Proceedings enter raucous phase
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TAKES REINS AFTER HOUSE PANEL APPROVES REPORT; REPUBLICANS HOLD EDGE IN FIGHT
The House Judiciary Committee was set to hold its first impeachment hearing yesterday, signifying a new and unpredictable step in the Democrats’ inquiry into President Trump.
The Judiciary Committee took control of the inquiry on Tuesday evening after the House Intelligence Committee voted to approve a report outlining the Democrats’ case that the president withheld military aid and a White House meeting from Ukraine while demanding that the country’s government announce an investigation into former Vice-President Joe Biden and his son.
If the Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), was staid and serious during weeks of closed-door depositions and nine long days of public hearings, the Judiciary Committee is expected to be more rambunctious.
Its membership is far larger than the Intelligence Committee and includes some of the most partisan Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Several of Trump’s strongest allies sit on the Republican side, including Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, John Ratcliffe of Texas and Jim Jordan of Ohio, who was briefly moved to the Intelligence Committee to provide support to the White House position during last month’s public hearings. At the helm for the GOP is another Trump ally: Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, who speaks as quickly and forcefully as an auctioneer hawking a hot product.
The Democrats are just as partisan: Nearly the entire Judiciary Committee supported an impeachment inquiry during former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference and long before the president spoke with the new president of Ukraine.
Bombastic proceedings
That combination could give the Judiciary Committee hearings a level of bombast the public hasn’t seen so far. That poses some risks for Democrats because the proceedings could give Republicans a lot of television time to muddy the Democrats’ presentation, pointing out flaws in a process that they view as unfair and poking holes in the Democrats’ case.
Republicans are expected to be more aggressive than they were in the Intelligence Committee hearings, hoping to knock Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) off his game in a way they weren’t able to with Schiff. They are likely to force votes on procedural hurdles and hammer their defence of the president, outlined in a report released by Republican members of the Intelligence Committee on Monday.
“It’s a bunch of brawlers sometimes on the Judiciary Committee, so it should get pretty, pretty hot under the collar as we go along,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), another Trump ally on the committee, said on Fox News Sunday . He argued that Democrats had not adhered to precedent on impeachment, a view that “causes some rancour. And it should be much more feisty, I would say, than the Intel Committee was.”
Nadler’s allies insist that he’ll be able to manage the process.
“I think that you’ll see Chairman Nadler is just not going to put up with nonsense,” said Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), who also sits on the committee. “My
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Republican colleagues compete to be included in the Fox evening news clips. They are performing for an audience of one,” she added, referring to the president. The Judiciary Committee, having been sidelined briefly by the Intelligence Committee, is expected to hold at least two, but more likely three, hearings in the coming weeks, capped with a vote on whether to send impeachment articles to the House floor.
The spotlight in yesterday’s hearing was expected to be more focused on the lawmakers than the witnesses. The panel will hear from a series of professors who will explain why the founders put impeachment into the Constitution and what warrants removal from the White House. While constitutional scholars rarely make for headline-grabbing daytime television, Democrats feel they need to make the case that Trump’s offences warrant impeachment.
Parnas. One conversation with Parnas on April 12 lasted eight minutes, according to logs contained in the report.
Giuliani also had multiple connections with a National Security Council official, who formerly served on Nunes’ staff. The connection between some of the players in the investigation prompted questions about whether Nunes — a fervent Trump supporter who lambasted the hearings as a circus sideshow — should have recused himself.
As the Intelligence Committee hands over the report to Judiciary, Schiff made clear that his panel’s work is far from finished. He said in a preface to the report that “there remain unanswered questions, and our investigation must continue.”
Democrats have said they are moving quickly because they believe the evidence is overwhelming and they are concerned about further misconduct by Trump. But they have been under some pressure from the left and from some liberal lawmakers to keep digging before a final impeachment vote.
Schiff said on Tuesday that his panel is still looking into some related matters, including whether an effort to influence Ukraine started earlier than first understood.
The report dedicates a section to a trio of government officials who called themselves the “three amigos:” Energy Secretary Rick Perry, US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and former special envoy Kurt Volker. The men, along with Giuliani, were put in charge of Ukraine policy by Trump. But that didn’t mean the president listened to their assessment of the country. In May, the three told Trump that the new president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was “committed to doing the right things,” including fighting corruption. Trump reacted negatively, according to the report.
The House Intelligence Committee released a report on Tuesday that will serve as the basis for articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump in the full House of Representatives.
The 300-page report paves the way for the opening of impeachment hearings in the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee.
The report found “overwhelming evidence” of misconduct and obstruction of justice by Trump and accused him of subverting national security by pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for political dirt on Democratic rival Joe Biden.
The president allegedly stalled $400 million in military aid and a White House visit for Zelensky to strong-arm Kiev — which is at war with Russia — into opening an investigation into Biden.
HERE ARE THE NEXT STEPS OF THE PROCESS: Articles of impeachment
The House Judiciary Committee is to hold its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday featuring four prominent legal scholars discussing the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment.”
Further hearings are expected next week, but a list of witnesses has not yet been released.
Unlike in the initial fact-finding phase in the Intelligence Committee, Trump and his attorneys can take part, submitting testimony, attending the hearings, reviewing the evidence and questioning witnesses.
Following the hearings, the panel will vote on formal articles of impeachment, the political equivalent of an indictment.
Democrats are weighing at least two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
Democrats have aimed to hold a full House vote on articles of impeachment before the body goes on break for Christmas, December 25.
THE HOUSE IMPEACHMENT VOTE
The articles of impeachment passed by the Judiciary Committee will then be sent to the entire House for a vote.
Representatives will debate the charges in a phase that could take some time.
Passing the articles — or “impeaching” the president — requires a simple majority of the House.
Democrats have control of the 435-member body with 233 members to the Republicans’ 197, and the party has shown a united front, meaning approval is widely expected.
TRIAL IN THE SENATE
A vote to impeach would send the case to a Senate trial of a sitting president for only the third time in US history.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court would preside, and the 100 senators would sit as the jury.
Representatives from the House would act as prosecutors, with the president’s attorneys presenting his defence.
Convicting Trump could be difficult, because it would require two-thirds of the Senate, and Republicans hold 53 of the 100 seats.