Mike Cloud: “As I sat in the basement of this Capitol listening to deposition after deposition, it was very clear that this…”

“As I sat in the basement of this Capitol listening to deposition after deposition, it was very clear that this impeachment shenanigan was never about a real search for truth. House leadership wanted us to believe, the American people to believe, that this impeachment process began as a result of a July phone call when, in reality, Speaker Pelosi said that this began 2\1/2\ years ago. They wanted us to believe that the evidence was irrefutable, when the truth is they polled to figure out, to see what to charge the President with. The way this is supposed to work in an investigation is that there is a crime that produces evidence that leads to a verdict. When this started with the verdict, it was a search for evidence that was never found, and yet we are sending impeachment articles to the Senate. This is crazy. And, of course, it has taken over 4 weeks to get what was urgent--the Speaker said this was urgent. She said this is urgent, so we will be bringing the articles. It has been 4 weeks to get the articles from here across to the Senate. This is a straight line. You go straight through this door, walk about 90 seconds and you will be in the Senate; yet, it has taken 4 weeks. This is crazy and should not happen. Senator Feinstein said the longer it goes on, the less urgent it becomes. So, if it is serious and urgent, send them over; if it isn't, don't send them over.…”