House Formalizes Impeachment Inquiry To Move To Public Hearings

WASHINGTON, DC — A sharply divided U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved eight pages of procedures to formalize the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, taking it to nationally broadcast public hearings.

The resolution defining the scope of the next phase of the inquiry was approved mainly along party lines, 232-196. No Republicans voted for the measure, and two Democrats — Reps. Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey —voted against it. Rep. Justin Amash, an independent from Michigan, voted with the Democrats.

The vote is a victory for Democrats, giving them not only control of the impeachment process, but also the ability to limit the ability of Republicans to subpoena witnesses and of White House lawyers to present witnesses in defense of Trump, accused by a government whistleblower and of using the power of the presidency to solicit a foreign government to influence the 2020 U.S. election.

Much of the testimony and documents released after the claim have supported the whistleblower’s account.

In a floor speech before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, underscored the gravity of the proceedings, saying they are “not cause for any glee or comfort,” but are necessary to defend the Constitution and prevent an abuse of power by Trump.

“The times have found each and every one of us in this room,” Pelosi said. She urged lawmakers to vote in favor of the impeachment rules “to protect the Constitution of the United States. What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our democracy.”

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement moments after the vote that the process is “unfair, unconstitutional and fundamentally un-American.” Trump has done “nothing wrong,” she said, and reflects an “unhinged obsession” by Democrats to impeach the president.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Democrats are abusing their power and discrediting democracy by “trying to impeach the president because they are scared they can’t defeat him at the ballot box.”

The California Republican said that since Trump’s election, Democrats have waged a “permanent campaign to undermine his legitimacy. They have predetermined the president’s guilt. They have never accepted the voters’ choice to make him president. So, for 37 days and counting, they have run an unprecedented, undemocratic and unfair investigation. This resolution only makes it worse.”

He said Democrats have relied on “secret interviews and selective leaks” in closed-door hearings to portray legitimate actions by the president as impeachable actions.

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale similarly dismissed to inquiry as “an attempt to remove a duly-elected president for strictly political reasons by a strictly partisan, illegitimate process” that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “can’t legitimize after the fact.”

“Voters will punish Democrats who support this farce and President Trump will be easily re-elected,” Parscale said.

However, California Congressman Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a tweet “the president’s misconduct makes today’s impeachment resolution necessary” and shows that no one, “not even the president of the United States,” is above the law.

The impeachment effort has focused on three panels — Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform. In closed-door hearings that included Republicans on the committees, investigations have centered on how Trump urged Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, now running for president, while withholding nearly $400 million in military aid.

An investigation by the Judiciary Committee has focused on possible obstruction of justice by the president, based on episodes described in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Provisions in the resolution allow Schiff, and Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the intelligence panel’s top Republican, to each question witnesses for up to 90 minutes or delegate their time to staffers before rank-and-file lawmakers each ask questions for five minutes.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

Specifically, the measure before chamber, House Resolution 660, stated:

“Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, and for other purposes.”

Republicans on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees could subpoena witnesses and documents, subject to the chairman’s approval, and Republicans could ask for a committee vote.

The vote came as Tim Morrison, Trump’s former top adviser for Russian and European affairs, arrived on Capitol Hill to testify before the House. Morrison, who left his job Wednesday, served on the National Security Council and is the first White House political appointee to testify.

His testimony was scheduled behind closed doors, but he could provide information that is central to the push to remove Trump from office. Specifically, he will be asked to explain the “sinking feeling” he said he got when Trump demanded Ukraine’s president investigate former Biden and his son over business dealings in Ukraine.

The resolution approved Thursday directs the House Intelligence Committee to hold the public hearings and write a report that will be handed off to the House Judiciary Committee, which would then draft articles of impeachment.