by Daveda Gruber:
On Thursday House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy R-Calif., sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling on her to suspend the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
Citing the need for “transparent and equitable rules and procedures” to be established, McCarthy criticized Pelosi about the “swiftness and recklessness” which House committee chairs have proceeded with the impeachment inquiry.
McCarthy also brought up the need for Republican participation in the proceedings.
McCarthy said in his letter, “Unfortunately, you have given no clear indication as to how your impeachment inquiry will proceed – including whether key historical precedents or basic standards of due process will be observed. In addition, the swiftness and recklessness with which you have proceeded has already resulted in committee chairs attempting to limit minority participation in scheduled interviews, calling into question the integrity of such an inquiry.”
The Minority leader took to Twitter and tweeted:
READ⬇️ I’ve written to Speaker Pelosi to halt the impeachment inquiry until we can receive public answers to the following questions. Given the enormity of the question at hand—impeaching a duly elected president—the American public deserves fairness and transparency. pic.twitter.com/EFKOghyf9w
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) October 3, 2019
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was alleged to have been leaning to limiting Republicans’ ability to ask questions during Thursday’s testimony by former U.S. envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker.
Quite a few questions were posed to Pelosi by McCarthy in the letter. He asks Pelosi if she has plans to hold a full House vote on authorizing the impeachment inquiry.
McCarthy, in the letter, also asks the speaker whether or not she plans to grant subpoena powers to both the committee chairs and the ranking members. It also asks Pelosi whether she’ll allow trump’s lawyers to attend the hearings.
Generally, it appears that McCarthy was asking Pelosi for a fair shake in the questioning of former American diplomat Kurt Volker.
There are representatives from the Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committees, but only the Intelligence Committee can ask questions.
Republicans who have been in the closed door session are already commenting.
Jim Jordan R-OH., came out of the non-televised session during a break and spoke to reporters.
Here is what he had to say:
According to Jordan, Volker, who resigned from his post as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine until his resignation on September 27, 2019, voluntarily answered questions and gave responses that were not to the detriment of the president.
This impeachment investigation started over a phone call in which Trump allegedly asked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s family’s dealings in the Ukraine.
It is alleged that Trump threatened to withhold $400 million in military aid unless the Ukraine investigated Biden and his son Hunter Biden’s dealing with that country.
