What purpose did it serve to have JD testify? I have not been able to watch.

[Thomas Hurt]

Other than historical perspective why is he there?

[tblue37]

1. Well, it did allow committee GOPers to make fools of themselves. nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Historical perspective, exactly.

There's so much about this situation that's disturbingly similar to Watergate, except that Trump is even worse than Nixon.

[CaptainTruth]

3. I think the public needs to be reminded there are times when impeachment is justified...

& necessary. Not just political.

[StarfishSaver]

4. I think this kind of thoughtful, substantive information that Dean and the former USAs provided will

be much more effective in convincing Members to support an impeachment inquiry than berating and yelling at them and telling them how awful Trump is.

[doc03]

5. I read here just a few days ago that only 3 million people watch Fox News

which is supposed to have the highest ratings of the cable channels. Just how many people will see CSPAN? There are
some political junkies on our side that will see it and virtually no Trump voters will watch it and if they do they won't
believe anything they hear detrimental to Trump. So I say close to nothing.

[StarfishSaver]

6. The impact of hearings goes far beyond the people who actually watch them in real time

This hearing will be rerun, discussed, analyzed and covered in great depth, so the effect isn't limited just to the people who watched it live.

And the hearing is not just intended to substantially affect public opinion all at one time. It's foundational, part of building the case. In addition, it's part of the effort to help convince Members of Congress to support impeachment. The rational, calm, substantive presentations by the witnesses (except for the Heritage Foundation guy) under questioning by the Democrats will surely have an influence on other Members of Congress.

Don't underestimate this. It's way more than nothing.

[Kaleva]

7. But not that many watch cable news at any time.

[doc03]

8. I think the time to impeach Trump has long passed. I think this exercise is a total waste

of time at this point and it will probably help Trump get re-elected.

[D2020]

15. Absolutely

This was nothing more than political theater and I think this is going to hurt any chance of impeaching trump.
Either impeach when you have enough votes or else we're going to lose the election

[displacedtexan]

9. Republicans showed that they have nothing to defend Trump with.

Had they had one iota of evidence that Trump did not obstruct justice on multiple occasions, they would've used it today. Instead, all they did was try to attack the character of John Dean, who out-classed them all every single time.

Republican talking points were totally weak-assed 5th grade playground level.

[blue neen]

10. Yep.

Agreed.

[customerserviceguy]

11. To give some attention

to a guy whose face was plastered all over the news some forty-five years ago, but who has been pretty much a nobody for the last forty years. Had Nixon not gotten caught, he'd probably be a high-ranking GOP official somewhere, remember that.

[UTUSN]

12. K&R

[struggle4progress]

13. "Look! I stopped serving the Dark Lord on his dark throne! And you can too!"

[UTUSN]

14. Yip, why? Just serves to contrast balls from before to NONE now.