Posted on 11/07/2019 10:19:48 AM PST by jazusamo
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Republicans must justify the relevance of witnesses they want to call in public hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Schiff in a letter to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the panel, late Wednesday outlined questions that will be used to weigh whether a witness's testimony would be germane.
Among the questions are whether President Trump requested “that a foreign leader and government initiate investigations to benefit the President’s personal political interests” and if he sought to use his office “to apply pressure on the head of state and government of Ukraine to advance the President’s personal political interests,” including leveraging an Oval Office meeting or millions of dollars in military aid.
Schiff also said witnesses must speak to whether the president or administration officials sought to obstruct or cover up any evidence regarding Trump’s actions.
Republicans must submit their witness requests to Schiff by Saturday, including a written justification for the relevance of the testimony from each person they intend to call.
House Democrats announced Wednesday that they will hold their first public impeachment hearings next week as they ramp of their investigation into Trump's dealings with Ukraine.
Schiff said that William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, and George Kent, a top State Department official, will testify on Wednesday. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is then expected to testify on Nov. 15.
Democrats and Republicans on the House Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs committees have already conducted several interviews behind closed doors.
Schiff said in the letter to Nunes that Democrats don’t intend to request public testimony from every witness the committees have already interviewed, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) has said the GOP would likely seek testimony from people beyond those who have already spoken privately.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) added Thursday that Republicans intend to subpoena the government whistleblower who first raised alarm about interactions between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The effort is likely to fail, however, as Democrats have said they do not intend to out the anonymous figure over safety concerns and that other witnesses have already gone beyond what the official alleged.
The House’s impeachment inquiry was launched in September amid Democratic concerns that Trump leveraged $400 million in military aid to pressure Zelensky to open an investigation into unfounded corruption allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, a top candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Biden's son.
The White House has repeatedly blasted the House investigation as a "witch hunt" and decried Democrats' efforts as "unhinged" after they voted to formalize the inquiry last week.
Democrats have countered the president has abused his oath of office by seeking to involve foreign nations in U.S. domestic politics after publicizing testimony from several witnesses saying there was a quid pro quo surrounding Trump's dealings with Ukraine.
Bring back the Army guy.
Hunter Biden
Joe Biden
Ukrainian President
Ukrainian Prosecutor that Biden had fired
Hunter Bidens Partners for China and Ukraine operations
Commissar Schifty screams I AM the LAW! All must bow down to me!
The Democrats wants to argue that “Trump broke the law demanding a quid pro quo to investigate a poltical opponet Joe Bide but Biden demanding a quid pro quo from the Ukraine, which we have video of, is “irrelevant to impeachment?
Just how insanely stupid do you to have to be to take this obvious infantile irrationality seriously? Here the video of Biden
“Is Chief Justice Roberts part of the Coup?”
___________________
That would be no surprise!
How Hitleresque of him...
Its amazing how far leftest will go to protect the free taxpayer money pig trough flowing for shady globalist special interests who’s lobbyists only purpose is to stifle competition
Nope, it is not about making the Dems feel shame. It is about refusing to play the rigged game and making that clearly known to the public, bypassing the media. Enough is enough.
“The House’s impeachment inquiry was launched in September amid Democratic concerns that Trump leveraged $400 million in military aid to pressure Zelensky to open an investigation into unfounded corruption allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, a top candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Biden’s son. “
It’s entirely probable the Trump/GOP team can make a case there was a legally reasonable suspicion to open an investigation of the Bidens.
Which completely destroys the Dim assertions and case.
Even if quid pro quo is demonstrated.
Even then, how would they ascertain a personal, political motive to Trump’s actions and words absent an outright statement to that effect?
so exculpatory evidence/testimony is not germaine? ridiculous how about evidence of what obama and biden did? showing disparate treatment? schiff needs to be removed immediately or the people need to march on dc end this kangaroo court now
where the heck is durham, barr, horowitz, senate judiciary? fight back senate subpoena schiff and wb etc now
“This is third world stuff. The Democrats have come that far and are testing their long march.”
Yup.
I hope the Pubs give him a list of 100 names and the documentation to go with it. Then when Schiff denies their requests for witnesses, release the list and documentation publicly. Let Schiff publically explain why the Pubs don’t get their witnesses. Schiff is hoping the process of getting Pub witnesses will be too burdensome and the Pubs will just give up.
“Your exculpatory evidence, evidence why President Trump may have properly asked for a legal investigation, is denied.”
Un-f***ing-real.
Keep pushing, Schiff, because you know what?
Tick tock.
Laz’s got a quick hand.
Exactly. That is the critical element.
Of course, most actions can be found to have more than one result. For instance, here, if Trump successfully performed his duties with dramatic results that would quite naturally be "in his personal political interests".
OTOH, it is highly doubtful the House has the right or authority to prohibit a President from using all available tools to persuade a foreign country to honor its treaty with the U.S. The fact that using those tools may embarrass or inconvenience a US citizen is incidental and irrelevant.
Schiff appears to be restricting R witnesses to only those who can demonstrate Trump did not do what he did - i.e., prove a negative.
The R's may nonetheless prevail in the public's mind simply with effective cross-examination of Schiff's witnesses.
Patriots know the only real solution. It involves scaffolding and ropes.
“It involves scaffolding and ropes.”
For Schitt’s scrawny neck, a ball of twine would do.
This explains the liberal aversion to nooses.
And again, what part of this will result in the Dems stopping?
They dont have any opposition bugging them when they arent there. They will thank the GOP for doing it.
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