In a blatant display of committee manipulation, today the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Chairman Adam Schiff, worked around committee jurisdiction rules and took a deposition from Kurt Volker, the former State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations.
Not only was the jurisdiction of the House Foreign Affairs Committee usurped, but Chairman Schiff also limited republican members to having only one staffer present during the testimony. [Read McCaul Letter Here] This blatant manipulation of House rules was made without Speaker Pelosi holding a House vote to initiate an impeachment inquiry.
The House Rules that Pelosi changed in 2018 were designed to exploit the Trump-Russia impeachment via obstruction goal. Those same changed rules are now being used in the Trump-Ukraine effort. The committees’ need to gather impeachment evidence without the pesky interference by House republicans. This was always the purpose for changing the rules.
A formal vote to initiate an “impeachment inquiry” is not technically required; however, there has always been a full house vote until now. The reason not to have a House vote is simple: if the formal process was followed the minority (republicans) would have enforceable rights within it.
Without a vote to initiate an impeachment inquiry, the articles of impeachment can be drawn up in committee without any participation by the minority; and without any input from the executive branch. This was always the plan visible in Pelosi’s House rules.
Thankfully key Republican leadership have now realized Pelosi’s decree of an “Official Impeachment Inquiry” is a feature, not a political flaw. They are beginning to push-back, at least call-out publicly, their lack of input around the rushed committee investigations.
House minority Leader Kevin McCarthy writes: “I have written to Speaker Pelosi to halt the impeachment inquiry until we can receive public answers to the following questions. Given the enormity of the question at hand—impeaching a duly elected president—the American public deserves fairness and transparency.”
.@SpeakerPelosi on impeaching Trump: “The re-election of Donald Trump would do irreparable damage to the United States. We have some serious repair and healing to do in our country for what he’s done so far. I’m not sure two terms might be irreparable [sic]." pic.twitter.com/txKRb3tWCv— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 3, 2019
