It’s not okay, Mr. Schiff.

I watched the speech that Mr. Schiff gave in rebuttal to the Republicans in his committee. I actually tried to look up the transcript of that speech, couldn’t find it. So as a public service, here’s the full transcript. I actually had to listen to this, over and over, to make sure I got it right. guh.

Um. I’m going to turn to our witnesses who are the subject of our hearing today but before I do and as it as you have chosen instead of addressing the hearing to simply attack me consistent with the president’s attacks. I do want to respond in this way. My colleagues may think it’s okay that the Russians offered dirt on a Democratic candidate for President as part of what was described as the Russian government’s effort to help the Trump campaign, you might think that’s okay. My colleagues might think it’s okay that when that was offered to the son of the President who had a pivotal role in the campaign, that the President’s son did not call the FBI, he did not adamantly refuse that foreign help. No instead that son said that he would love the help of the Russians. You might think it’s okay that he took that meeting. You might think it’s okay that Paul Manafort, the campaign chair, someone with great experience of running campaigns, also took that meeting. You might think it’s okay that the President’s son-in-law also took that meeting. You might think it’s okay that they concealed it from the public. You might think it’s okay that their only disappointment after that meeting was that the dirt they received on Hillary Clinton wasn’t better. You might think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that when it was discovered a year later that then lied about that meeting and said it was about adoptions. You might think it’s okay that the President is reported to have helped dictate that lie. You might think it’s okay, I don’t. You might think it’s okay that the campaign chairman of a Presidential campaign would offer information about that campaign to a Russian oligarch in exchange for money or debt forgiveness, you might think that’s okay, I don’t. You might think it’s okay that that campaign chairman offered polling data, campaign polling data to someone linked to Russian intelligence, I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that the President himself called on Russia to hack his opponent’s emails if they were listening. You might think it’s okay that later that day in fact the Russians attempted to hack a server affiliated with that campaign, I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that the President’s son-in-law sought to establish a secret back channel of communications with the Russians to a Russian diplomatic facility. I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that an associate of the President made direct contact with the GRU through Goosefer 2 and WikiLeaks and considered that is considered a hostile intelligence agency. You might think that it’s okay that a senior campaign official was instructed to reach that associate and find out what that hostile intelligence agency had to say in terms of dirt on his opponent. You might think it’s okay that the National Security Advisor designate secretly conferred with a Russian ambassador about undermining US sanctions and you might think it’s okay he lied about it to the FBI. You might say that’s all okay, you might say that’s just what you need to do to win. But I don’t think it’s okay. I think it’s immoral, I think it’s unethical, I think it’s unpatriotic, and yes, I think it’s corrupt and evidence of collusion. Now I have always said that the question of whether this amounts to proof of conspiracy was another matter, whether the Special Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt the proof of that crime would be up to the Special Counsel and I would accept his decision and I do. He’s a good and honorable man and he is a good prosecutor. But I do not think that conduct criminal or not is okay and the day we do think that’s okay is the day we will look back and say that is the day America lost its way. And I will tell you one more thing that is apropos of the hearing today. I don’t think it’s okay that during a Presidential campaign Mr. Trump sought the Kremlin’s help to consummate a real estate deal in Moscow that would make him a fortune. According to the Special Counsel hundreds of millions of dollars. I don’t think it’s okay that he concealed it from the public. I don’t think it’s okay that he advocated a new and more favorable policy towards the Russians even as he was seeking the Russians’ help, the Kremlin’s help, to make money, I don’t think that’s okay that his attorney lied to our committee. There’s a different word for that than collusion and it’s called compromise and that is the subject of our hearing today.

Putting aside the many factual and logistical misrepresentations, I do find the simplistic style of saying “okay” over and over quite compelling. In fact, I decided to steal that and use it here in rebutal.

Mr. Schiff,

You might think it’s okay that Hillary Clinton lied about having an unsecured server in her home, which she used to get around FOIA requests. You might think it’s okay she denied its existence, even after evidence continued to show. You might think it’s okay she destroyed the evidence with BleachBit, then mocked it by saying “like with a cloth or something?”. You might think it’s okay that she exhibited the same arrogance, condescension and disdain for any legal authority, the same way she did when she received millions from China for the sale of high-tech secrets out of Loral, the Travelgate scandal where she fired an entire department to fill in the positions with cronies, the Whitewater scandal where she was involved in a savings-and-loan scheme, or how her subpoenaed law firm billing records went missing for two years then magically appeared in the White house, not to mention the cattle future scandal, but you think that was okay. You might think it’s okay that there were emails and documents on that server that were marked confidential, and that she lied to investigators that she didn’t know what “C” stood for. You might think it’s okay, and even believe, that a member of the former President’s inner circle, a Senator, and a Secretary of State, had never once been briefed about the nature of confidential material and its notation. I don’t think that’s okay, nor believable. You might think it’s okay that she deleted emails, despite the FOIA law that requires her to retain all material, and then lie about how they were “emails of wedding plans and yoga”. You might think it’s okay, I don’t. You might think it’s okay that she directed her attorney, who was not authorized nor vetted to view confidential information, to review these emails. You might think it’s okay that she kept that server in such a state that any and all foreign governments could and probably did get access to some of our nation’s most closely guarded information. You might think it’s okay that she lied in Congressional hearings on this matter, which despite “intent” is still a crime. But you might think that’s okay.

You might think it’s okay that James Comey, who doesn’t have the authority to exonerate anyone, gave a litany of crimes that Hillary Clinton engaged in, but you might think it’s okay that he just made a non-existent word in the law of “no intent”. You might think it’s okay that the decision to exonerate her was made days before she came in to testify. You might think it’s okay that when she did come to testify, that Cheryl Mills, who is not an attorney but could have been a potential witness, was given attorney-client privilege. You might think it’s okay that her cell phone was destroyed by the FBI instead of being given to the FBI for examination for evidence.

You might think it’s okay for a former President to secretly speak with the lead investigator, AG Loretta Lynch, on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport, then a couple of days later she just happens to recuse herself without appointing a replacement. You might think it’s okay for a pair of lawyers to forget the impropriety of such a meeting during a high-profile investigation. You might think it’s okay to hear the lie that they only spoke about their grandchildren. You might think it’s okay that Bill Clinton sold pardons to Marc Rich as well as terrorists. You might think that it’s okay during his administration he is responsible for multiple deaths in the Waco siege, for storming a house in a pre-dawn raid to take a young boy out of the country, but you might think all that is okay.

You might think that it’s okay that Bill Clinton engaged in predatory sexual behavior with multiple women, with credible allegations, but since it was “just about sex” then it’s okay. You might think that Hilary’s defense of her husband at the expense of these women, including running the “Bimbo Eruptions” team to destroy anyone who came forward, I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that then President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton used the power of the Presidency to silence these women, such as using the IRS to audit them, the complicit media to ignore them, private investigators to dig into their lives, but I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that former President Obama weaponized the IRS against those groups that happen to have an alternate viewpoint than yours. You might think it’s okay that subpoenaed documents and hard drives were destroyed during that investigation.

You might think that it’s okay that when Bill and Hillary Clinton left the Oval Office they looted and vandalized the White House, eventually having to return many of the things they took. You might think it’s okay that their Foundation took in millions for Haiti relief, yet only a trickle actually found its way to Haiti for their relief. You might think it’s okay they profited off of misery, I don’t think it’s okay. You might think it’s okay that she receives funding to her foundation from nations that subjugate its female populace and executes homosexuals.

You might think that it’s okay for evidence of real collusion with Hillary Clinton and Russian interests are ignored. You might think it’s okay that during her time as Secretary of State she green-lit Uranium One to be bought by the Russian government, to control an interest in US uranium production. You might think it’s okay that she received a windfall from that transaction. You might think it’s okay that Bill and Hillary get hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches, most of which were while she was Secretary of State, yet won’t release information about them so we can see if there were any conflicts of interest.

You might think it’s okay that she lied to the public about landing in Bosnia under “Sniper Fire”, even though there was video evidence that it never happened. You might think it’s okay that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ignored the pleas for security by an ambassador, left him to die in an attack, then lie to the American Public and Congress about it by claiming it was sparked by an obscure video, but I don’t think it’s okay and neither do the families of those who died, sir. You might think it’s okay that during the campaign, on at least two occasions, she was videoed to have collapsed, and had intense coughing spasms, yet she and an adoring media continued to portray it as nothing. You might think it’s okay that her health records are off limits yet not okay for Trump’s tax returns to be off limits, and still think it’s okay not to see that as hypocritical. I do not think it’s okay.

You might think it’s okay to create controversy just because the candidate you wanted lost, I do not think it’s okay. You might think it’s okay for Hilary Clinton to fabricate a report through her lawyer cut-out, to Fusion GPS, that makes outlandish and unverified claims. You might think it’s okay that this dossier be used before a FISA court, without informing the judges about its origins, so the FBI can spy on a Presidential opponent. You might think it’s okay for the FBI to leak this information, then use that in the FISA court as a secondary source to justify the spying. You might think it’s okay to plant spies within that campaign staff to entrap that candidate in this scheme. You might think it’s okay to use those spies to trick a low-level staffer into a perjury trap. You might think it’s okay to persecute another member of the campaign staff, causing him to spend millions of dollars in his defense and then threaten to go after the son or else, I do not think that is okay. You might think it’s okay to launch a pre-dawn SWAT-style raid on an American citizen when a simple phone call to the attorney is customary. You might think it’s okay that the media, who also wanted Hillary Clinton to win, has been engaging in the same witch-hunt for over two years now.

You might think that it’s okay to spend $25 million dollars, issue 2,800 subpoenas and interview 500 witnesses, but then it’s not okay when it doesn’t get the result you want, I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay that Robert Mueller ran the investigation, after all your side continued to claim he was a man of impeccable integrity, until he didn’t get the result you want and then he’s not okay. I don’t think that’s okay. You might think it’s okay for the Justice Department and FBI to hold this investigation for over two years, with countless man hours and skill-levels of hard investigatory experience, as well as broad investigation tools at their disposal yet when that doesn’t produce the result you want you might think it’s okay that your own personal will and expertise is superior than all that. I don’t think that’s okay, I think that’s an arrogance bordering on criminal insanity.

You might think it’s okay to speak with members of the Ukrainian Parliament to find dirt on your political opponent, to arrange to meet them to retrieve “pictures of naked Trump” and other compromising material with the code phrase “the weather is good on Deribasovskaya”. I most certainly don’t think that’s okay, there’s a different word for that and it’s called attempted extortion and blackmail and hypocrisy.

Finally, you might think it’s okay that Hillary Clinton called those who know who she is as “deporables”. You might think it’s okay that Peter Stroke and Lisa Page conspired to subvert a sitting President and referred to his voters as smelly Wal-Mart shoppers. You might think it’s okay to call people who simply disagree with you and your colleagues as racist Nazis. You might think it’s okay to plan to subvert the will of large swaths of this country by eliminating the Electoral College, engaging in voter fraud, and changing the rules so only Democrats can win. You might think it’s okay for your entire party, in Congress, in Media, in Academia, in Antifa, in the Deep State bureaucracy, to treat ordinary hard-working Americans with disdain, disgust and out-right contempt.

I do not think that’s okay, and there are millions of Americans who also do not think it’s okay.

Mr. Schiff, you are not okay.