House Democrats on Tuesday posted the text of their impeachment inquiry resolution as a planned vote on the measure looks increasingly less certain this week.
The eight-page resolution released calls for open hearings and requires the intelligence committee to submit a report outlining its findings and recommendations. House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-MA) said the resolution provides “a clear path forward” as the House begins a public phase of the impeachment inquiry, which has largely been conducted behind closed doors.
The resolution directs “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,” the document says.
The document gives House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) the lead role in the investigation, giving him power to organize the questioning of witnesses. The committee will take over the probe, which until now has been handled by three committees, including intelligence, foreign affairs, and oversight and reform.
“The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a president who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election. Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the president’s misconduct,” House Democrat leaders said in a joint statement.
The White House responded to the House Democrats’ release of the text, calling the impeachment inquiry an “illegitimate sham.”
“The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote. It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President, the White House said in a statement. “The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written. This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.”
Earlier Tuesday, President Trump slammed the Democrats’ impeachment probe, calling recent developing nothing more than “made up garbage.”
“Where’s the Whistleblower? Just read the Transcript, everything else is made up garbage by Shifty Schiff and the Never Trumpers!” the president tweeted.
The AP and UPI contributed to this report.
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