Donald Trump Jr. reacted to the first day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against his father on Wednesday saying, ‘‘I’ve never seen anything more ridiculous.”
The first day of public hearings wrapped up with no major revelations — but he said it also highlighted weaknesses in Democrats’ key witnesses, who relied primarily on second-hand information.
Speaking on “Hannity” on Wednesday night, Trump was quick to point that out.
“You see exactly what America voted against in 2016, career government bureaucrats doing their thing,” the executive vice president of the Trump Organization said.
“Everything was hearsay, ‘I heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, how heard it from a friend.’ I’m saying, ‘this is a joke.’”
At one point in Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., even appeared to embrace hearsay testimony, claiming that “hearsay can be much better evidence than direct” and that “countless people have been convicted on hearsay because the courts have routinely allowed and created, needed exceptions to hearsay.” It was unclear which of those limited exceptions would apply to Wednesday’s testimony — and whether Quigley’s argument would persuade critical swing-vote Democrats.
Trump commented on Quigley’s statements telling Sean Hannity, “Then I heard the Democrats, and this is when you realize how bad or, frankly, nonexistent their case is, ‘well hearsay is often times much better than regular evidence.’ I’m saying, ‘did that guy say that with a straight face?’”
Trump then compared Quigley’s comments to “the telephone game we learned about in Kindergarten.”
“So it’s better to have heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend than to have heard it with your own ears? I mean that’s the level of insanity that you’re seeing from these bureaucrats who’ve taken an anti-Trump position,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday Trump Jr. also tweeted about Quigley’s comments writing, “Can you believe this insanity? “Heresay [sic] can be much better evidence than DIRECT EVIDENCE” according to Democrat Mike Quigley. Are you fricken kidding me? 3rd and 4th party info better than hearing it yourself?”
On “Hannity” Trump said, “When Republicans start questioning, [House Intelligence Committee Chairman] Adam Schiff changes the rules, changes the goal posts, pretends they can’t even ask that question anymore. It’s never ending. It’s a comedy at this point.”
The House is now comprised of 431 members, meaning Democrats need 217 yeas to impeach Trump. There are currently 233 Democrats, so Democrats can only lose 16 of their own and still impeach the president. 31 House Democrats represent more moderate districts that Trump carried in 2016.
Trump Jr. told Hannity on Wednesday that the left “is not looking to govern, they’re not looking to do anything, they are looking to try to resist. Because they know they can’t beat Trump in the polls, they’re going to try to impeach and it’s not going to work in the long run and the American people see through it. They are sick of this garbage.”