WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWNY) - North country congresswoman Elise Stefanik is demanding "transparency" in the House impeachment inquiry of President Trump and his dealings with Ukraine.
Stefanik’s letter to the head of the House Intelligence Committee came at the end of a week in which several witnesses testified before the committee behind closed doors, and in which it appeared the drive toward impeachment is gaining strength.
Stefanik, a Republican, wrote committee chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, "The highly irregular manner in which you are conducting your so-called “impeachment-inquiry” gravely concerns us, as does the fact that you have decreed this matter to be under (the Inteligence Committee’s) jurisdiction despite it lacking any clear intelligence component.
"Further, given that you have recently acknowledged that the Committee no longer needs to receive testimony from the whistleblower, your “impeachment inquiry” lacks any relationship with the jurisdiction of this Committee.
“As you are aware, the Committee was established to conduct crucial oversight of the Intelligence Community, and we are increasingly concerned our normal work is being overlooked in favor of partisan activities best suited for another Committee.”
Republicans are in the minority in the House of Representatives, and in recent days have increasingly criticized the way in which the impeachment inquiry is being conducted.
President Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine have been under scrutiny since a whistleblower claimed the president pressured Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden. A subsequent “rough transcript” of a July phone call between President Trump and the president of Ukraine substantiated that Trump asked for the Ukraine government to investigate Biden and his son Hunter.
Schiff has defended the secrecy of the investigation, likening it to what a grand jury does in a criminal investigation.
“We want to make sure that we meet the needs of the investigation and not give the president or his legal minions the opportunity to tailor their testimony and in some cases fabricate testimony to suit their interests,” Schiff told CBS.
In an impeachment, the House of Representatives votes on whether or not to “impeach” a president, that is, to bring charges against him or her. The trial of the president is then held in the U.S. Senate and presided over by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Two-thirds of the senators would have to vote President Trump guilty in order to remove him from office, and given the Republican majority in the Senate, that’s viewed as unlikely.
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