Here are my observations and opinions from Day 1 of the Impeachment Trial and my select news of the day.

ADAM SCHIFF MET HIS MATCH – The president’s attorneys Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow, who one by one, destroyed the tired charges of the House members.

“DEMOCRATS MAY BE HOISTED ON THEIR OWN PETARD in the ongoing impeachment psychodrama,” writes columnist Victor Davis Hanson, “They more or less rigged the House impeachment proceeding by using their majority to depart from past practice.

“They monopolized the witness lists, selectively leaked, and rushed to indict Trump on the theory that every day the president was not impeached was another day the country was endangered.”

Note that while the country was “endangered,” the somber, prayerful Nancy Pelosi held onto the articles of impeachment for 33 days after the staged signing with pens bearing her autograph in gold.

“ON UKRAINE, nothing of consequence came of President Trump’s bull-in-a-china-shop excesses,” comments Andrew McCarthy, former assistant U.S. Attorney for the New York District, writing in National Review. “Sure, they ought to be a 2020 campaign issue.  Democrats, instead, would have us exaggerate them into historically extraordinary wrongs.”

WHERE WERE THEY, those Democrat members of the U.S. House, who voice such concern over President Trump’s delay of much-need military hardware and lethal weapons to Ukraine, when President Obama refused to do so, and instead provided blankets and ready-to-eat meals?

Yet, this knowledge didn’t prevent Democrat House manager Jason Crow of Colorado from embarrassingly using his military experience in Afghanistan to relate a story of how important it was to get aid when you need it.

Never mind that Ukraine was not out of weapons and in desperation.

FORGOTTEN in the discussion of the delay is the fact that President Trump was concerned with corruption in Ukraine, and wanted to be sure the new president Zelensky was aware of his concern.   Trump had earlier voiced concern over corruption in Afghanistan and was concerned with support of South Korea.

NADLER SAYS ‘NO’ TO HUNTER BIDEN being interviewed during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.  “Hunter Biden has no knowledge of the accusations against the president,” he said, knowing the risk it portends to go into his father’s role in Ukraine.

If a trade is needed to secure House witnesses, the manager’s will not agree to any witness if Hunter Biden is part of the deal,” suggests George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.  “If true,” he added, “is the House prepared to give up on the proving its case to protect the Biden’s?  This is a considerable price to pay to protect Joe Biden.”

I REPEAT what I have said here before.  In the future, any U.S. aid, military or otherwise, authorized for any country, should have a string(s) attached, a quid pro quo if you will, written into the authorization.  While I believe this and previous administrations have had unwritten expectations of the receiving country, this could prevent another “Ukraine.”

When the GAO revealed that the president delayed the aid to Ukraine, it was also made known that President’s Obama and Bush were on record of doing the same with no repercussions. Hence, the quote by the president’s chief of staff Mick Mulvaney: “This is done all the time.  Get over it.”

WHAT’S BEHIND THE IMPEACHMENT? – While listening to Limbaughontheright on Monday, Rush said it was President Trump’s success; he had to be stopped. Knowing he cannot be beaten at the ballot box, they gambled with impeachment and removal from office.  We know that’s not going to happen.

I continue to see impeachment as the latest move in the left’s three-year period of hate of the man who wasn’t supposed to defeat their candidate.  Even though they know he will remain in office following the trial, they’re probably hoping the impeachment will be an albatross around his neck that will affect voters in November.

HAIL TO THE QUEEN – It occurred to me that I have not commented on Queen Elizabeth’s momentous decision to grant Harry and Meghan their wish to “step back” as members of the royal family.

Perhaps with some hesitation, to make it clear to the couple to be careful what they wish for, but certainly without delay, she informed them that they will not get to have their cake and eat it too. As a result, they lost their right to use their former “His and Her Royal Highness” titles, and will be required to repay the costs of renovating the residence prepared for them.

Harry also loses his association with the British military, a function he clearly enjoyed as an avid helicopter pilot.

You just knew the marriage, at least Meghan’s role as the Duchess of Sussex, wasn’t going to be what she expected.  Hugging a young child on a state visit to an African country, or shaking hands with Britain’s common folks, just wasn’t to her liking.

She couldn’t set her dislike of President Trump aside long enough to permit his attendance at the royal wedding, and later, when the president and first lady visited the Queen at Buckingham Palace, Meghan was a no-show.

In interview appearances during the president’s campaign, Meghan referred to him as a divisive misogynist, and threatened to move to Canada if he was elected because she did not like the kind of “world Trump was painting.”  More Hollywood blather.

When asked about the couple and the Queen’s decision, President Trump was restrained, saying “I think it’s sad,” siding with the Queen as a “great woman,” and commenting that he thought she was blindsided by the couples’ decision.

LAUGH-OF-THE-DAY – Democrat presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar, obviously reserving the right to change her mind, told attendees a the Black & Brown Forum that she was wrong to support making English the official language in the Senate.

Interviewed during a recession in the trial, Klobuchar again pointed to her naivete, saying that Russia is looking at this.  Yes, Amy, and they also noted how the president didn’t hesitate to take out Soleimani.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.