Adam Schiff Interrupts Republican Asking If He Will Interrupt Republicans

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) interrupted Rep. Elaine Stefanik (R-NY) as she asked him Friday whether he would continue to interrupt Republican questions to witnesses, as in earlier hearings.

The setting was the second day of public hearings in the “impeachment inquiry” into President Donald Trump.

Stefanik raised a point of order after both Schiff and ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) had delivered their opening statements. Schiff initially ruled Stefanik was not recognized by the chair, when she raised a parliamentary inquiry, but when she changed her question to a point of order, he reluctantly allowed her to begin speaking.

Then:

Stefanik: The point of order is, will the chairman continue to prohibit witnesses from answering Republican questions as you’ve done in closed hearings and as you did this week —

Schiff: [Bangs gavel] The gentlewoman will suspend.

Stefanik: When you interrupted our  —

Schiff: That is not a proper point of order. The gentlewoman will suspend.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH): Mr. Speaker — Mr. Chairman, I have a point of order.

Schiff: The gentleman is not recognized.

Jordan: Chairman, I have a point of order.

Schiff: The gentleman is not recognized.

Jordan: I have a point of order, though.

Schiff: The gentleman is not recognized. I do want to respond, I allowed the —

Jordan: [Emphatically] A point of order.

Schiff: The gentleman is not recognized.

Jordan: About — there are four transcripts not have not been released —

Schiff: [Bangs gavel] The gentleman is not recognized.

Jordan: Holy cow.

A moment later, Stefanik tried again:

Stefanik: Mr. Chairman, I have a point of order. Mr. Chairman, I have a point of order.

Schiff: The gentlewoman is not recognized.

Stefanik: [Exasperated] So we know, clearly, you are going to interrupt us throughout this hearing.

Schiff: The gentlewoman — [Bangs gavel] — The gentlewoman is not recognized.

Schiff would not recognize further Republican procedural questions, and introduced former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, the featured witness of the day.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.