questions this way, the question questions are asked when you re the prosecutor and the judge and the overruling. i just want to make a couple of things clear. one, when we equate this to a grand jury or a special investigation, let s be honest. if there were this many leaks, somebody would be in jail. who is allen you guys are politicians. you re not in the criminal justice business, not anymore. i m not in the criminal justice business, but if we re going to do this and have this partisan hearing move forward, then i think we should be honest about what it is. here s what i don t get, kelly congressman, with all due respect. you can call me kelly, i like it. i like having you on the show. i have respect for the office and i want to keep the deference. when you look at impeachments past, nixon, you had special counsel, clinton more recent. independent counsel so different.
the white house should not comply and the white house, in fact, does not comply, listen to the ghosts of impeachments past. 1998 lindsey graham. now we ve got the new coke lindsey. but classic coke warned impeachable includes obstruction. when asked for information, richard nixon chose not to comply, and the congress back in that time said, you re taking impeachment away from us. you re becoming the judge and jury. it is not your job to tell us what we need. it is your job to comply with the things we need to provide oversight over you. the day richard nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day that he was subject to impeachment because he took the power from congress. where you gone, lindsey? where you gone? you used to say you don t need a crime. now you say you do. you used to say it was okay to investigate in private. now you say it isn t. you used to say potus must comply.
another really good reason to hold the hearings behind closed doors for now. think about this. it s of paramount importance to ensure that witnesses cannot coordinate their testimony with one another to match their description of events or potentially conceal the truth. and once the investigating is done and there s a case to be presented for articles of impeachment and there likely will be the three house committees leading the probe plan to hold public hearings. all of their witnesses have been behind closed doors. now they will not. plus the committees say they ll release transcripts of their depositions, some of which have gone as long as ten hours. and that process obviously can take time, weeks or longer to complete. so what we saw today and these objections to process is all heat, not light. but beware. they can complain all they like, but when it becomes about saying the white house should not comply and the white house, in fact, does not comply, listen to the ghosts of imp
case all week, read your alexander hamilton, you know, that this has always been about abuses of public trust and political crimes. but do you think that when you look at impeachments past, what was the linchpin on clinton? he lied under oath. what was the linchpin on nixon? they had him in involvement in a felony. do you believe you need some type of tangible crime that people can understand in order for them to buy into the idea that this is bad enough to impeach? well, chris, i certainly think that we have that tangible crime. i think this is easily explainable to the american people. we all know that the president is trying to undermine our 2020 elections by having a foreign power investigate his rival. that s simply not acceptable. furthermore, to have a foreign power violate the civil rights of an american citizen is also egregious.
against the constitution of the united states. listen, i ve been making the case all week, read your alexander hamilton, you know, that this has always been about abuses of public trust and political crimes. but do you think that when you look at impeachments past, what was the linchpin on clinton? he lied under oath. what was the linchpin on nixon? they had him in involvement in a felony. do you believe you need some type of tangible crime that people can understand in order for them to buy into the idea that this is bad enough to impeach? well, chris, i certainly think that we have that tangible crime. i think this is easily explainable to the american people. we all know that the president is trying to undermine our 2020 elections by having a foreign power investigate his rival. that s simply not acceptable. furthermore, to have a foreign