The Democrats are cluelessly celebrating their “smoking gun” to impeach President Trump based on the fourth-hand hearsay testimony of former State Department official Bill Taylor, said Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin. Talk about spiking the football too soon.

Let this sink in: The Democratic Party thinks they’re going to impeach President Trump based on fourth-hand gossip.

Congressman Zeldin slammed the Left for their sloppy impeachment inquiry, calling the sham process “a joke.”

Zeldin says the only reason why Democrats insist on questioning witnesses behind closed doors is that they want to gaslight the public by selectively leaking misleading info to the media.

“What’s happening behind closed doors is unclassified,” Zeldin said. “There’s no reason why the American public shouldn’t be able to watch this in real-time, live. This is a process lacking legitimacy, credibility, and fairness.”

The big substantive reference to “Biden” in Taylor’s opening (pg 12) leaked by Dems was 4th HAND INFO! Taylor says Morrison told him that Sondland told Morrison that POTUS told Sondland that POTUS told Zelensky. From this AM outside Schiff’s secret Capitol basement bunker: pic.twitter.com/JLt3LdstHK — Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) October 23, 2019

Zeldin continued: “One fun fact from yesterday — I saw that the opening statement leaked. This is the Democrats’ strategy. They like to cherry-pick leaks.”

“Turn to page 12…That one reference to Joe Biden…is not first-hand from Ambassador Taylor. It’s not second-hand from Ambassador Taylor. It’s not third-hand from Ambassador Taylor!” “Ya’ll making a big deal about Ambassador Taylor saying that Tim Morrison told him that [Gordon] Sondland told Morrison that the President told Sondland that the President told Zelensky…Give me a break!” “On the process and the substance, this whole thing has been a joke!”

So basically, the Democrats and their media minions have been gleefully hailing their so-called “smoking gun” to “prove” that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine unless they investigated Joe Biden.

The “explosive” testimony of State Department official Bill Taylor is being held up as “proof” of the quid pro quo needed to justify impeachment.

Again: The only problem is that Taylor’s testimony is based on fourth-hand gossip — not on direct knowledge of anything.

In one of the most hyperbolic statements since this sham impeachment inquiry began, Democratic Congressman Lacy Clay breathlessly tweeted on Oct. 22:

“I was in the room. Jaws dropped, heads shook in disbelief, this president and his enablers willfully put National Security at risk to benefit his political campaign. This wasn’t just a smoking gun, it was a smoking cannon.”

Congressman Lee Zeldin and other Republicans poured cold water on Lacy Clay’s over-the-top rhetoric, by noting that there is no smoking gun — merely fourth-hand gossip.

“Really? That’s the best that the Democrats can do to try to make their quid pro quo charge?” Zeldin told Breitbart. “You know what Ukraine had to do to get the money released? Nothing. Ukraine didn’t have to do anything in order to get aid released.”

(Source: Fox News

Zeldin also pointed out that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky himself said there was no quid pro quo, nor was there any pressure from President Trump.

“Democrats want to ignore everything that absolutely doesn’t fit in their narrative,” Zeldin said. “Unfortunately, those inconvenient facts are facts that can’t be ignored.”

Benghazi hero Mark Geist and Rob O'Neill – the Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden – both torch ‘traitor’ Alexander Vindman. “Vindman is a disgrace to all who have served." He’s a left-wing political “operative with an agenda.”https://t.co/ZwyJKFobiD — Samantha Chang (@samantha_chang) November 20, 2019

Meanwhile, the Democrats hav been strangely silent about the left-wing “whistleblower” they had championed just weeks ago, whom they claimed would lead to Trump’s downfall.

Could it because the whistleblower may have committed a felony by not disclosing that he had contacted Adam Schiff before filing his complaint? Neither Schiff nor the whistleblower disclosed this improper contact.

Benghazi hero and Navy Seal slam ‘traitor’ Vindman: ‘Disgrace to all who have served’