Sohn: Don't let Fox cheat you out of impeachment history

Rep. Adam Schiff , D-California, joined by the other House impeachment managers, talks to reporters before the start of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Wednesday. / Photo by Erin Schaff, The New York Times
Rep. Adam Schiff , D-California, joined by the other House impeachment managers, talks to reporters before the start of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Wednesday. / Photo by Erin Schaff, The New York Times

If you're a Fox News watcher - and in Tennessee and North Georgia many people are - you missed a moment and a speech that someday will be the stuff of history books. You missed American patriotism rising to the moment.

You missed Adam Schiff's emotional closing statement about President Donald Trump's abuse of power because Fox stopped broadcasting the trial during prime time Wednesday and Thursday. Instead you may have seen Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham provide their usual bogus cover for the President.

We don't want anyone to miss real history, though, so here are excerpts.

"Even now, our ally [Ukraine's president] can't get his foot in the door. This brings me the last point I want to make tonight, which is, when we're done, we believe that we will have made the case overwhelmingly of the President's guilt. That is, he's done what he's charged with. He withheld the money. He withheld the meeting. He used it to coerce Ukraine to do these political investigations. He covered it up. He obstructed us. He's trying to obstruct you and he's violated the Constitution.

"But I want to address one other thing tonight. Okay. He's guilty. ... Does he really need to be removed? Does he really need to be removed? We have an election coming up. Does he really need to be removed? He's guilty. ...

"Do we really have any doubt about the facts here? Does anybody really question whether the President is capable of what he's charged with? No one is really making the argument - Donald Trump would never do such a thing. Because of course we know that he would, and of course we know that he did. ... We all know what we're dealing with here with this President, but does he really need to be removed?...

[T]his is why he needs to be removed. Donald Trump chose Rudy Giuliani over his own intelligence agencies. He chose Rudy Giuliani over his own FBI Director. He chose Rudy Giuliani over his own National Security Advisors. When all of them were telling him this Ukraine 2016 stuff is kooky, crazy Russian propaganda. He chose not to believe them. He chose to believe Rudy Giuliani. That makes him dangerous to us, to our country. That was Donald Trump's choice. Now, why would Donald Trump believe a man like Rudy Giuliani over a man like Christopher Wray? Okay. Why would anyone in their right mind believe Rudy Giuliani over Christopher Wray?

"Because he wanted to and because what Rudy was offering him was something that would help him personally. And what Christopher Wray was offering him was merely the truth. What Christopher Wray was offering him was merely the information he needed to protect his country and its elections, but that's not good enough. What's in it for him? What's in it for Donald Trump? This is why he needs to be removed.

"Now, you may be asking how much damage can he really do in the next several months until the election? A lot. A lot of damage. Now, we just saw last week, a report that Russia tried to hack or maybe did hack Burisma. ... Well, let's say they got in and let's say they start dumping documents to interfere at the next election.

"Let's say they start dumping some real things they hack from Burisma. Let's say they start dumping some fake things they didn't hack from Burisma, but they want you to believe they did. Let's say they start blatantly interfering in our election again to help Donald Trump. Can you have the least bit of confidence that Donald Trump will stand up to them and protect our national interest over his own personal interest?

"You know you can't, which makes him dangerous to this country. ... You know you can't count on him. None of us can. ... What happens if China got the message? ...

"There's no Mulligan here when it comes to our national security. So what if China does overtly or covertly start to help the Trump campaign? You think he's going to call them out on it or you think he's going to give them a better trade deal on it? Can you have the least bit confidence that Donald Trump won't put his personal interests ahead of the national interests? Is there really any evidence in this presidency that should give us the ironclad confidence. ... ?

"You know you can't count on him to do that. That's the sad truth. ... The American people deserve a President they can count on to put their interests first, to put their interests first. Colonel Vindman said, "Here, right matters." ... Well, let me tell you something, ... if right doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how good the Constitution is. It doesn't matter how brilliant the framers were. Doesn't matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. Doesn't matter how well written the Oath of Impartiality is. If right doesn't matter, we're lost.

"If the truth doesn't matter, we're lost. Framers couldn't protect us from ourselves, if right and truth don't matter. And you know that what he did was not right. That's what they do in the old country, that Colonel Vindman's father came from. Or the old country that my great grandfather came from, or the old countries that your ancestors came from, or maybe you came from. But here, right is supposed to matter. It's what's made us the greatest nation on earth.

"No constitution can protect us, if right doesn't matter any more. And you know you can't trust this President to do what's right for this country. You can trust he will do what's right for Donald Trump. He'll do it now. He's done it before. He'll do it for the next several months. He'll do it in the election if he's allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters and the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost."

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