Himes’ profile grows in impeachment probe
WASHINGTON — When the U.S. House of Representatives votes on a resolution this week, and likely passes it, the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump will enter a new phase.
“The resolution lays the framework for the investigation going forward, describes the rules and structure of public hearings to share the information with the American people, and provides mechanisms for the minority party to be involved,” said Rep. Jim Himes, DConn., a member of an investigative panels that will soon conduct its work in public.
The resolution, which is scheduled for a vote Thursday, will formalize the process initiated last month.
It will allow the House Judiciary Committee to review the evidence gathered so far in the probe. That’s important because the committee is tasked with producing any articles of impeachment, the set of charges drafted against a public official to initiate the impeachment process.
Approval of the impeachment resolution is likely to garner the support of all five of Connecticut’s members of the U.S. House and most, if not all, of their Democratic colleagues. It would usher in a new phase of the impeachment inquiry — public hearings held by the House Intelligence Committee.
So far, the impeachment inquiry has been conducted behind closed doors by Democratic and Republican members and staff of three committees — the intelligence panel and the committees on Government Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs.
The questioning is conducted in a room in the U.S. Capitol designated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, where sensitive information can be viewed and discussed without the risk of spying.
Republicans used an SCIF for their investigations of the Benghazi attack and in other probes, but have decried its use in the impeachment process as a “sham” and lambasted House Democrats for conducting the process behind closed doors.
Senate holds a trial
If reported out of the House, articles of impeachment would go to the Republicancontrolled Senate, which would hold a trial overseen by the chief justice of the United States.
The House would send over a team of “managers” to play the role of prosecutors. Trump would have his defense lawyers at the proceedings and senators would serve as a jury.
If at least twothirds of the senators find the president guilty, he is removed from office and the vice president takes over as president. There is no appeal.
Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the House could pass articles of impeachment by Thanksgiving and the Senate could then finish its trial by Christmas.
That’s unlikely now, since House proceedings are likely to bleed into December to accommodate the public hearings.