Report: House Democrats to Vote on Impeachment Procedures Thursday

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/28/report-house-democrats-to-vote-on-impeachment-procedures-thursday/
Report: House Democrats to Vote on Impeachment Procedures ThursdayWin McNamee/Getty Images
JOSHUA CAPLAN
28 Oct 20194,699

House Democrats will vote on Thursday to establish the procedures for their ongoing impeachment investigation against President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Monday afternoon.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), chairman of House Rules Committee, said he will introduce the resolution’s text for approval on Tuesday and the panel will move to mark it up by Wednesday.
“As committees continue to gather evidence and prepare to present their findings, I will be introducing a resolution to ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward,” McGovern said in a statement. “This is the right thing to do for the institution and the American people.”

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Sabrina Siddiqui

:heavy_check_mark:@SabrinaSiddiqui

[ltr]Here is @SpeakerPelosi’s letter to colleagues announcing vote this week on resolution that affirms ongoing impeachment inquiry and authorizes making hearings, deposition transcripts, etc public[/ltr]






12:37 PM - Oct 28, 2019

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The development comes as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) faces pressure from House and Senate Republicans to bring the impeachment probe from out of the shadows.
In recent weeks, the House intel panel has interviewed several current and former Trump administration officials inside Capitol Hill’s SCIF room, also known as a sensitive compartmented information facility. Arguing against the secret bunker’s use, Republicans say no discussions involving classified information have occurred inside and assert Democrats are using it to selectively leaking excerpts of witnesses testimony to the media. Nearly 30 House Republicans attempted to storm the chamber on Wednesday as Laura Cooper, a senior Department of Defense official working on Ukraine, was scheduled to testify.
“Behind those doors they intend to overturn the results of an American presidential election. We want to know what is going on,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who led the group of frustrated Republicans, said at a press conference prior to attempting to enter the secured room.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have introduced a resolution to condemn Pelosi and Schiff’s handling of the impeachment inquiry, which has already garnered 50 Republican cosponsors. Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) do not support the measure.
“Instead of the Judiciary [Committee] looking at impeachable offenses, they created a process in the Intel Committee that’s behind closed doors, doesn’t provide the president access to the accuser,” Graham said at a press conference last week.
News of the Democrats’ decision to vote on formal impeachment proceedings also comes as former White House national security official Charles Kupperman opted against appearing in Congress Monday to testify as part of the probe.
Kupperman, former deputy to national security adviser John Bolton, had filed a lawsuit asking a judge to resolve the conflicting orders from the congressional subpoena compelling him to testify and the White House ordering not to cooperate.
Kupperman’s attorney Charles Cooper said his client wants the courts to resolve the matter before he appears.
“It is not Dr. Kupperman who contests your clients’ constitutional claim,” Cooper wrote in a letter to House intelligence committee Senior Investigative Counsel Daniel Noble. “It is President Trump and every president before him for at least the last half century, who have asserted testimonial immunity for their closest confidential advisers.”
Kupperman was party to the July 25th phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which has formed the basis of the impeachment probe.“We had a very good conversation with the Ukrainian president. I had another conversation with him also, I think before that, which was the same thing,” the president said of the call Monday. “It was nothing.”
The UPI contributed to this report. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pelosi-hold-vote-impeachment-inquiry-week



'We Will Not Legitimize The Sham Impeachment': House Minority Leader Responds To Pelosi Announcement




[size=10][size=10]by Tyler Durden
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Prin


Update: House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) responded to Monday's announcement, tweeting "It’s been 34 days since Nancy Pelosi unilaterally declared her impeachment inquiry. Today’s backtracking is an admission that this process has been botched from the start. We will not legitimize the Schiff/Pelosi sham impeachment."

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Kevin McCarthy

:heavy_check_mark:@GOPLeader





[ltr]It’s been 34 days since Nancy Pelosi unilaterally declared her impeachment inquiry.

Today’s backtracking is an admission that this process has been botched from the start.

We will not legitimize the Schiff/Pelosi sham impeachment.[/ltr]


21.7K
1:26 PM - Oct 28, 2019
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Monday that a vote will be held this Thursday "that affirms the ongoing, existing investigation that is currently being conducted by our committees" as part of the Democrats' impeachment inquiry, according to the Washington Post.
House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D-MA) said the vote would "ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward" as their investigations continue.
The resolution will authorize the disclosure of deposition transcripts as well as set forth due process rights for President Trump, according to Pelosi. It will also establish a procedure for open hearings.
Pelosi sent the following letter to House Democrats (emphasis ours):
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Dear Democratic Colleague,

For weeks, the President, his Counsel in the White House, and his allies in Congress have made the baseless claim that the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry "lacks the necessary authorization for a valid impeachment proceeding." They argue that, because the House has not taken a vote, they may simply pretend the impeachment inquiry does not exist.
 
Of course, this argument has no merit. The Constitution provides that the House of Representatives "shall have the sole Power of Impeachment." Multiple past impeachments have gone forward without any authorizing resolutions. Just last week, a federal court confirmed that the House is not required to hold a vote and that imposing such a requirement would be "an impermissible intrusion on the House's constitutional authority." More than 300 legal scholars have also refuted this argument, concluding that "the Constitution does not mandate the process for impeachment and there is no constitutional requirement that the House of Representatives authorize an impeachment inquiry before one begins."
The Trump Administration has made up this argument — apparently out of whole cloth — in order to justify its unprecedented cover-up, withhold key documents from multiple federal agencies, prevent critical witnesses from cooperating, and defy duly authorized subpoenas.

This week, we will bring a resolution to the Floor that affirms the ongoing, existing investigation that is currently being conducted by our committees as part of this impeachment inquiry, including all requests for documents, subpoenas for records and testimony, and any other investigative steps previously taken or to be taken as part of this investigation.

This resolution establishes the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel.
 
We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.

Nobody is above the law.

Quote :

Sabrina Siddiqui

:heavy_check_mark:@SabrinaSiddiqui





[ltr]Here is @SpeakerPelosi’s letter to colleagues announcing vote this week on resolution that affirms ongoing impeachment inquiry and authorizes making hearings, deposition transcripts, etc public[/ltr]





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12:37 PM - Oct 28, 2019
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Quote :

Heather Caygle

:heavy_check_mark:@heatherscope

 · 2h



[ltr]Vote expected on Thursday we're told. https://twitter.com/BresPolitico/status/1188902172144144387 …[/ltr]

John Bresnahan

:heavy_check_mark:@BresPolitico

Key para of new House Dem impeachment resolution:

Quote :

Heather Caygle

:heavy_check_mark:@heatherscope


[ltr]Still unclear what's prompting Dems to hold vote now, especially after significant court ruling on Friday affirming that House doesn't need to vote to enter into an impeachment inquiry.

Several senior Dems said they had no idea this was coming, are also questioning rationale[/ltr]


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12:43 PM - Oct 28, 2019
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The announcement comes after former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman - who served as a deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton - filed a Friday lawsuit seeking guidance from a federal judge as to whether he should follow the advice of the executive branch, which has instructed him not to attend, or Congress, according to the Post.
As the judge has yet to rule on his request, Kupperman declined to appear.
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), meanwhile, said that a former deputy national security adviser had “no basis in law” to skip a deposition Monday and that his failure to appear was further evidence of Trump’s efforts to obstruct Congress. -Washington Post

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Kupperman was on the line when President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky held a July 25 discussion in which Trump requested investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden, as well as allegations of Ukrainian election meddling in 2016 to benefit Hillary Clinton.[/size]
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