Dems unveil impeachment procedures; GOP calls process unfair

WASHINGTON
(AP) — House Democrats unveiled legislation Tuesday authorizing the
next phase of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump as
Democrats move to nullify complaints from Trump and his Republican
allies that the impeachment process is illegitimate and unfair.

An
eight-page resolution calls for open hearings and requires the House
Intelligence Committee to submit a report outlining its findings and
recommendations, with a final recommendation on impeachment left to the
Judiciary Committee.

Republicans would be allowed to request
subpoenas, but such requests would ultimately be subject to a vote by
the full committee, which Democrats control as the House majority.

Democratic
Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, the chairman of the House Rules
Committee, said the resolution provides “a clear path forward” as the
House begins a public phase of the impeachment inquiry, which up to this
point has largely consisted of closed-door interviews.

“This is a
sad time for our country,” McGovern said. “None of us came to Congress
to impeach a president, but each of us took a solemn oath to protect and
defend the Constitution.”

“The president’s Republican allies in
Congress have tried to hide the president’s conduct, but the American
people will now see the facts firsthand,” he added.

White House
press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the resolution merely “confirms
that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the
start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.”

The
resolution “does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House
Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the
administration,” she said, adding that the White House is barred from
participating at all until after the intelligence panel “conducts two
rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the
Judiciary Committee.”

Separate language covering Judiciary
proceedings allows for Trump and his lawyers to attend all Judiciary
presentations and hearings. Trump’s lawyers will be allowed to question
any witness, according to a copy of the proposed Judiciary proceedings
obtained by The Associated Press. The president can call witnesses if
the committee agrees the testimony is “necessary or desirable to a full
and fair record in the inquiry,” the three-page document says.

The
Judiciary language is expected to be incorporated into the larger
resolution before the House votes on impeachment proceedings Thursday.

The
impeachment inquiry is looking into Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which he asked for a “favor” — to
investigate a Democratic rival for president. Democrats say the request
and other actions by the administration to push Ukraine to investigate
former Vice President Joe Biden and his family amounted to a quid pro
quo for important military aid for Ukraine, providing sufficient grounds
for impeachment.

The House is expected to vote on the resolution
Thursday amid complaints from Trump and his Republicans allies that the
monthlong impeachment process is illegitimate and unfair.

Minority
Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, denounced
what he called a “Soviet-style impeachment process” led by House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

More than
75% of House members have been unable to view what is happening in
closed-door depositions conducted by the Intelligence panel and two
other committees, Scalise said. “That represents more than 230 million
Americans whose voices are denied right now,” he said.

Wyoming
Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House Republican, said Democrats “have
basically cooked up a process they have been conducting in secret” with
the goal of preventing Trump’s lawyers from asking questions of
witnesses.

Democrats “are now attempting to sort of put a cloak of
legitimacy around this process by saying they’re going to bring it to a
vote on the floor,” Cheney said. “They can’t fix it. The process is
broken. It’s tainted.”

Democrats insisted they were not yielding
to Republican pressure and dismissed a GOP argument that impeachment
can’t begin without a formal House vote.

Schiff and other
Democrats defended the process and said the American people will soon
hear from witnesses in an open setting, with transcripts of depositions
already conducted set for public release.

“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,” Schiff and three other committee chairs
said in a statement Tuesday.

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,” the Democrats said.

__

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.