that extortion attempt, and confirmed to Zelinsky that he had to do what Trump demanded or he would not get the aid ever.
    **WHO WERE THOSE TWO SENATORS???**

    1. HUM I Wonder who it could be ??? I have a pretty good IDEA ! but just in case I’m wrong VOTE THEM ALL OUT as their election cycles come up !

    1. Virginia B. Britton comprehend this? You have been losing for 3 plus years as a Demonrat and will continue to. Sorry Demon Rat 🐀 Now, Go watch more Jeff Zucker porn.

    1. That’s the most ridiculous part – they’re grandstanding about their own rules – and their base is buying it. Sad.

    2. @A Evelyn Moose Republicans have been taking money out of education for over 30 years now in the “dumbing down of America” campaign and it works pretty well and now added dis information has made the under educated believe that universities are “liberal factories” which they kind of are…not many educated people vote republican

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