Rep. Gohmert on 'outrageous' impeachment hearings

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Rep. Gohmert on 'outrageous' impeachment hearings

Lawmakers debate impeachment articles ahead of House vote; Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert weighs in.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," December 12, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Brian Kilmeade, guest host: Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight." I'm Brian Kilmeade I'll be filling in for Tucker throughout the evening, but Tucker will -- you'll hear from him a little bit later. So, stay tuned. For now, though, the impeachment drama is dragging on and on and on. Washington, D.C., I am astounded at how they keep saying the same thing over and over again. As it drags on, the excuses are getting thinner and thinner as to why we're going through impeachment to begin with. Now, back in October, President Trump told Sean Hannity about how Washington has been trying to bring him down since the day he took office, remember?

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

President Donald Trump: The Washington, D.C. puts out a story, I guess, on inauguration day, a few hours after the inauguration day, essentially saying, "And now the impeachment begins."

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: So there the president goes exaggerating again, making things up. It's just one article. No Democrat would say that they've been impeaching him from day one, would they? Here's Nancy Pelosi two days ago.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

The Press: One of the biggest criticisms of the process has been the speed at which the House Democrats are moving.

Nancy Pelosi: Speed?

The Press: If this is -- but seriously, though, seriously –

[Laughter]

Nancy Pelosi: It's been going on for 22 months, okay?

The Press: But a --

Nancy Pelosi: Two and a half years, actually.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: Les, she just admitted it. Now, last night, House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler admitted the Democrats are pursuing impeachment because it's too dangerous to simply let the American people pick the next president in 2020.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Jerry Nadler: Why is this necessary now? Why do we need to impeach the president? Why not let the next election handle it? If we do not respond to President Trump's abuses of power, the abuses will continue. We cannot rely on an election to solve our problems when the president threatens the very integrity of that election.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: Isn't that interesting? So, if this push fails, make no mistake, Democrats will find another excuse to launch another impeachment effort. Congressman Al Green already promised as much a week ago.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas: A president can be impeached more than once, so we can do this. There is no limit on the number of times the Senate can vote to convict or not a president, no limit to the number of times the House can vote to impeach or not a president. There may be a possible -- opportunities to do other things at a later time.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: So, wait, it could happen three times in our history. Three times after 243 years, but he wants to do it over and over again with the same president in the same term. So whether or not they are trying impeaching again in the future, for now, the Ukraine saga is dragging on. Today was yet another day of hearings where Democrats took turns trashing the president, and Republicans, like Debbie Lesko firing back. Watch.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz.: It just continues to amaze me how corrupt, how unfair this process has been from the start. You guys have been wanting to impeach this president since he got elected. None of your fact witnesses were able to establish any evidence of bribery, treason, high crimes, or misdemeanors, not one single one. This is a sham impeachment, and it sure is a shame.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: And meanwhile, Debbie Lesko is getting in a Twitter war with Bette Midler during the shift, just one of the bizarre things that happened today. Joining us now, Congressman Louie Gohmert. He serves in the House Judiciary Committee. He was another fiery presence all day long. Watch.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas: We started this impeachment proceeding about the Russia hoax and the Russia collusion and demanding all these documents about the Russia collusion, and it kept changing. And then it went to bribery and extortion and emoluments and all these other things. Never in history has a president been accused of crimes with -- with a target constantly changing. This is outrageous, and it needs to come to an end.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: So, they settled on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. And we'll see if we get a vote in committee tonight. Stepping out to help us out and explain what's going on from the inside out, Congressman Louie Gohmert. Congressman Gohmert, how would you describe what's been going on for the last two days?

Rep. Louie Gohmert: It's an animal farm. It's insane. It's just so outrageous. I mean, I've sat -- I've sat through some really bad trials as a judge, but this exceeds anything I've ever had to sit through. It is such an outrage. And, you know, it's so ironic, too, you know, they don't have a crime. They've had to drop every single crime that they've alleged. They've got nothing now other than they basically have offended the majority in Congress. They've abused power. They -- he has abused power. But like Turley said, it's a Congress that's abusing power. But how ironic that today, that Joe Biden would say, if he were subpoenaed to the Congress of the Senate, he would defy it. He wouldn't do it. Well, that's what this mob is trying to kick out Trump from the White House. And we just took up an amendment that Jim Jordan had filed that would say, okay, you know, basically you say it was an unfair election in 2016. Let's amend your impeachment articles to say you're not trying to keep him from running again or being --

Brian Kilmeade: Right.

Louie Gohmert: -- elected again. Oh, no. They don't want to -- they don't want to eliminate that. That's the one that we've just taken up. And it -- pretty clear, they've been exposed. But can I point out one silver --

Brian Kilmeade: Go ahead.

Louie Gohmert: -- lining here? You know, because I try to find some silver lining no matter how bad it's been. We've known that this was a swamp. We've known that there were swamp creatures. One of the biggest problems here in Washington is figuring out who's part of the deep state, who are the swamp creatures. And Trump derangement syndrome is so bad, it's kind of like when -- when Sergeant York gobbled like a turkey in World War I --

Brian Kilmeade: Right.

Louie Gohmert: -- and the Germans jerked their head up. These guys have been raising their heads so we could see who needs to be fired, who needs to be out of the swamp.

Brian Kilmeade: But -- but Congressman --

Louie Gohmert: And we found them.

Brian Kilmeade: Congressman, a lot of people who weren't watching network television in the '70s don't remember 1998 when Bill Clinton admitted he lied under oath and admitted he had an affair with an intern. This is different.

Louie Gohmert: Correct.

Brian Kilmeade: This president says there's nothing here, and that's where the --

Louie Gohmert: It isn't.

Brian Kilmeade: -- disagreement is. But you have a lot of moderate Democrats that are not onboard with this. You have Congressman Gottheimer who says, "I haven't made up my mind." Susan Wild, "I haven't made up my mind."

Louie Gohmert: Yep.

Brian Kilmeade: Anthony Brindisi, "I haven't made up my mind." Collins Peterson, Elissa Slotkin, van -- Jeff van Drew, Max Rose, Tom Suozzi. There's a lot of Democrats who are not onboard with this. We've never seen anything like this.

Louie Gohmert: No, I've never seen anything like it. I've heard about witch hunts. I've heard about lynch mobs, but I've never seen something like this, using the congressional system to try to destroy people that have committed no crimes whatsoever, it's just -- it's incredible --

Brian Kilmeade: Right.

Louie Gohmert: -- to be a part of watching and knowing that we can't win these votes because the majority --

Brian Kilmeade: Yep.

Louie Gohmert: It's just almost unbearable.

Brian Kilmeade: 233 to 197, they have an advantage, so they need 217 to impeach. Nobody wants to get impeached. But poll-wise, they seem to be losing on this. Lastly, Congressman, what are we going to see tonight, a vote in the committee to impeach, and then --

Louie Gohmert: Yeah.

Brian Kilmeade: -- it goes to the -- to the floor when?

Louie Gohmert: Yeah, there -- we don't know for sure, but at some point -- we're trying to clean this mess up and -- and they are, at some point, going to pull a question, and then we'll have to vote on the question.

Brian Kilmeade: Tonight?

Louie Gohmert: They have the majority. They'll end debate, and then they will vote. And you know how they're going to vote. They've all indicated -- you know, what, 17 of them, 16 or 17 --

Brian Kilmeade: Gotcha.

Louie Gohmert: -- voted already last summer to impeach him, and that was back when they were saying it was all about the Russian collusion. So, they were ready to impeach him, and that hasn't changed, never mind the facts.

Brian Kilmeade: Gotcha. Congressman, bad news, you've got to go back in. Thanks for joining us, though.

Louie Gohmert: All right, thanks so much.

Brian Kilmeade: Our audience appreciates the inside story --

Louie Gohmert: Oh, thank you, Brian. Thank you.

Brian Kilmeade: -- as we watch this go on and on. The lawmakers don't talk to each other, they talk at each other. We watch them say the same arguments over and over again. I've got news for you, nobody's being convinced on either side. Now, after the House, impeachment will move to the Senate. There, Senator Lindsay Graham wants the charade to be over as soon as possible.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Louie Gohmert: What I'd like to see happen is for this thing to get over as soon as possible. I don't want to give it any legitimacy because it's a crock. My goal is to end this as soon as possible for the good of the country because I think it's a danger to the presidency to legitimize this. I'm not interested in any witnesses. This thing is a sham, a crock. I don't want to legitimize it. I want to get it over with.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: Well, Graham probably is not alone. Moderate Democrats want the process to end quickly, too, before it gets too embarrassing for them and maybe cost them an election. Congressman Mike Johnson joins us from the room to our cameras. He represents Louisiana. Made a lot of sense today, tried to make some progress. Congressman, I saw you talking all night and all day. Do you think your point's getting across that you don't buy either one of these impeachment articles?

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La.: You know, had I used to litigate cases, Brian, I could always gauge how well we were doing by looking at the faces of opposing counsel. And I'm watching the countenance on the face of these Democrats, I think they know they're losing this. I think they're losing the faith of the American people. I think that they know this entire charade, there's no merit to it. We have systematically taken down every one of their substantive arguments and shown that this whole thing is a -- truly has become a circus, as you've heard so many times today. So, I have some confidence. I think the polling is going to continue to go in the direction against impeachment, and I think there's good reason for that.

Brian Kilmeade: So, before Christmas, we're probably going to have a House floor vote. Tonight, you're supposed to have a committee vote. And then what? Do you work on Friday? Could you get this thing done on Friday?

Mike Johnson: They're saying -- the rumor on the Hill right now is that we might be voting on the floor on Thursday, on Wednesday or Thursday, but who knows? This whole thing has been such a rush job. I mean, it's part of the problem with their substantive claims. You know, one of their claims is that the president has abused his power, and this has obstructed justice. I mean, there's no obstruction of justice when the president simply delays or wants to deny a subpoena from Congress. It happens all the time. It happened in the Obama administration and happened in virtually every administration in the modern era. There's a remedy for that. The Democrats are the party that's issuing a subpoena supposed to go to court and let the third branch of government decide it. These guys don't have time for that. You know why? Because they promised their liberal base that they would impeach the president by Christmas. I mean, that's what's driving this their clock. And it's absolutely crazy. They're doing great harm to the republic with this, Brian. And that's the greatest outrage about it.

Brian Kilmeade: Well we know in 31 seats that Trump won the Democrats flipped him in 2018. And I know a lot of those lawmakers are getting nervous about this. And, you know, including some that have not committed to vote for it. The word is, Congressman Johnson, that Nancy Pelosi and leadership, Steny Hoyer, will not whip the vote. Vote your conscience. What's the reality?

Mike Johnson: Well, the reality is, look, they're reading the tea leaves they see the polling numbers just like we do. They know that the American people are throwing their hands up this evening they're watching all this we're in the 11th hour of this hearing, I think. People are going this is it. After all of this, this whole charade, this whole production engineered by Adam Schiff and taken over by Nadler, presided over by Pelosi. This is all you have. People know this thing is a witch hunt. The people in this country, 63 million Americans elected Donald Trump, the president, the handful of Democrats in this room don't get to make the decision to remove him from office. That's not how this system works in America we have a republic. We have an election in 11 months. I think the people are going to decide that. And I think these Democrats in these swing districts are going to rue the day that they took this vote. If they vote in favor of it, I think it's a it's a big mistake.

Brian Kilmeade: And I know you did your homework. You took them apart, in your view, on every step of the way. And you point and put little blurbs next to their statements on impeachment. Congressman Ken Buck said this. I will tell my colleagues. Go ahead vote to impeach President Trump tomorrow. But when you walk out of the hearing room, call your freshman colleagues and tell them they're not coming back and hope they had fun. Is there a sense that a vote for impeachment cost them their political career?

Mike Johnson: I think there is I think you can see it on some of their faces. There's a few freshmen in particular on this committee. I'm watching them all day long and they're really struggling because they know they're in trouble. And look, they're going to pay a heavy political price but the real price, the greatest tragedy about this, the one we're most concerned about is the price that the republic that this country is going to pay for this. They've opened a Pandora's box on this. Right now, if this goes forward, what happens in the future to any administration, any president? It makes politically unpopular statements or positions the party that has the majority, if they're opposing him, they can just try to impeach him. I mean, it's a paper-thin accusation that's got us here. And I don't know how we put that genie back in the bottle.

Brian Kilmeade: Congressman, I hate to tell you, but I could see the future right now. If they don't when his taxes come out, they're going to look at I have a problem, the taxes you'll be right back here. They don't like something else said he did in the past you'll be right back here. And that's bad for the country. I think Democrats and Republicans, if I gave him sodium pentothal, would admit it. Congressman Johnson's bad news. You got to go back in now.

Mike Johnson: Yeah thanks a lot, Brian. Appreciate your coverage.

Brian Kilmeade: Thanks so much for joining us. Meanwhile, for months, Democrats have described President Trump's behavior towards Ukraine as bribery or a quid pro quo. But both terms are absent from their articles of impeachment against Trump. According to The Wall Street Journal's own Kim Strassel, bestselling author, that is not a coincidence the phrases removed. She says, because if Democrats talk too much about bribery, they could end up ensnaring Joe and Hunter Biden. Kim Strassel is also author of Resistance at All Costs How Trump Haters Are Breaking America and she joins us now. So, Kimberley, we have two articles of impeachment now they don't mention bribery they don't say a quid pro quo not a coincidence. What do you mean?

Kimberly Strassel: Yeah so, Brian, it was funny when we saw those articles of impeachment. We at the editorial board called it honey, we shrunk the impeachment because, you know, listen, for months now, we've been listening to Democrats use of words like extortion, quid pro quo. Adam Schiff spent six weeks lecturing the country on the proper definition of bribery, which was something removed from all statutes or the history of the country but it was the way they had to define it in order to to pack it into what they say Donald Trump did and then suddenly it disappears. And this is because, look, someone in the Democratic Party realized that if you're going to expand that definition the way they did and say that any time any politician asked for something from another country in a way that might benefit them in some way that their own party would be implicated.

Brian Kilmeade: Kimberley, I think it was agreed. I spoke to a high-ranking Trump official today just to get their view on impeachment and he says it's really working for us in terms of money raised. And in terms of the as you mentioned, the shrinking articles, what they worry about is October, November, where they say, are you really going to reelect an impeached president? Do you think that's a legitimate worry?

Kimberly Strassel: No, I don't, actually, and here's why. Because for the same reasons that the Democrats have not succeeded in impeachment and that they have not convinced a majority of Americans that this was an impeachable offense. That's not necessarily going to resonate any more strongly in October or November or it's certainly not going to resonate, at least equally with the president's ability to say, look at what they did to me. Do you really want people like that running the country?

Brian Kilmeade: So, on the radio show today, I played Lindsey Graham's sound bite which we played two or three minutes ago where he said I am not looking for a long trial in and out. I'm not calling Joe Biden Hunter Biden. We'll do that some other time. People were mad. There's Republicans that want to get their story out. And you have a president who wants his story out. He wants witnesses on his side. He wants his counsel on his side. He wants the majority in control of the hearings, the rules and the regulations. Is the president right or is Lindsey Graham, right?

Kimberly Strassel: So, I'm not going to say who, right, but I will say this I mean, I understand that desire to have their own chance to get some of their own back. All right. But I think in politics, sometimes you got to make decisions with your head over your heart. And, you know, one of the problems with that is that it gives legitimacy to what is fundamentally been an illegitimate process. And I would argue that the Senate would send a stronger message by saying, let's just have a motion to dismiss we're not going to treat seriously an impeachment proceeding that was held in secret that leaked stop and that didn't give the president's counsel or Republicans the right to participate or call witnesses.

Brian Kilmeade: And I don't think I have to tell you this, but we now have a USMCA on the launch pad. We have a China deal. Phase one, ready to go. We have great jobs numbers great economic numbers, great manufacturing numbers, and the president actually is doing the best he can and seeing some break with Iran, arguably our number one enemy in the world. There's a few things going right for him. While all this is going on. Kimberley Strassel, thanks so much.

Kimberly Strassel: Thank you.

Brian Kilmeade: All right. Meanwhile, Barack Obama has shows on Netflix. I don't know if you log in or not. Now, Hillary Clinton is doing content for Hulu but why does her new documentary look a lot like a campaign ad? We're going to discuss that with this guy named Mark Stein. That'll be next and we'll continue our coverage, which we're splitting the screen with. With Me right now, that's the impeachment hearings. Stay tuned. Don't move.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Brian Kilmeade: Barack Obama is getting paid millions to produce content for Netflix. You probably know that. Naturally, Hillary Clinton wants to do the same thing kinda. But just like running for president, she can't do it quite as well. So instead of Netflix, she has to settle for Hulu. Next spring, the streaming service is releasing a four-part documentary series on Hillary's 2016 campaign titled Simply Hillary. The trailer at least looks an awful lot like the campaign ad -- any campaign ad.

[VIDEO CLIP BEGINS]

Male Speaker: Her greatest strength is her greatest weakness. She's unlikeable because she's unlikable. She's so smart, people always believe there is some deviousness.

Hillary Clinton: I provoke strong opinions. What you see is what you get. If I said back up, you creep, would I sound angry?

Male Speaker: One of the most admired and one of the most vilified women in American history.

Hillary Clinton: Somebody asked me what you want on your gravestone. I said she's neither as good nor as bad as some people say about her.

[END VIDEO CLIPS]

Brian Kilmeade: So, is this a look back at an old campaign or a sneaky ad for a future campaign that could start any day? Mark Steyn is an author, columnist, deep thinker. He also sometimes guest hosts on this show. I have tapes, it gets mailed to my house when I am not doing it, of course, and when Tucker pulls a hamstring. So, Mark, when you watch that, are you thinking what we're thinking? Looks like a campaign.

Mark Steyn: Yeah. And why? Why wouldn't she want to get back in the race? If you follow the logic of the last three years through the Russian investigation and colluding with Ukraine and the impeachment articles. The logic behind them is that she is rightfully the president. And if that is the case and the Democrats have been so exercised as to impeach the guy over nothing, then why wouldn't she get back in the race, particularly when the so-called front runner is as feeble and weak on the stump as Joe Biden is. And all the youngins, the ones under 67, have flopped like Kamala Harris. Why wouldn't you get in?

Brian Kilmeade: Under 77. So right now, the top five in the field is Biden's widening his margin over Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, and Bloomberg. Let's hypothetically put Hillary in there. Guess where she is?

Mark Steyn: Well, I think Hillary -- I think Hillary would do very well initially, just on sheer name recognition and the fact that Biden is doing so badly. But at the same time, she would totally energize the opposition because she would be the face of the obstructionism of the last three and a half years and as we just saw actually in the United Kingdom today, eventually the people rise up against the guys who obstructed the results of the last vote.

Brian Kilmeade: So, a couple of things. You know, in a poll, when asked if she joined the race, where would she be? First with 21 percent, Biden with 20, Bernie with twelve, Warren with nine, Buttigieg with five. Couple of things. You know, Hulu does some good work. That looks like a pretty slick ad. She had a very open and honest interview with one of the best in the business, if not the one of the best ever, Howard Stern, who is not a Trump hater but doesn't think he should be president. So, Hillary Clinton seems to be on somewhat of a path that is not blocked. Keep in mind, Mike Bloomberg rationalized getting in. Deval Patrick got in and no one has really seen much of him since. But right now, this whole story has been swamped by impeachment. It's been swamped by the Ukraine. We're about to have a debate. We don't even know who's on the stage. I don't even know what network's covering it. We used to stop everything and do previews and postgame. What's going on, Mark?

Mark Steyn: Well, basically a candidate called impeachment is currently leading as far as the Democrats are concerned. There's a mythical candidate called Mr. I impeachment that these guys think can take out Trump. And I actually don't believe that's where the energy on the base is. I think if you look at all kinds of indicators, including the ratings over at MSNBC and the end and the lack of interest in impeachment by the hipsters like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Omar and all the cool kids and the Democrats. I think impeachment is actually just an obsession of Democrat swamp creatures and the corruptocrat establishment like the Bidens and the Clintons.

Brian Kilmeade: It's kind of interesting because while they were impeaching, the president got himself a space force, the president got himself some pretty good jobs numbers, some great economic numbers. He also might have the beginnings of a Phase One trade deal with China. People said that was impossible in the USMCA. The markets through the roof. There's a lot going on. Mark Steyn, final thought.

Mark Steyn: Did you imagine the [unintelligible] he would have had without the Russia investigation and without all the other obstruction, Brian? That's what we'll never know.

Brian Kilmeade: Absolutely. And if you watch the Horowitz and you read the 434 pages, released the 19-page summary, it never should have happened. Investigation should've taken place. Mark Steyn, thanks so much.

Mark Steyn: Absolutely disgraceful. Thanks, Brian.

Brian Kilmeade: But you were not. It's always great to see you. Meanwhile, in Jersey City on Monday, this is ugly, two shooters killed four people in a mass shooting that police say was motivated by anti-Semitism and anti-police hatred. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib knew immediately who to blame -- people of a certain skin color. Tlaib tweeted this, "This is heartbreaking. White supremacy kills." The View at it again, Joy Behar, in Whoopie Goldberg's seat, scramble to agree.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Joy Behar: There was a horrific mass shooting yesterday in Jersey City, which is your state and it left six people dead. You will concede that these white nationalists have been let out of their holes. The liar in chief is the one who is spouting all this stuff. He's the one.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: White nationalists? There's one problem, the shooting wasn't by white nationalist, white supremacist, whoever she wants to call him. In fact, the shooting was committed by two African Americans who had apparently had ties to this black is Israelite movement. If it doesn't sound familiar, it's the fringe religious group that is evidently sympathetic to and you might have seen they were really enjoying harassing the Covington High School student body at the March for Life. Robby Soave is an editor of Reason and the author of Panic Attack: Young Radicals in the Age of Trump. He joins us now. So, Robby, what's your take on her take?

Robby Soave: Right. And first, you know, horrific tragedy and my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims. I think it's just really sad and despicable to see some in the media immediately try to spin this, to slot it into a political narrative that far right white nationalism is responsible for -- it's an existential threat to the country. It's responsible for so much violence and it implicitly what they often say is that this is Trump's fault, he's encouraging this when, of course, that's wrong. In this specific case, it was it was two black nationalists who had some connection to this, you know, this annoying, obnoxious group that shouts obscene things mostly just to people in the streets, including during the Covington incident. But then also the larger kind of kind of theme is also not true -- politically motivated killing by white nationalists or anyone else, terrible when it happens, but it's very, very rare. We're talking about hundreds over the past two decades. This is not common and it's wrong to scare people into thinking it's regular, it's frequent and it's caused by Trump. That's just wrong.

Brian Kilmeade: Detective Joe Seals, father of five, shot in the head, killed, six were shot overall. The quote from not the white nationalist, but the black Hebrew Israelite is his name is Dave Anderson, "I do this because my creator makes me. I hate who he hates." They arrived with long guns in the middle of the street and they hit a kosher deli. This is a horrific thing that you'd expect to see in a movie and you'd probably walk out. Instead, we have to label them white nationalists, or if we find out they're not, why bring it up? Change the subject.

Robby Soave: Right, I know, because they're -- and they're trying to make it about this larger story that's just not true. It's scaring people. Like, look, I don't recommend, you know, this group exists, but I don't think -- they're not particularly dangerous despite this happening. Mostly, they just yell harassing things at people. So, I would not be calling, for instance --

Brian Kilmeade: Gotcha.

Robby Soave: -- for like new policies to surveil this group. But the left does do that when it's -- when there's some connection to white nationalism. I testified before Congress on this issue, and I'm just -- you know, I'm urging us to put these things in context a little bit. We're a big country, and we get along for the most part. It's terrible, and we should come together when things like this happen.

Brian Kilmeade: Right.

Robby Soave: But we don't need to make it a political narrative that blames Trump for something that isn't even a thing.

Brian Kilmeade: Another reason not to watch Joy Behar. Well, we put the sound up when she speaks. Robby Soave, thanks so much.

Robby Soave: My pleasure.

Brian Kilmeade: All right, there's a lot of impeachment drama on Capitol Hill, and it's taking place right now. A congresswoman who was railing against the process earlier today joining us. She's calling this a sham impeachment. We could get a vote tonight from that sham impeachment. We'll discuss it with this congresswoman in just a moment. Don't move.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: Mr. Swalwell, I'm not sure if the hearing is bad on that end because undoubtedly it is. I did not say no one died. Undoubtedly, you can have a trouble reading an article that said people died. No one said that. And you can accuse whatever because –

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Brian Kilmeade: Impeachment drama unfolding right now on Capitol Hill. By the way, we wrote that lead three weeks ago and could still use it every day. We should be finding out when Democrats plan to hold a final vote on impeachment in the House, at least on the committee. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko is on that committee, has some strong thoughts about impeachment, and she voiced them earlier today.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Debbie Lesko: It just continues to amaze me how corrupt, how unfair this process has been from the start. You guys have been wanting to impeach this president since he got elected. None of your fact witnesses were able to establish any evidence of bribery, treason, high crimes, or misdemeanors, not one single one. This is a sham impeachment, and it sure is a shame.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Brian Kilmeade: And that woman, Congresswoman Lesko, joins us right now. Congresswoman, that was you earlier today.

Debbie Lesko: It was.

Brian Kilmeade: Describe -- for those people who worked all day, have two jobs, dropped their kids off at soccer practice, can you describe everything you accomplished? I'll write it down. Go ahead.

Debbie Lesko: Well, I tell you what, nothing has changed. The president has not done one thing that's impeachable. The Democrats do not have one witness that came forward that could prove that the president did anything impeachable, so we just keep repeating the same, same thing. And, you know, after a while, when I keep hearing my Democratic colleagues say that the president did all these crimes and everything, they haven't put forward one crime in these articles of impeachment that the president has committed because there is no crime. And so, you know, once in a while, I just have to let off steam and tell them what I think.

Brian Kilmeade: Right. So, Congresswoman, we know this, we've got to articles of impeachment, abusive -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. They say the moderates pushed leadership not to include anything from the Mueller report, therefore you're drilling down on these two things. You're obviously not talking to each other; you're talking at each other. So, should we expect to vote tonight in committee?

Debbie Lesko: I sure hope so. I mean, this thing has been going on since 7:00 last night, and then we reconvened this morning at 9:00 a.m., and it's still going strong. We're still talking. The Democrats are talking, Republicans. I hope we're going to vote tonight. Who knows? It might go into tomorrow. We'll go after midnight. But then it will go to the Rules Committee. We will eventually vote this out of here whether it's tonight or early morning or tomorrow. And then it goes to Rules Committee. Now, I also serve on the Rules Committee, so I get to do this all again.

Brian Kilmeade: Well, along the way, you came on and talked to us. This is still going on on the inside. The circus continues. And then I look down and prepared for the interview, and it turns out you're in a Twitter fight with Bette Midler.

Debbie Lesko: Isn't my life --

Brian Kilmeade: What's going on?

Debbie Lesko: My life is so surreal. I have to tell you that when I found out that Bette Midler tweeted about me, we just had to respond, and we -- you know, we made a little fun about it saying that the wings -- what is it, the --

Brian Kilmeade: The wind beneath my wings?

Debbie Lesko: My wind beneath my wings, the song that she sang we said is basically deflated, or she's full of hot air. So, we had a little bit of fun with it, had a little bit of Twitter spat going on.

Brian Kilmeade: Right. She says this: "Debbie Lesko of Arizona is grandstanding big time. 'Blame the Dems, don't blame the criminals at the White House.' His own actions, his own words have led him to this day. He's a fake installed by Russia. Maybe Richard Nixon was in a crook, but this guy really is." Take that.

Debbie Lesko: Yeah, that's pretty dramatic. And she called me a gal. And so, I called her a gal back. And so, we had a little bit of fun with her, and, you know, we'll see if she Tweets back at me.

Brian Kilmeade: I admire you, you're out there talking all day, all night, and you're still smiling with us. I wish it wasn't so serious because we're talking impeachment and you have a lot of moderate Democrats who are not onboard, and that is somewhat unprecedented. Congresswoman Lesko, sadly, you have to join your two colleagues who joined us earlier and go back to work.

Debbie Lesko: I sure do and boy, I wish I could go home and go to sleep but, you know, this nightmare continues.

Brian Kilmeade: It does. Thank you. And good luck on the Rules Committee, too. We'll see if we have a vote tonight. We've had all kinds of impeachment drama unfolding on Capitol Hill tonight, as you just saw. You'll learn everything you need to know right here no need to flip around.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Brian Kilmeade: Hi, I'm Brian Kilmeade filling in for Tucker, and we're tracking the climax of the all-day impeachment here on Capitol Hill. The great Chad Pergram is Fox's congressional correspondent and he's been prowling Capitol Hill all day long and he's been in this hearing room all day long. If you want to know anything that's going on, what will happen, Chad knows it. Chad, with the pressure on your shoulders I ask you this what is going on? They're saying the same thing over and over again for the last two days. And you've told me in the break this might last through midnight.

Chad Pergram: Absolutely. You know, markups on big bills and certainly on articles of impeachment last a long time. I mean, they had a markup on Obamacare back in 2009 that ended about four o'clock in the morning. So, articles of impeachment, you could see this going pretty late as well. What they'd been debating right now are five different amendments that Republicans have proposed to the two articles of impeachment. And at some point later tonight, there will be a vote on both of those articles of impeachment and then they will move them to the House floor presumably next week sometime Brian.

Brian Kilmeade: Chad are those amendments worth discussing, or are they just a way to slow down the process?

Chad Pergram: Some of them are technical. I mean, the first one is offered by Jim Jordan. It's what's called a substitute amendment, where you completely take out the text of one of the existing articles of impeachment and replace it but a lot of them have been, you know, kind of very narrow. There's been stuff about the Bidens and none of them are going to be none of them are going to pass when they vote on those amendments later tonight.

Brian Kilmeade: So we know this here the pure numbers, 431 members. You got 270 needed to pass. You do have two who didn't vote for the inquiry that have not shown indications that they're going to vote for impeachment on the Democratic side. And I count seven or eight others that have not committed to vote for this. How unlike -- how is this unlike past impeachments.

Chad Pergram: Well you could have you know, certainly Democrats who are from swing districts, vulnerable Democrats, they're not going to announce their positions until probably right before this will be one of the defining votes of their careers and also probably the defining vote of this Congress. You could see some of those Democrats maybe vote yes on one article of impeachment and not vote yes and vote yes on the other. That way they can say, well, I didn't vote for all articles of impeachment, but still Republicans could turn that back around against them and they could say, look, you know, you did, in fact, vote for articles of impeachment. That's a problem in some of those swing districts.

Brian Kilmeade: I just I remember Chad, I'm sure that Nancy Pelosi thought she was going to get some Republican buy in. So far, the number is zero.

Chad Pergram: Not necessarily. Yeah and Nancy Pelosi, you know, she's a pretty good vote counter. You know, she knows that she can probably move this with Democratic members, as you point out, you know, like other impeachments you know, you've had people cross the aisle. That was not necessarily the case with President Clinton back in 1998. You had people vote for, you know, starting the inquiry on the Republican side of the aisle in 1998. That's different but this is going to go on for a while. And here's the reason it's going to go on for a while tonight Brian. You keep hearing this phrase over and over again. We've heard it hundreds of times today strike the last word. What that means is it gives each member five minutes to talk about every single amendment or proposal.

Brian Kilmeade: Wow, he is Chad program he's going to have to have a lot of Red Bull tonight see if Doug College will let you borrow a bottle.

Chad Pergram: I just I just got my coffee here. They just brought it to me.

Brian Kilmeade: Yea if coffee still works for you then congratulations. All right, Chad, thanks so much. We'll check in with you later. Meanwhile, Ned Ryan is founder and CEO of American Majority and I got to get Ned's perspective on this. Ned first off, as this switches, they're going to vote tonight, two votes. Then they're going to go the rules committee and decide when they're going to bring it to the floor, at which time at some point when it passes and it's supposed to pass, the Senate is going to get it. Lindsey Graham indicates no long trial in, out, done. That does not please the president. Who's right?

Ned Ryan: The president. It doesn't please me either, Brian. The fact of the matter is I think Donald Trump, after massive abuse of him over the last three years, everything that's been done, the FBI investigation, the Mueller investigation, the Democrats investigation, first of all, I don't even want to use the term investigation those were attempts at cover up. They were attempts they were witch hunts. They were attempts to undermine the duly elected president of the United States his rights have been massively abused. He deserves the right to due process. He deserves his day in court. He deserves his witnesses. So, for Lindsey Graham and others to say they don't want to have witnesses at a Senate trial, I don't even know why you called a trial if there aren't witnesses. I want every last witness that Donald Trump wants to be called in for the Senate to compel them to come and be a part of the Senate trial. I have to tell you, Brian, watching that the last few weeks, they call this impeachment inquiry. That's what they're calling it. But I don't even want to call it that because that implies constitutional order and nothing that the Democrats have done over the last year is constitutional. They've denied the will of the American people. They have denied the peaceful transfer of power. They've set themselves above the constitution and in the process have massively abused not only Carter Page is right and George Papadopoulos and General Flynn, and I would even argue Paul Manafort. But again, the president, United States at some point.

Brian Kilmeade: Yeah.

Ned Ryan: The American people deserve to have a real trial in the Senate with all the witnesses.

Brian Kilmeade: All right so you you're with the president on this and now with the chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate. Ned, thanks so much.

Ned Ryan: No. Thanks, Brian.

Brian Kilmeade: You got it.

Meanwhile, we have more impeachment coverage coming up right after the break. Don't move. A lot of history is being made. Be here.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Brian Kilmeade: -- with the impeachment hearings, that are raging all night. You're looking at this live. This is not from stock footage. It's not library stuff. Now the House Judiciary Committee could vote on articles of impeachment, both of them, before the night is out. In fact, it's expected. Republican Congressman Greg Steube joins us now. He's out of Florida. He's actually in that committee hearing, stepped out for us, represent Florida and serving on that committee. Congressman. How would you describe what's been taking place in there tonight - today?

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla.: Well, yeah, we've been there since 9:00 a.m. this morning. And I will say that we have the versions of the facts and the Democrats are using their talking points. And obviously nobody's opinion is going to be changed on the facts. And it's one side speaking their talking points and us talking about the facts of this case that the Democrats have tried to bring - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, things that aren't even in the Constitution under which you can impeach a president for. So, a lot of us has taken time to talk about how challenging this is and how we all are opposed to it as Republicans.

Brian Kilmeade: So, you have these two articles. You're not talking anything with the Mueller probe. You're not talking about bribery. You're talking about abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and you're pushing back at it. But when it came to Ukraine and supplying weapons to fight back against the Russians, that's where the rubber hit the road for you. Tell us what happened.

Greg Steube: You know, having served in the military and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, actually been in a combat theater, myself and Mr. Collins took great reproach to some of the comments. Suddenly, the Democrats were stating that because the aid didn't get there in the three weeks that it was delayed, that Ukrainians died at the hands of Russians because they didn't get the aid in time. It's absolutely ridiculous to think that aid didn't get to the Ukraine and the Ukrainians died because President Trump didn't get the aid there within a three-week period of time. And for people that served and for people that served our country, it's just absolutely appalling that the Democrats would stoop to such low grounds to try to bring in the fact that, oh, because this aid was delayed for a couple of weeks, Ukrainians died at the hands of Russians and it's President Trump's fault.

Brian Kilmeade: So, in Paris, Vladimir Putin is meeting with President Zelensky as they try to heal what's going on between those two countries. Clearly, the Russians are the aggressive in trying to beat up on the Ukrainians after sealing Crimea. And it is important for Zelensky to know America has his back against Vladimir Putin. Do you?

Greg Steube: And we have. Unlike the Obama administration that sent them blankets, President Trump sent them actual military aid and javelins to be able to defend against Russian aggression. It's interesting, all these Democrats are in here talking about how the Ukraine needed this military aid. But you didn't hear him talking about it during the Obama administration when he wasn't sending the military aid to be able to defend themselves against Russian aggression.

Brian Kilmeade: So, for the rest of the night, we understand over the next few hours, you going to vote on both these articles of impeachment, and nobody is really making any progress either way. So, you get to a vote tonight, you thinking around midnight?

Greg Steube: I think there's probably going to be several more amendments from Republicans. So, we'll probably be here for the next hour or two at the minimum. This could easily go after midnight. It's just going to depend on how much each member wants to talk on each one, these amendments that are proposed.

Brian Kilmeade: Lastly, is the amendment that the people at home should know that you have to put forward or is it just. Is this just to get under their skin?

Greg Steube: A lot of them were very simplistic so that the American people could understand what we were trying to do. The First Amendment we did took out in the first article, which was the abuse of power article, because it is so amorphous and so wide and varied that you could charge any president with abuse of power. It's not in the Constitution. So we've been very specific about our approaches.

Brian Kilmeade: So, I've been through the screen watching, listening to you, watching what's going on. You've got about three or four more fight to get in the middle of. So, Congressman Steube, I've got to send you back inside. Appreciate it.

Greg Steube: Thanks for having me. Good to see you.

Brian Kilmeade: Thank you for bringing us inside the historic hearings. Meanwhile, that's it for us tonight. I want you to tune in each and every night at 8:00 Eastern Time, because this is the show that's the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and group thing. Also, don't forget to DVR this show and be sure to check out my Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers, you can go grab it. You can also see me in person at Woodlands right outside Houston at 1:00 on Saturday, Barnes Noble. On Sunday books. Books-a-Million in Lawrenceville, Georgia. You'll see me in the afternoon. In the morning, I'll be a Wal-Mart. Go to briankilmeade.com and find out more. Also, I got this series called What Made America Great, America Great from the start. I'll be live on stage at the space at Westbury Theater talking about great things in America's past. Sadly, I'm not going be able to talk about America today because this is embarrassing all day long. Meanwhile, I want you to stay here for the coverage as it happens. We will be here every step of the way. Don't move.

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