My, how the tables have turned.
The Democrats’ had previously been employing some sneaky tactics in their “formal impeachment inquiry”, refusing to vote on a binding set of rules and guidelines until weeks, nay months, after they began their unending investigations into Donald Trump.
The secrecy was so egregious that forty-some Republican lawmakers participated in the “storming of the SCIF” – so named for the abbreviation of the secure location in which the clandestine hearings were being held – barging in with phones held high, live-streaming the protest for all to see.
Now that impeachment seems to be moving out into the open with public hearings beginning next week, one of the key architects of the previously-covert shenanigans is being asked to take the stand.
The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has formally requested that the panel’s chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., testify in a closed-door setting as part of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
Fox News has obtained a letter written by committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who demanded that Schiff appear for a deposition in private before lawmakers.
Nunes did not mince his words.
“On November 6th, you announced the beginning of public hearings associated with the Democratic Party’s partisan impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump,” Nunes wrote Friday. “Based on the precedent and lack of jurisdiction, the House Intelligence Committee should not take the lead in conducting such hearings; however, by now the American people know your desire to see the duly-elected president removed from office outweighs your sense of responsibility to running a functioning intelligence oversight committee.
“Prior to the start of your public show trial next week, at least one additional closed-door deposition must take place,” he continued. “Specifically, I request that you sit for a closed-door deposition before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight Committees.”
Adam Schiff has been a lightning rod of controversy during the impeachment proceedings, having begun the process with a fictionalized version of Donald Trump’s now-famous July 25th phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – an act that saw a motion to censure the House Intel Committee Chairman reach the legislative floor.
