Timeline

   Republicans have complained early and often about the timeline involved in completing the impeachment process. So let's compare the timelines set by the GOP when President Bill Clinton was impeached.
   From the day Clinton denied having sex with "that woman" (Jan. 26, 1998) to the day the House of Representatives impeached him for "lying to Congress" about the affair (Dec, 19, 1998), nearly a full year went by.
   The case was forwarded to the Senate, where a trial began Jan. 7,1999. The president was acquitted on Feb. 12, 1999.
   The investigation of Donald Trump was shorter, but considering the egregious nature of the allegations, it's not hard to understand the speed of collection.
   Moreover, there was less resistance from the White House during the Clinton probe. This is not to say there was great cooperation, but the Administration did not order all staffers to refuse to testify about anything at any time, under any circumstance.
   That reflects the Trump attitude about his affairs, ranging from his college grades to his income and his business relationships while in office. He refuses all, even the information that would document just how his personal business interests benefit from his presidential activities.
   He keeps insisting that everything is fine and totally legal, but given his documented history of prevarication on so many things so often, there is little to no reason we should believe him now.
   The sad thing is that so many of his supporters say we should believe the president because he is the president, and for no other reason.
   A classic example of circular logic.
   Any suggestion that they should have supported Barack Obama for the same reason is dismissed because "that's different."
   How and why it's different is never explained.
   
   The House Intelligence Committee began impeachment hearings on Nov. 13, 2019, after many months of public talk about the need to remove Donald Trump as president.
   After several weeks of hearing testimony, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment on Dec. 12.  The following week, on Dec. 18, the House of Representatives formally impeached the president.
   The next move will be for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to name managers for the impeachment trial. That's expected this week, and the Senate trial could begin as early as the next day.
   Is the process rushed, as Republicans claim? Talk of impeaching Trump began even before he was inaugurated, and there were several motions quickly made in Congress to begin the process, but Speaker Pelosi sidelined most of them, until the Intelligence Committee began its hearings last November, three years after Trump was elected.
   Sufficient evidence to justify impeachment was readily available, and continues to pile up even as the trial is about to begin. Now the question is whether the Republican-dominated Senate will accept any evidence or will it move to dismiss the charges on Day One.