House will vote to release impeachment evidence

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democratic colleagues Monday that the full House would vote this week to make evidence gathered in the impeachment inquiry public in light of stonewalling by the White House in the investigation into President Donald Trump.

Republicans have argued that the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because the House did not vote to begin the investigative hearings by three committees. But Pelosi said the claim by Trump and Republicans is baseless, noting past impeachments have gone forward without authorizing resolutions.

She said the resolution the House will vote on Thursday establishes procedures, authorizes disclosure of depositions, and transfers evidence to the Judiciary Committee “as it considers potential articles of impeachment.”

The vote is not to impeach the president, only to affirm the existing investigation and establish procedures for moving forward, Pelosi said.

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has heard the private testimony and told the Review-Journal last week that she would like to see the impeachment process move quickly.

“You don’t want to drag it out,” Titus said, which would allow people to attack the process as being political “when you’ve got the facts.”

“I think there’s enough right this minute,” Titus said. “But what we’re doing, I think, is getting the most information possible to make the strongest case in the Senate, and to the American people.”

‘Unauthorized proceeding’

White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said her comments about the upcoming vote would limited until she sees the actual text of the resolution.

“But Speaker Pelosi is finally admitting what the rest of America already knew — that Democrats were conducting an unauthorized impeachment proceeding, refusing to give the president due process, and their secret, shady, closed-door depositions are completely and irreversibly illegitimate,” Grisham said.

Democrats said Pelosi is calling the White House and Republicans’ bluff by holding a vote to move past the stonewalling that has prevented people from testifying.

Pelosi said “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.”

Pelosi announced Sept. 21 that the House would conduct an impeachment inquiry after a whistleblower claimed that Trump coerced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to conduct an investigation in Joe Biden, a presidential hopeful, and his son, Hunter.

The White House released a transcript of a telephone call where Trump sought the investigation into his political rival while the administration withheld $400 million in military aid that had been approved by the House and Senate for Ukraine and its efforts against pro-Russia separatists.

Corroborating testimony

Democrats, including Titus, say closed-door hearings with State Department officials contains testimony that corroborates the whistleblower account of the telephone call between Trump and Zelenskiy.

The hearings have been conducted by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Democrats and Republicans on the Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees have heard the testimony behind closed doors.

Schiff said the House vote Thursday would authorize the transfer of evidence to the Judiciary Committee and authorize the public release of the transcripts of testimony.

“The American people will hear firsthand about the president’s misconduct,” Schiff said.

Republicans have attacked the Democrats over the process of the impeachment inquiry, rather than a direct defense of the president’s actions and an alleged quid pro quo in his request for an investigation in exchange for military aid.

Nevertheless, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he would not impeach a president over a telephone call.

If the House votes successfully in the months ahead to impeach the president on articles crafted by the House Judiciary Committee, the GOP-led Senate would hold a trial. If the Senate votes to acquit, the president would remain in office. It takes a two-thirds vote — or 67 senators — to remove a president from office.

In 1998, the House voted to impeach then-President Bill Clinton on charges he’d lied under oath about his affair with a White House intern, but Clinton was acquitted in the Senate and remained in office until the end of his term.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.