RUSH: Now, today’s Pelosi’s weekly press conference, she invited Pencil Neck to appear with her, Adam Schiff, to appear with her at the press conference where they announced, “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, we’re gonna do health care. Oh, yeah, we’re gonna make sure prescription drugs — oh, yeah, we’re not gonna ignore it.” Now, why would she bring that up? Why in the world? I’ll tell you why she’s brought it up. It’s because we have been hammering the Democrats on this for two days. And I guarantee you somebody heard it and passed it on to her, and they know they’ve got a problem.

They still haven’t held a formal impeachment vote. Now, as I have said, such a thing is not constitutionally required. But this impeachment business, folks, I think it’s a twofer for them. If they actually were able to pull it off, fine.

I think what it actually is, is a primarily vehicle whereby they can conduct their ongoing smears of Trump and everything about Trump on a daily and hourly basis, under the premise that it’s all leading toward impeachment. While it may not, I think if it doesn’t, they still think there’s a lot of value here in destroying Trump in the court of public opinion by having every bit of criticism of Trump related to impeachment. So anything Trump doesn’t satisfy them with is gonna be a stonewall. This is what they really, really wanted with this phone transcript.

I am gonna repeat this again because Pencil Neck confirmed again that I was right about this today. I must tell you this. I’m sitting here, I’m watching all this, and I know you wonder, “Does Rush think this is all because of him?” I don’t think it in those terms, but when I hear Pelosi go out of her way to tell people in the press that the Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time, that they can focus on impeachment and prescription drug prices and health care, then, yeah, I get kind of a smug smile of satisfaction knowing that we hit the bull’s-eye on it.

And then Schiff coming out making my point today, the original phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, they never expected Trump to release the transcript of the call to protect the presidency in the never-ending fight that exists between the executive branch, legislative branch. It’s an ongoing battle. It’s part of the process. It was designed by the founders, this constant fighting and haggling for ultimate power. And it was set up to create gridlock, in fact.

The founders loved gridlock. The founders loved government not doing very much. And so setting up three branches and the primary two here with the legislative and executive, the White House and Congress, having an ongoing battle for power in all things is itself a distraction. It can upset the American people who don’t understand the design process of the structure of American government. But it is nevertheless designed. So this quest for power that all Congresses seek over the White House and that the White House, the president always seeks ultimate power over Congress, it’s an ongoing thing.

So what Schiff was trying to do here… They never thought Trump would release the transcript, to protect the power — to protect the independence — of the executive branch, not just for himself but for presidents along down the line. You don’t want to set a precedent here. “Congress demands this? Well, you don’t give it to ’em just ’cause they demand it, because then you’ve set a precedent, and it’s harder for future presidents to deny if a president, at any time, acquiesced to a demand like this.”

Well, Trump did. He acquiesced to the demand. He produced the transcript of the phone call between himself and the Ukrainian president, because in Trump’s view, it was “a perfect call,” maybe the most perfect call that there’s ever been between two world leaders. Maybe the best call, maybe the most perfect call that phone lines have ever transmitted. He said there was nothing wrong with it. So he releases it. Now, Schiff and the Democrats didn’t think that Trump would. They were prepared to accuse him of obstruction. They were prepared to accuse him of stonewalling.

That’s what they wanted, because the cover-up is always more problematic than whatever alleged crime — and Trump has not committed a crime here. There aren’t any impeachable offenses yet. Doesn’t matter. The Democrats in the media are talking about how there are. As far as the media’s concerned, everything Trump does is an impeachable offense because he’s illegitimate, because he cheated and colluded with the Russians. You know the drill.

And this is the effort that they are making to create this illusion ongoing in the minds of as many Americans as they can. So when Trump released the transcript, now they’ve got to change the strategy because Trump is not obstructing, and he’s not stonewalling, and he’s not covering up. So they go into Phase II, and I’m sure it was planned, but they were really hoping that Trump would stonewall. They really wanted to claim Trump was covering up. How do I know this?

Because of what Pencil Neck said today. Let’s start here with audio sound bite number 20. This was after Pencil Neck and Pelosi had their press conference to announce impeachment and how solemn it is (sobbing), and how troublesome it is, and (sniffling) how they really don’t want to do it. “It feels so bad! (wailing) It’s so bad for America. But, oh, my God, we’ve got no choice! This guy is so… (sobbing) Oh, oh, we’ve gotta do it, but we don’t want to! We don’t like it!”

It was one of the biggest phony sob scenes I’ve ever seen. So one of the sycophants, one of the Democrats in the media disguised as a journalist at this press conference said, “Chairman Pencil Neck, as the White House seems to be doing delays, in the past it’s taken years sometimes to compel documents and testimony from the White House. Are you preparing a court battle? Are you getting ready for a court battle? And how do you make sure that that happens in what you call an expeditious manner?”

SCHIFF: The White House needs to understand that any action like that, uhh, that, uh, forces us to litigate or to have to consider litigation, uh, will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice. Uh, and of course that was an article of impeachment —

RUSH: Stop the tape! And there you have it. Schiff has his obstruction and Trump hadn’t even done anything yet! See how this works? “The White House needs to understand that any action like that, uhh, that, uh, forces us to litigate or to have to” even think about litigating… That means go to court, for those of you in Rio Linda. Of course, people in Rio Linda know what “litigate” means, since they’re in court a lot. So Trump’s not done a thing yet, but Schiff is already setting the table here for what? Obstruction of justice!

Which will lead Schiff into “cover-up,” which will then allow for the use of the word “stonewall.” Okay, here now — and this, folks, is proof to me that their original desire or expectation was Trump not to release that transcript of the call. They were ready to go. “Cover-up! Cover-up! Obstruction!” Much, much worse. I mean, that implies guilt right there. These people are having to create the crime now. Trump is talking to the… In fact, you know what I heard Donna Brazile say today?

I’m about ready to turn Fox off, I have to tell you, because the last person I care to see in stuff like this is Donna Brazile. I literally have no desire to watch. I could tune in CNN if I wanted to watch what the Democrats think of this. Donna Brazile is on Fox right before noon. She says (paraphrased), “Presidents have to understand. Trump — Trump does not… The presidency is not for you to advance your personal political interests.” The hell it isn’t! That’s exactly what it’s for! What in the heck is she talking about?

The presidency is not for presidents to be able to advance their personal political interests? That’s why they run, for crying out loud: Personal political interests! I don’t care what she meant. Selfish, private, I don’t care what she meant. What she said was that presidents don’t get to advance their political agenda; that’s not what the presidency is. They’re turning that into a crime, is the point. They’re saying that the president pursuing his own political agenda is somehow problematic. Anyway, here’s the entire Adam Schiff soundbite. No interruptions from me…

SCHIFF: The White House needs to understand that any action like that, uhh, that, uh, forces us to litigate or to have to consider litigation, uh, will be considered further evidence of obstruction of justice. Uh, and of course that was an article of impeachment against, uh, Nixon, the obstruction of lawful functions of Congress, that is. They just need to know that even as they try to undermine our ability to find the facts around the president’s effort to coerce a foreign leader to create, uhh, dirt that he can use against a political opponent —

RUSH: There he goes again.

SCHIFF: — that they will be strengthening the case on obstruction if they, uh, behavior that way.

RUSH: We had a caller yesterday asking me, “How do these Democrats sleep at night?” Well, here’s Adam Schiff lying again, folks. He’s continuing the lie he told that he apologized for. He just said (impression), “The president’s effort to coerce a foreign leader to create, uh,” and then he caught himself, ’cause he says, “Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.” Now he can’t walk it back ’cause he said it. He just lied again. “If Trump tries to undermine our ability to find the facts around the president’s effort to coerce a foreign leader to create, uh, uh, uh, dirt that he can use against a political opponent…”

Trump didn’t ask for anything to be made up. Adam Schiff is lying through his slimy, liberal teeth, continuing to promulgate this outrageous mischaracterization of what anybody can plainly read in the transcript of the phone call. There was no desire — Trump neither demanded nor asked — for anything to be made up. And yet here’s Adam Schiff continuing his original lie that he spoke earlier this week as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “They will be strengthening the case on obstruction if they behave that way.”

Trump isn’t obstructing anything! He released the transcript! Where is the obstruction? There isn’t any obstruction! There isn’t any stonewalling! Now they’re trying to say that Pompeo was in on it. “He knew what happened there! We’re gonna get Pompeo, gonna bring him in here. Yeah!” Pompeo said, “You’re not gonna bully me. Nothing wrong happened on this phone call, you clowns.” So another sycophant Democrat in the media said, “Chairman [Pencil Neck], the president wants to interview the whistleblower. He says he has the right to meet his accuser. Your response, please.”

SCHIFF: The whistleblower has the right under the statute to remain anonymous. Uhh, and we will, uh, do everything in our power to make sure that that whistleblower is protected.

RUSH: Right.

SCHIFF: The president can attack the — the whistleblower rhetorically all the president wants. It doesn’t change the fact that the record of that call shows the president of the United States in the same conversation… Indeed, immediately after the Ukraine president asked for more military help, the president of the United States asked that leader a favor, uhhh, though. And no attack, uhhh, on the whistleblower or anyone else is gonna change those underlying facts.

RUSH: The money was not a factor in this. The president didn’t withhold money, didn’t threaten to withhold money. None of this is true. As I opened the program with yesterday, you’ve got to somehow find a way, folks, to believe me when I tell you that everything they’re saying here that has any relationship to what they think is anything substantive is a lie. Schiff is lying through his teeth. I don’t think the whistleblower’s ever gonna testify. I think it’s all a sham.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Grab audio sound bites number 18 and 19.

Now, it was Monday I asked all of you a question. Do you think the president, I said, should make an ongoing point about the do-nothing nature of the Congress while they’re totally occupied and absorbed in this impeachment gambit? And running through the basics of this won’t take me very long.

The Democrats claim to be the party of the little guy. The Democrats claim to be the party that cares about average, ordinary, downtrodden, victimized, weird people. They’re looking out for ’em. Republicans don’t care about ’em. Conservatives don’t care about ’em. The Democrats do. The Democrats are protecting ’em.

The Democrats have this image they’re gonna protect the downtrodden, the homeless, the hungry, the thirsty, the celibate, whatever. They’re gonna protect ’em from the ravages of American capitalism, from the ravages of American conservatism and the Republican Party in general. And that’s what they tell their constituents.

Every minority group, every victimized group with a grievance, the Democrats tell ’em we care about you, we’re looking out for you, we have the compassion, we have the big hearts, we have the tolerance, we have the open-mindedness, we do not judge you, all of this stuff. And they’re not doing any of it! They’re not interested in the price of prescription drugs, for example. They’re not interested in fixing what’s wrong with health care. They certainly don’t care a whit about open borders and immigration, and they’re not even doing anything on one of their pet issues, climate change! They’re not doing anything to put fossil fuel businesses out of business. They’re just mouthing off a lot about it. But they’re not even doing that now. They’re doing nothing!

They are totally all-in on impeachment. They are spending American tax dollars themselves. They are spending American tax dollars to advance their own personal political agendas, which happens to be getting the president thrown out of office. And I think Trump should hammer this because he is focusing on those things and trying, and the Democrats will not focus on them from now ’til the end of this campaign season.

They can’t! Because doing so would allow Trump to claim a victory on anything. Trump wants to lower prescription drug prices. He wants to fix the border. He wants to stop the tide of illegal immigration. He wants to tackle prescription drug prices, and he’s working on it every day and he’s making mention of it. The Democrats are not going to join, they are not going to assist, they’re not going to help because they will not do anything that benefits the American people from now through the election of 2020, because that would benefit Trump.

And so the people that the Democrats claim to care about have been shoved to the back of the line, the bottom of the list of priorities. The American people and Democrat voters are the last thing Democrats care about right now. And I think Trump should keep hammering it. I think the Republicans ought to keep hammering it. I think the Republicans, as a side issue, ought to realize what the Democrats are trying to do to Bill Barr. They’re trying to sabotage his investigation. More on that in a moment.

Well, so, lo and behold, I’ve been pounding this since Monday that the Democrats are doing nothing, that they’re spending taxpayer dollars to pursue their own perverse political desires. They’re not doing anything for the American people. Look, as much as you and I might disagree with it, there’s a reality that many people expect government to do things that will improve life. Economics, clean water, clean air, this kind of stuff. There’s a lot of people that look to government to do that.

They look to government to do things that they don’t think they can do for themselves. Frankly, there are a lot of people that that’s what government’s for, to them. Okay. Well, hit them and tell them that the Democrat Party, which claims to exclusively care about these people, isn’t doing anything. Not a single thing. Those people have been put to the back to the line, the bottom of the priority list.

So at the press conference today, Pelosi’s weekly presser, where she welcomed Pencil Neck to share stage time, the subject came up. And, yes, let me just say there’s no doubt in my mind that this is a direct response to what I’ve been saying here for the past three days now. There’s no question they’ve heard about it. There’s no question they’ve got spies monitoring this show. Media Matters for America thrives and lives off transcribing this show and mischaracterizing what happens. There’s no question Pelosi’s heard about it. So at the end of her opening remarks at her presser today, this is among the things she said.

PELOSI: Do we have any questions first on the work to meet the needs of the American people in terms of USMCA and the HR3?

RUSH: Wait. Stop the tape. Let me put this in even better perspective. So Pelosi spent her entire press conference ramming Trump. She spent the entire press conference on the importance of impeachment, the reluctance, oh, I didn’t want to do it, oh, it’s a solemn thing, oh, we really don’t want to do it, oh, it’s not gonna unify the American people, oh, it’s horrible, it’s horrible.

So she wasn’t getting any questions about anything but impeachment, and that is when she asked for people in the sycophantic media to ask her about prescription drug prices and health care and all that. And here’s how it sounded again.

PELOSI: Do we have any questions first on the work to meet the needs of the American people in terms of USMCA and the HR3?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you envision working with this president on these key Democratic agenda items: lowering prescription drug costs, ensuring tougher gun safety measures, as you’re actively considering whether to remove him from office —

PELOSI: They have nothing to do with each other. We have a responsibility to uphold the con — our oath of office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We also have a responsibility to get the job done for the American people.

RUSH: You notice the sleaze nature of this question? I read this question. This Drive-By Media guy says, “How do you envision working with this president on these key Democrat agenda items?” As though the Democrats own these items. Lowering prescription drug costs, ensuring tougher gun safety measures, health care, how do you work on your core agenda items. See?

They are, as far as a lot of Democrat voters, this is what the Democrats do, this is how the Democrats help people, this is how the Democrats look out for people. This reporter, how in the hell can you do that when you’re trying to remove the guy? But Pelosi brought it up. Pelosi asked for the question. “Do we have any questions for –”

Can you imagine if Trump asked for questions from the press, what would they do? They wouldn’t ask him one thing he wanted to be asked, but here comes Pelosi as the maestro waving her wand around. “Can anybody ask me, how about you over here?” And she singles out this guy, and he dutifully follows through. So they know. They know they’re walking a tightrope on this.

Now, her answer, “Well, we can do both. They have nothing to do with each other. Trying to get rid of the president has nothing to do with working with him on our agenda. Trying to get rid of him has nothing to do with it.” And then she caught herself. “We have the responsibility to uphold the con — uh, uh, uh, I mean, our oath of office. We have a responsibility to uphold the con — Hee-hee-hee. Okay. Okay. She was gonna say Constitution, but she forgot.

So next, another Democrat in the media said, “Madam Speaker, you look so great today. How do you do it at age 80? Do you have plans or have you taken off the table the idea of a full House vote on the impeachment inquiry?”

PELOSI: HR3? Anyone on HR3? Does anybody in this room care about the cost of prescription drugs and what it means to America’s working families?

RUSH: You tell me.

PELOSI: From time to time you’ve asked those questions.

RUSH: You tell me.

PELOSI: Does anyone care about the USMCA?

RUSH: You tell me they’re not listening to this program. “So what about, you haven’t had a full floor vote.” (imitating Pelosi) “Does nobody in this room care about this prescription drug prices? Ask me about prescription drug prices right now, ask me, ask me, ask me.” Getting frustrated there, Madam Speaker. Because, you see, the Democrats, they don’t care about any of that.

She’s desperate for the questions so she can get an answer on the record, make it look like the Democrats are working it, but, folks, they’re not. They don’t care. They have no interest in it. The bottom line is, ask any Democrat voter how their life has improved under Democrat rule, wherever Democrats do rule, and you can’t get an answer.

Democrats know people’s lives don’t improve. Democrats don’t want people’s lives to improve. Democrats want people to continue to be dependent, not self-sufficient or self-reliant. The Democrats then blame Republicans when people’s lives straight line, squander, flatline, or don’t improve, however you want to characterize it. The Democrats blame Republicans for that.

Democrats do not want a growing economy. They had eight years with Obama, what’d they do? Told everybody, “Hey, it’s a new era. America’s best days are behind us. We’re in a new era of decline and we’re the people to manage the decline for you.” That’s their attitude.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Quick question. If the Democrats, Pelosi… If they care so much about fixing guns and they care so much about fixing health care and lowering prescription drug prices, then why haven’t they done anything about that since they took control of the House in 2018, huh?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The reason why they’re doing the impeachment at the Intelligence Committee, the Intelligence Committee is not where the impeachment hearings take place. This has never happened before. There’s all kinds of unprecedented stuff here. There’s never been one of these without a formal floor vote, for example.

The reason they’re doing it in the Intelligence Committee is so nobody can know what’s going on. The intelligence community can say, “This is national security, this must happen behind closed doors.” So Schiff can do whatever the hell he wants, and nobody can say, the Republicans can’t leak it because it’s behind closed doors. That’s why they’re doing this impeachment process so the American people cannot see any of it.

Now, ask yourself why that might be. Why don’t they want you to see what they’re doing? If it’s that obvious, if Trump is such a mob boss, if he’s asking foreign leaders to make up dirt, what in the world would we not want to see that for? They don’t want us to see what’s going on because they don’t have anything. They want to be able to make it up with no obstruction and opposition. They want to be able to do exactly what Schiff has been doing.

It’s just make it up and lie through a bunch of slimy teeth all of these mythical, mysterious allegations and then present their report with nobody having seen anything, much less any presentation of evidence or any testimony from so-called experts, you name it.