Partisan sniping at hearing
The next phase of the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump moved to the House Judiciary Committee yesterday with public hearings featuring professors of law who discussed the constitutional origins of Congress’ impeachment power.
Three of the lawyers were chosen by Democrats, one by Republicans, and the experts split much like the committee, along partisan lines, over whether Trump committed an impeachable offence when he asked the president of Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.
The lofty arguments about the Constitution were frequently interrupted by partisan sniping among committee members.
Here are some takeaways from the hearing so far: ‘‘collapse’’ amid an absence of criminal intent.
There may have been four law professors at the hearing, but many of the lawmakers limited their questions to witnesses summoned by their own party — and some asked none at all.
Several GOP lawmakers, bypassing the chance to pose questions to witnesses, used their five-minute allotments with speeches that defended the president and attacked the impeachment proceedings as partisan and rushed.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio praised the testimony of Turley, the Gop-selected witness, but didn’t actually direct any questions to him.
Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe of Texas asked a series of questions of Turley but also chose to ignore the three witnesses Democrats relied on to make their impeachment case.
Democrats mostly did the same, focusing their queries to witnesses brought in by their party. Rep. Cedric Richmond, of Louisiana, brought up Turley several times but asked other witnesses – not him – about his testimony.
Still, there were some notable exceptions, such as when Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida challenged the witnesses on what he said were Democratic biases and anti-trump leanings. He asked all the witnesses to raise their hands if they had first-hand knowledge of the events at hand; none did.
When it was his turn, Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, confronted Turley directly on his past statements – and even legal involvement – in prior impeachment proceedings. –AP