We Are Paying Attention

January 23, 2020

Long-time friend of this blog, Steve Gallop has asked us to post the following plea to Americans:

America is at a crossroads. We have a renegade president who neither understands nor cares to obey the laws of this nation.  He has been impeached and is now on "trial" in the Senate. It is critical that all of us contact - via phone, email, or mail - our Republican senators and tell them in no uncertain terms that we are paying attention. Signing online petitions is not enough. Contact your senator personally.

I just sent this to my senator. I also sent it to the editor of my local paper.  Feel free to use any or all of this to apply pressure to Republican enablers. They value their jobs above all else. Let them know we are watching them.

Dear Senator Toomey:

I have placed several calls to your office in hopes of learning your position on the current impeachment proceedings.  It appears I have gotten my answer via your votes on the first day of Senate hearings when you and every other Republican senator voted against allowing new witnesses or new evidence to be included in these hearings.  I hope I am missing something. 

I, along with a large majority of Americans, am of the opinion that a trial requires witnesses and documentary evidence.  Since the White House forbade testimony by key witnesses and withheld every bit of evidence during the House investigation, is seems essential that the Senate hear these witnesses and view all pertinent evidence in order to arrive at an informed verdict.

As I watch the Senate hearings, I am reminded of the considerable and credible evidence brought forth during the House impeachment hearings, all of which seem to point to the distinct possibility that President Trump was applying pressure on an ally in order to obtain advantage in his re-election bid and that the White House was actively obstructing Congress’ investigation thereof.
We recently learned that the GAO concluded that President Trump broke the law by withholding funds from Ukraine that were approved by Congress.  These, of course, are the funds at the heart of the impeachment.

The president’s defense team has provided little or no substantive rebuttal to any incriminating testimony or evidence.  It seems the president's lawyers are focused more on what they claim are procedural shortcomings rather than anything substantive to do with the voluminous evidence provided during the House investigation, which resulted in two articles of impeachment against President Trump.

If in fact, as President Trump repeatedly claims, the phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky was “a perfect phone call,” then there can be no good reason to deprive the American people of the opportunity to learn as much as possible, in order for us to feel confident that the president should be exonerated.  This is the only way to bring this matter to an appropriate conclusion.  It is difficult to understand why the president would not want those who had first hand information about his perfect phone call and could exonerate him, to testify under oath in public.  I would think that the president himself would be anxious to have his name cleared on the record, rather than as a result of an acquittal without a trial.

I would greatly appreciate hearing directly from you where you stand on the issue of an actual trial with witnesses and documentary evidence being made public versus an acquittal without any trial, which looks for all intents and purposes like an attempt to keep the American people in the dark.
I may not understand all the legal and procedural nuances of these hearings, but from what I have been able to discern, you and all your Republican colleagues voted against every single amendment proposed by Democrats to allow witnesses and/or documents.  Please let me know if I am mistaken in my conclusion.

Lastly, yesterday I was stunned to hear President Trump tell reporters, “I got to watch enough — I thought our team did a very good job. But honestly, we have all the material. They don’t have the material.”  I hope you took the time to view this shocking video admission.  I know of no other way to interpret this except as President Trump describing obstruction of Congress.

I hope you and your Senate colleagues will find the courage and patriotism to stand up for our Constitution and not simply for your party’s leader who insists he is above the law.

Sincerely,

Steven J. Gallop, OD
Glen Mills, PA