Impeachment is serious business. Whenever any elected official, from dog catcher to president, is faced with charges that could overturn an election, it is vital that voters know the process is fair. But what is happening right now in the House of Representatives is anything but fair.

As we have noted before, House Democrats are not following the established rules of impeachment. The accused has the right to cross-examine witnesses, subpoena witnesses, and present their own case. 

We’ve done this twice in modern history — during the Nixon impeachment and the Clinton impeachment. In both cases, there were clear rules to ensure a fair process.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with the cover of a compliant media, has chosen to make up the rules as she goes along. It looks like impeachment and they keep calling it impeachment, but House Democrats are denying the president the ability to defend himself as he would be able to do in an impeachment proceeding.

So, Tuesday, the White House sent Pelosi an eight-page letter explaining in thorough detail why the administration will no longer participate in this charade. Under these outrageous circumstances, the president was absolutely correct to refuse further cooperation. 

But the speaker’s response should send a chill down the spine of every American who cares about the rule of law. 

Pelosi insisted that the White House’s failure to cooperate with her sham procedure “will be regarded as further evidence of obstruction,” which is an impeachable offense. Translated: “We have nothing to impeach you on now, so we’re trying to manufacture an impeachable offense.”

Here are some additional facts you should know:

• Ukrainian officials reportedly decided in February — five months before Trump’s phone call — to re-open the investigation into the energy company that employed Hunter Biden. So why are Democrats trying to impeach the president for something Ukraine was already doing?

• Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham is launching his own investigation of corruption in Ukraine.

• We knew that the CIA operative who filed the complaint had a bias against Trump. It was initially reported that he was a registered Democrat. Then we were told he had a professional relationship with a “prominent Democrat.” Now we’re learning that the prominent Democrat is in fact one of the 2020 presidential contenders.

Durham’s Delay

Five months ago, Attorney General William Barr appointed federal prosecutor John Durham to investigate the origins of the Russian collusion hoax. Durham has been hard at work since then, and there have been persistent reports that he has found evidence of a widespread conspiracy against the president by Obama operatives and elements of foreign governments.

Tuesday, news broke that Durham is expanding his investigation and is also asking for additional staff and funding. Some conservatives were excited by this news. I must admit that I have concerns.

How much longer will Durham’s investigation take? If it drags on past the election, that could be devastating. If Biden, Warren, or Hillary (YIKES!) wins, Durham’s investigation will be shut down and his work will be “lost” like Clinton’s emails. We will be left with the inspector general reports, which are very different and limited in many important ways.

Ready for a Rematch?

Remember how we told you recently that Hillary Clinton thinks she has a path to getting back into the arena and seeking revenge for being cheated out of 2016? Some have been warning us for a while now that “Hillary 4.0” would be hitting the campaign trail.

Believe it or not, Clinton’s stock is rising on various political betting sites. On PredictIt, Clinton is third, behind Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, as the person most likely to emerge as the Democrat nominee in 2020.

A Twitter exchange Tuesday between Trump and Hillary raised a lot of eyebrows. After Trump sarcastically suggested that Clinton should try to steal the nomination from Warren, Hillary tweeted, “Don’t tempt me.” She later said in a PBS interview, “Maybe there does need to be a rematch.”

Anything seems possible at this point! The dynamics of the Democrat race have certainly changed a lot in the past week. For example:

• After admitting he had in fact suffered a heart attack, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced that he is scaling back campaign appearances. It was also just announced that the senator’s daughter-in-law passed away over the weekend.

• Joe Biden’s fundraising has tanked. He finished fourth in the last quarter.

• Elizabeth Warren is now the Democrat frontrunner, after leading Biden in four of the last five polls.

Corporate America Bows to China

Guess where NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is today? He’s in China hoping to soothe strained relations with the NBA’s communist masters. 

Meanwhile, back here in the land of free markets, Vans shoes has become the latest company to capitulate to the communist Chinese. It was going to produce a shoe depicting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protestors on the side. Evidently, Vans got a call from their commissar — the shoe has been cancelled. 

Video-game maker Activision is facing calls for a boycott after it banned a top player and stripped him of prize money for saying “Liberate Hong Kong” during a live broadcast.

And the sports network ESPN, which has never shied away from offending conservatives, has banned its hosts from talking about Hong Kong. Thanks to the NBA controversy, this is the biggest sports-related story right now and ESPN is willingly playing the role of China’s censor.

Somebody needs to break it to the people of Hong Kong that they have been relegated to the trash heap known as the “deplorables and irredeemables.” The same “woke” corporate elites who have been appeasing the left by bashing the 63 million people who voted for Trump are now appeasing China by bashing the people of Hong Kong.

As I wrote in my latest opinion piece, it’s clear that communist China is winning the battle for corporate America’s soul. Read more at the Washington Examiner.