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Release the transcripts?

Should impeachment inquiry testimony transcripts be released to the public?

  • Yes

    Votes: 17 94.4%

  • No

    Votes: 1 5.6%
  • Total voters
    18
Airyaman

Airyaman

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I believe Trump should be impeached. He is clearly not fit for the job, but he also appears to be using the power of his office for his own personal benefit, no matter what that might do to foreign and domestic relationships. However, I will find myself not being able to support impeachment or even further inquiry if the transcripts of testimonies are not released. The Volker testimony should have already been released by now. If it is not released in the next week, I will officially no longer be able to support the inquiry or subsequent impeachment.

What's you opinion? Should impeachment inquiry Congressional testimony transcripts be released to the public? If you vote "no", why do you feel this way?
 
Airyaman said:
I believe Trump should be impeached. He is clearly not fit for the job, but he also appears to be using the power of his office for his own personal benefit, no matter what that might do to foreign and domestic relationships. However, I will find myself not being able to support impeachment or even further inquiry if the transcripts of testimonies are not released. The Volker testimony should have already been released by now. If it is not released in the next week, I will officially no longer be able to support the inquiry or subsequent impeachment.

What's you opinion? Should impeachment inquiry Congressional testimony transcripts be released to the public? If you vote "no", why do you feel this way?
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Yes, with the exception of any classified information, everything should be made public. If your going to impeach the president of the united states, the public should be part of the process. We can argue for or against impeaching him but we should all know the whole story to make an informed opinion.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Airyaman said:
I believe Trump should be impeached. He is clearly not fit for the job, but he also appears to be using the power of his office for his own personal benefit, no matter what that might do to foreign and domestic relationships. However, I will find myself not being able to support impeachment or even further inquiry if the transcripts of testimonies are not released. The Volker testimony should have already been released by now. If it is not released in the next week, I will officially no longer be able to support the inquiry or subsequent impeachment.

What's you opinion? Should impeachment inquiry Congressional testimony transcripts be released to the public? If you vote "no", why do you feel this way?
Click to expand...

Okay, I know you don't like Trump and that's fine. I have to give you a thumbs up for not going along with a presidential impeachment on the condition that we, the citizens, are being kept deliberately in the dark about testimony. What's your timeline for releasing all the testimony so far? Another day, another week, another month, a year, when?
I think it's way too late... Impeachment is a farce.
 
Airyaman said:
I believe Trump should be impeached. He is clearly not fit for the job, but he also appears to be using the power of his office for his own personal benefit, no matter what that might do to foreign and domestic relationships. However, I will find myself not being able to support impeachment or even further inquiry if the transcripts of testimonies are not released. The Volker testimony should have already been released by now. If it is not released in the next week, I will officially no longer be able to support the inquiry or subsequent impeachment.

What's you opinion? Should impeachment inquiry Congressional testimony transcripts be released to the public? If you vote "no", why do you feel this way?
Click to expand...
They'll get released, just maybe not in the next week. When the Intel committee gets finished, they've pledged to give all their work to the Judiciary committee.

The reason these are closed hearings is to prevent the Republicans from showing their asses for the cameras. It's very hard for them to put on a show and turn a transcript into a circus. They definitely act differently when the cameras are not on, that's for sure.

All the important stuff will be public via the Judiciary, who can always re-call particular witnesses if need be.
 
trixare4kids said:
Okay, I know you don't like Trump and that's fine. I have to give you a thumbs up for not going along with a presidential impeachment on the condition that we, the citizens, are being kept deliberately in the dark about testimony. What's your timeline for releasing all the testimony so far? Another day, another week, another month, a year, when?
I think it's way too late... Impeachment is a farce.
Click to expand...

As I said in the OP, I will no longer support the impeachment inquiry if the Volker transcript is not released next week (by end of day Friday). I think 2 weeks maximum should be just right.

MovingPictures said:
They'll get released, just maybe not in the next week. When the Intel committee gets finished, they've pledged to give all their work to the Judiciary committee.

The reason these are closed hearings is to prevent the Republicans from showing their asses for the cameras. It's very hard for them to put on a show and turn a transcript into a circus. They definitely act differently when the cameras are not on, that's for sure.

All the important stuff will be public via the Judiciary, who can always re-call particular witnesses if need be.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree that the testimonies themselves should be closed. I think we've all seen what public testimonies in the House look like. Those are clown shows. But I think 2 weeks to release transcripts is about right.
 
Superfly said:
I am absolutely all for releasing the transcripts, but not until the process is completed.
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I would only support that if there are no more selective releases of portions of the testimonies.
 
Superfly said:
I am absolutely all for releasing the transcripts, but not until the process is completed.
Click to expand...

Yup, for the same reason we sequester witnesses in criminal trials.
 
Airyaman said:
I would only support that if there are no more selective releases of portions of the testimonies.
Click to expand...

Superfly said:
I am absolutely all for releasing the transcripts, but not until the process is completed.
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To be frank, what was released is already bad enough. It's not like any context is going to make crystal clear talk of foreign bribery look innocent.

Sometimes transcripts are out the next day, others it can take over a month. It just depends.
 
Airyaman said:
I would only support that if there are no more selective releases of portions of the testimonies.
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Letting future witnesses know what past witnesses said allows the future witnesses to mold their testimony to what is already known. Still-committed cronies hoping for a pardon would lie to defend Trump and others might be more likely to omit anything that could come back to bite them.
 
Mr Person said:
Yup, for the same reason we sequester witnesses in criminal trials.
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There's also the reality that some of these witnesses are dishonest characters still, and are ready to lie to the committees.

Some of these witnesses have no interest in helping bring Trump to impeachment, and will try to make their story fit the WH defense, so making sure they don't know everything the other person said is key to prevent them from conspiring to lie to the committees.

EDIT: you beat me to it.

JERK!
 
Airyaman said:
As I said in the OP, I will no longer support the impeachment inquiry if the Volker transcript is not released next week (by end of day Friday). I think 2 weeks maximum should be just right.



Yeah, I agree that the testimonies themselves should be closed. I think we've all seen what public testimonies in the House look like. Those are clown shows. But I think 2 weeks to release transcripts is about right.
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Ok, I disagree but I can certainly respect your opinion.
 
Mr Person said:
Letting future witnesses know what past witnesses said allows the future witnesses to mold their testimony to what is already known. Still-committed cronies hoping for a pardon would lie to defend Trump and others might be more likely to omit anything that could come back to bite them.
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Then they should not have released the text messages between Soundland and Bill Taylor. Either keep it all private or release all of it. Don't just put out pieces to build a public narrative.
 
Airyaman said:
Then they should not have released the text messages between Soundland and Bill Taylor. Either keep it all private or release all of it. Don't just put out pieces to build a public narrative.
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Indeed, but they did. I still do not think they should release all the rest.
 
Mr Person said:
Indeed, but they did. I still do not think they should release all the rest.
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What will your opinion be if they continue to do this? For instance, if they think part of Fiona Hill's testimony is beneficial to the case for impeachment, and they release just parts of it, what is your opinion of this?
 
Mr Person said:
Indeed, but they did. I still do not think they should release all the rest.
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Airyaman said:
Then they should not have released the text messages between Soundland and Bill Taylor. Either keep it all private or release all of it. Don't just put out pieces to build a public narrative.
Click to expand...

If you want to impeach a president, you have to build a public narrative. So far, it's worked in swinging those opinions polls big time, so don't complain.

This is the playbook Republicans have played by for decades, and that's because it's a winner. We've tried to the adhere to fairness playbook, and it never works.

Lastly, the text messages served a purpose in exposing that there was bribery going on at the WH, which was urgent information.
 
trouble13 said:
Yes, with the exception of any classified information, everything should be made public. If your going to impeach the president of the united states, the public should be part of the process. We can argue for or against impeaching him but we should all know the whole story to make an informed opinion.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I agree. All evidence including trump's tax returns which have been requested via congressional subpoena should be released to the public.
 
Airyaman said:
What will your opinion be if they continue to do this? For instance, if they think part of Fiona Hill's testimony is beneficial to the case for impeachment, and they release just parts of it, what is your opinion of this?
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Nothing.

If Republicans know of information that puts seemingly incriminating testimony in an innocent context, they should be specific in how that is the case, and create pressure for the majority to release the full transcript for the public to judge themselves.

Democrats had to do that all throughout Russiagate.
 
Airyaman said:
What will your opinion be if they continue to do this? For instance, if they think part of Fiona Hill's testimony is beneficial to the case for impeachment, and they release just parts of it, what is your opinion of this?
Click to expand...

I've been seesawing on that kind of question for a number of years.

Sometimes I say "**** it" and hope the Democrats behaving just as cynically as Republicans, doing whatever works. Other times, I want them to take the high road anyway. Lately I'm more in the latter camp. But the Dems would have to do a ton wrong for me to actually sit out 2020. Trump is that bad...
 
MovingPictures said:
If you want to impeach a president, you have to build a public narrative. So far, it's worked in swinging those opinions polls big time, so don't complain.

This is the playbook Republicans have played by for decades, and that's because it's a winner. We've tried to the adhere to fairness playbook, and it never works.

Lastly, the text messages served a purpose in exposing that there was bribery going on at the WH, which was urgent information.
Click to expand...

Yes, you have to build a public narrative, but if you do that by only releasing portions that support this, then it looks highly partisan. If gives the GOP way too much ammo to push back with.
 
Airyaman said:
I believe Trump should be impeached. He is clearly not fit for the job, but he also appears to be using the power of his office for his own personal benefit, no matter what that might do to foreign and domestic relationships. However, I will find myself not being able to support impeachment or even further inquiry if the transcripts of testimonies are not released. The Volker testimony should have already been released by now. If it is not released in the next week, I will officially no longer be able to support the inquiry or subsequent impeachment.

What's you opinion? Should impeachment inquiry Congressional testimony transcripts be released to the public? If you vote "no", why do you feel this way?
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter. They won't ever be released. The Dems cannot tolerate anything disrupting their narrative.
 
Airyaman said:
Yes, you have to build a public narrative, but if you do that by only releasing portions that support this, then it looks highly partisan. If gives the GOP way too much ammo to push back with.
Click to expand...
The GOP will cry foul no matter what.

You know that polls show almost 60% Americans disapproving of how congressional Republicans are handling impeachment, while 55% supporting the Democrats handling of it, right?

The refusal of Democrats to hold an impeachment inquiry until recently bought them massive political capital - by pure luck.
 
Mr Person said:
I've been seesawing on that kind of question for a number of years.

Sometimes I say "**** it" and hope the Democrats behaving just as cynically as Republicans, doing whatever works. Other times, I want them to take the high road anyway. Lately I'm more in the latter camp. But the Dems would have to do a ton wrong for me to actually sit out 2020. Trump is that bad...
Click to expand...
We all have to distinguish between the big and small.

If you have to bend a small rule to protect the sanctity of a larger more important set of values, then so be it.

That's the Republican outlook, and we need to share it, or they'll take what's left.
 
MovingPictures said:
To be frank, what was released is already bad enough. It's not like any context is going to make crystal clear talk of foreign bribery look innocent.

Sometimes transcripts are out the next day, others it can take over a month. It just depends.
Click to expand...

To be honest, POTUS stands by his words even though they admit he committed a crime and admitted his guilt.
 
Airyaman said:
Then they should not have released the text messages between Soundland and Bill Taylor. Either keep it all private or release all of it. Don't just put out pieces to build a public narrative.
Click to expand...

Excellent point...echoes my thoughts exactly.
 
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