RUSH: I got a note just before the program started. Representative Matt Gaetz from Florida tweeted about 11:30 or so that “I led over 30 of my colleagues into the SCIF where Adam Schiff is holding secret impeachment depositions. Still inside — more details to come.”

The SCIF is — I mean, if you watch television shows, you know what a SCIF is. It’s a secure room where communications don’t get in, nothing’s bugged in there, nobody can tell and know what’s being said inside. This is where Schiff is running an impeachment hearing, in a SCIF.

He’s not running an impeachment hearing. Andy McCarthy made my point today. He’s not running impeachment. This is not impeachment what they’re doing up there. There hasn’t been an impeachment vote. There isn’t gonna be an impeachment vote.

The story at The Daily Caller: “House Republicans briefly shut down a closed-door meeting Wednesday by storming the room where lawmakers were questioning a Defense Department official involving the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.” So we’re getting some pushback here. And as you go through the audio sound bites today, you’ll see that there is more pushback from the Republicans one day after I asked, “Where the hell is it?”

Now, here’s the thing about this, ladies and gentlemen. I’m watching this babe on Fox. “The Republicans are finding it more and more difficult to defend President Trump.” And she’s right. And I don’t understand it. Why is it so hard to defend Trump? If you can’t defend Trump, why can’t you defend us? Because we’re the real targets here.

The real problem with this, folks — and I don’t mean this as a criticism of Trump, please don’t misunderstand. But what all of this aimed at Trump really is is hate for the rest of us. It’s hate for all of us who elected him. It’s hate for all of us who support him. We are the ones they hate. The ones that elect Republicans, we are the ones they hate. Trump is a surrogate for the hate. Trump is an easy target. He’s the leader. He got elected president.

But it doesn’t end with him. You know, you were listening yesterday. I practically lost it over some of these Republicans saying they wish Trump hasn’t used the word “lynched.” I saw some leftist woman on Fox complaining Republicans have trouble defending Trump. We’re not just defending Trump. We’re defending ourselves. We’re defending the Constitution. We’re defending the American way of life against a leftist onslaught! What is so hard to defend about that?

You know, you can defend people who elect you without having to defend Trump! How do you do it? You push back against the left! You push back against the Democrats! What’s so hard about that? Can you not push pack against the Democrats without it being seen as defending Trump? And so what?

Trump is the elected Republican president. Forget what the media in Washington is saying. What is so difficult about opposing what the left is trying to do? Isn’t that why you’re in the game? Isn’t that why there’s a Republican Party? It’s what Republican voters think.

Republican voters are voting to stop the Democrats, to stop the left, to defeat them within the political arena of ideas. This is what votes mean. People are not electing Republicans just to defend Trump. But what’s so hard about that? I don’t have any problem defending Trump because I’m defending myself and I’m defending you and I’m defending the American way of life. And I’m happy to do it! I’m excited to do it! I look forward to it every day! I can’t understand it being a burden!

I can’t understand Republicans wringing their hands, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I don’t want to be seen as defending Trump.” You don’t have to defend Trump! All you have to do is tell the truth like the rest of us are about Schiff and his phony impeachment and all of this garbage about Trump-Russia collusion. What I want to know from any of you people that are afraid to defend, could somebody explain to me why? Give me one reason why there is any reason to believe anything the Democrats say?

Look what started all of this. What started all of this, whatever you want to peg the beginning, was a series of lies that Trump was a traitor, colluded with Russia. There was never any evidence for this. There never has been a shred of evidence because it didn’t happen. The polls for the 2016 presidential election were all wrong with maybe one or two exceptions. We haven’t had truth in media for two and a half, three years. So why does anybody believe anything the left or the media is saying?

What is so hard about using intelligence guided by experience to know that we are in the midst of an ongoing, massive illusion that’s being created built on lie after lie after lie. I just said all this and not one syllable in defense of Donald Trump. What is hard about this? It shouldn’t be hard. Unless you don’t see the Democrats as a problem. Unless you don’t see what they’re attempting to do as a problem. But I don’t know how you can’t see it as a problem.

What are they trying to do? They’re trying to make the election results of 2016 invalid. They are trying to overturn the election results of 2016. If they succeed in this, no election from here forward is safe. If Washington, if the government, whatever you want to call it, if they succeed in reversing election results, which is all this is — there aren’t any high crimes and misdemeanors. There aren’t any impeachable offenses. There was no collusion between Trump and Russia. There was between Hillary and Russia, but not Trump.

If they get away with reversing election results and the Republicans don’t see fit to stop it, then we can only conclude one thing, and that is certain Republicans actually don’t mind losing. Maybe they would prefer to lose. Maybe losing with honor and dignity is the objective. Maybe not having to govern is the objective. Maybe not having to lead, the pressure, all that, not having to do it, maybe that’s the objective. I don’t want to believe that.

But I mean, you know what? “I find it very difficult to defend Trump.” That’s a cop-out. Trump is a surrogate. This effort is aimed at over 60 million people who elected Trump and a whole bunch of other Republicans in 2016. Again, I ask, what is so hard to defend about not one honest element of the Democrat agenda and attack?

What’s so hard about attacking what Adam Schiff is doing? He’s a sitting duck. The guy can’t tell the truth to save his life. The guy’s engaged in a sham and scam right before our very eyes, except no, he’s hiding what he’s doing behind closed doors and not even letting Republicans in. You know, that’s the way it was for 40 years, Republicans had 130, 135 members of Congress in the House. For 40 years that’s the way it was.

Then Newt Gingrich comes along and screws everything up by winning the House for the first time in 40 years in 1994! Now all of a sudden, “Yh-oh, now what do we do?” And it’s gone back and forth since then. But this attack, these attacks on Donald Trump, he’s a surrogate. I don’t mean to say the attacks are not real, but it’s on us.

So every one of you that elected Trump, every one of you that voted for Trump, every one of you that intends to vote for him again, that’s what all of this is aimed at. This is who it’s all aimed at, and that’s you.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I guess what bugs me, it’s just more of the same. So the Democrats create a phony impeachment. There is no impeachment. All of this, as I have articulately explained over the course of many exciting and sterling broadcasts, all of this is their 2020 campaign.

Folks, there’s a story in the New York Times today. They are worried about the current field! Joe Biden has a 10-point lead in the latest polls, 10:20 increase. Doesn’t make any sense. Nobody on the Democrat side wants Biden! The New York Times is scared to death. “Isn’t there anybody else?” screams the headline. I’m telling you, this is all they’ve got. They cannot beat Trump in an election. They’ve got to taint it.

And this impeachment business is not impeachment. It is a phony establishment of a campaign issue. It’s designed to just people think Trump is being impeached, is going to be impeached, but there isn’t going to be one. This is gonna drag out past Christmas. I don’t care if you’ve heard they want to get this wrapped up by Thanksgiving. This isn’t gonna end. This is their campaign.

And this is what bugs me. Why accept this premise? It’s a lie. There is no impeachment. So why talk about it as such? Why react to it as such? Expose it! I’m talking about Republican critics. There’s no reason to go along with this. There isn’t an impeachment. There hasn’t been a vote. None of this is being done in public. None of this would stand up in a real impeachment.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We stay on the phones to Atascadero, California. Randy, thank you for waiting, sir. Hi.

CALLER: Yeah. Hi, Rush. Thanks a lot for taking the call. You know, you were talking earlier about defending Trump or, you know, Republicans having trouble defending Trump, and you were absolutely spot on, as far as I’m concerned.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: You’re not defending Trump; you’re defending our country. You’re defending the things that he stands for that is defending the principles of our country that in fact have been taken away, you know, from us by —

RUSH: Right. How do you separate Donald Trump from the 63 million that voted for him? They haven’t abandoned him. Every attack on Donald Trump is an attack on us. My point is that we are the real targets. We are the real targets. We are the real problem. Trump’s gonna come and go. We are ongoing. The American people —

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: — they’re gonna vote against Democrats and against the left and beat them, we are the target.

CALLER: Absolutely. And the thing that’s really scary is that the liberal and the Democrat side is actually using the mechanisms, the engine of our country, our legal system to basically be a stumbling block or a wall, if you wish, you know, against Trump and against our way of life. They’re tying him up in the legal system. They’re gonna go after him over and over with all these different, you know, examinations, evaluations, something pops up, you know, right after another one. They probably have a whole list of things, that they’re going on down the list, as one fails, they go to another one.

RUSH: Well, exactly. To make your point all you have to do is look at the bastardization of the legal system and the entire Trump-Russia collusion effort, the FISA warrants secured with a phony dossier. I mean, outrageous.

This lynching business, I guess, you know, I better get into that. I have titillated you enough with this. It’s time to lay that out, make that as crystal clear as possible because now all the Democrats having used the word “lynching” to describe what happened to Bill Clinton, all those have surfaced. We knew it was gonna happen.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, Republicans are starting to get ticked off finally. I have here a tweet from representative Bradley Byrne. He’s a Republican from Alabama. “Adam Schiff just SHUT DOWN his secret underground impeachment hearing after I led a group of Republicans into the room. Now he’s threatening me with an Ethics complaint! I’m on the Armed Services Cmte but being blocked from the Dept. Asst. SecDef’s testimony. This is a SHAM!”

So Schiff is interviewing in private the defense department assistant secretary of defense. Republicans are not allowed in. Bradley Byrne, who’s on the Armed Services Committee, stormed into the room. Schiff shut down his secret impeachment hearing and threatened Byrne with an ethics complaint.

Here’s Matt Gaetz. I mentioned to you earlier that Gaetz mentioned that he had stormed Schiff’s hearing. I’m gonna repeat this. This is one of those things, I say it and it may sail past people. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, is running what he and the media are calling impeachment inquiries in a secret room, a SCIF. This is a secure room, no media in or out, no bugs in there, nothing, no electronics are permitted — where he’s interviewing so-called witnesses.

He’s not permitting Republicans in the room. And he is not permitting Republicans to read transcripts. Whatever this is, it’s not impeachment. So the Republicans finally stormed the room today. Matt Gaetz, Republican, Florida, Steve Scalise, Republican, Louisiana, and other House Republicans held a press conference to talk about the one-sidedness of all this.

GAETZ: Behind those doors they intend to overturn the results of an American presidential election? We want to know what’s going on. And it’s only reasonable that we would have questions because so far Adam Schiff’s impeachment inquiry has been marked by secret interviews, selective leaks, weird theatrical performances of transcripts that never happened, and lies about contacts with a whistleblower.

RUSH: Okay. Now, all of that is absolutely true. Selective leaks. I’ll tell you what’s happening. Schiff is bringing, unquote, witnesses in, unquote. Most of the witnesses, when the transcripts were released at the beginning of this, most of the transcripts did not conflict with President Trump. Most of what the witnesses were saying backed up Trump and his assertions!

So Schiff then prevented the release of transcripts and started leaking individual sentences supposedly uttered by witnesses, out of context. And that’s what the media thus began to publish and talk about. This has irritated the Republicans to a breaking point now.

And so what Gaetz said here is exactly what has been going on. They are attempting to overturn the presidential elections behind closed doors. Republicans are not permitted in. Secret interviews, selective leaks, weird theatrical performances of transcripts that never happened, and lies about contacts with a whistleblower.

The whistleblower, where is he? The lies about contacts, it is now known that the whistleblower first went to Schiff. Schiff then guided the whistleblower through the process and ultimately told him to go talk to the IG, who was then told that the whistleblower was coming. The whole thing’s orchestrated. The Republicans have accused Schiff of this. It’s documented. Schiff is denying it. He’s lying about it. Here’s Steve Scalise speaking shortly after Matt Gaetz.

SCALISE: What is Adam Schiff trying to hide? Through those hidden, closed doors over there, Adam Schiff is trying to impeach a president of the United States. Behind closed doors, literally trying to overturn the results of the 2016 election, a year before Americans get to go to the polls to decide who’s gonna be the president.

Maybe in the Soviet Union this kind of thing is commonplace. This shouldn’t be happening in the United States of America where they’re trying to impeach a president in secret behind closed doors. The American people deserve better. We will demand better.

RUSH: Okay. Good. I’m glad these guys are doing it. I think some Republicans are getting really ticked off about this now. It’s amazing, Bradley Byrne, mad at Schiff, Matt Gaetz, Steve Scalise. My one — and it’s a nitpick, I will admit. And maybe I understand why they’re doing it. You see, I am the mayor of Realville. I am Mr. Literal. It’s another reason I couldn’t make it in Washington. I don’t speak the language. I don’t know how. I’m too literal.

But this isn’t an impeachment. Not yet. And I resent the fact that the media and everybody else is falling in line calling it that. It isn’t. Impeachment is a very dirty word. I mean, it’s a very powerful word. Most people don’t know that impeachment is a process. They think it’s a judgment. Most people think impeachment is a verdict. So when everybody talks about, “They’re in there! They’re impeaching the president!” most people think the president’s guilty and they’re in there finding out how.

Impeachment is the process. There is no removal from office until there’s a conviction, and no president has ever, in the history of the country, been removed from office by way of impeachment. It has never happened. But most people think it’s a verdict. What Schiff is doing is not impeachment. He wants everybody to think it is, and the press is helping immeasurably by calling it that. But whatever this is, it’s not impeachment. It’s an illusion.

Schiff is running a scam. He’s bringing in friendly deep state witnesses, not allowing transcripts, not allowing Republicans, not allowing witnesses to see or hear what’s going on behind closed doors. This is not an impeachment. It is an effort to convict Trump. It is an effort to drive the public opinion polls down. That’s what this is. But it’s not impeachment. So I’m kind of caught here when these guys talk, “Adam Schiff is in a room impeaching President Trump behind closed doors.”

Not really, not really. You can impeach a president without the formal — well, you can’t. You can do the inquiry without a formal vote. But this isn’t even the inquiry. An inquiry requires the representatives of the people, all of them, involved in the process. Republicans have to be in anything that’s official. I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s value in calling it an impeachment, hoping to outrage Trump supporters or if there’s more value in trying to accurately tell people what Schiff and Pelosi are really doing. That’s an opinion, I guess, of marketing, political communication, strategy and so forth.

But I just don’t like falling for the premise. The fake, phony premise. The objective is the same. I mean, they’re trying to get rid of the guy. I don’t deny that. They’re trying to drive his public opinion numbers down. That’s the effort here, which is what it’s always been.