*Column by Quest Lakes originally published in the MVN in Oct. of 2019. A poem by Pulitzer Prize nominated poet David Lee from his new book, Mine Tailings, has been added to the version of the column that appears here. Lee's book is dedicated to Silver City, Nevada.
There’s quite a bit of confusion about the initial stage of the impeachment inquiry of President Trump. To put it simply, this stage of the process is like presenting a case to a grand jury, which is not done in public. However, eventually there will be a public presentation in which Mr. Trump’s lawyers can cross examine the witnesses and challenge them. These facts don’t stop Mr. Trump from complaining about the impeachment inquiry process, tweeting things such as,
“Do Nothing Democrats allow Republicans Zero Representation, Zero due process, and Zero Transparency[sic].”
On October 23, Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz and a few dozen fellow House Republicans barged into the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF, interrupting witness testimony in the House impeachment inquiry of Mr. Trump. They declared that having closed-door depositions is a "Soviet-style process.” Mr. Trump reportedly knew about the plan to violate SCIF security, and afterward praised the action as “tough” and “smart.”
President Trump was happy with Gaetz and friends performative stunt because it achieves the goal of making people believe that the initial stage of the impeachment inquiry has been carried out in“secret” and in contradiction to long-standing rules. However, as Fox News analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explained on Fox and Friends the following day, “the hearings over which Congressman Schiff is presiding is consistent with the 2015 House Rules.” Those rules were signed by Republican speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, and enacted by a Republican majority. Republicans, while they were in the majority in 2015, gave themselves unilateral subpoena power to all 14 committee chairs, plus permission to take closed-door depositions.
So… the rules say that this initial level of inquiry can be closed-door. While the hearings have not been public, neither have they been “secret.” Members of both parties are on the committees holding the hearings (Oversight, Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs) and have been able to attend the depositions and ask questions.
There are 234 Democrats and 197 Republicans in the House. Nine Republicans are on the Intelligence Committee, 21 are on Foreign Affiars Committee (including Vice President Mike Pence’s brother Greg Pence), and 17 are on the Oversight Committee. There are, then, a total of 47 House Republicans who can be in the room for the closed door hearings.
In other words, Republican committee members have been able to attend and ask questions all along.
In fact, of the 41 people Gaetz himself named as participants in storming the SCIF, more than a dozen of them can participate in the hearings they claim aren't transparent enough (no one of any party is allowed to bring in cell phones as they did though, because it is supposed to be a secure setting).
In his appearance on Fox and Friends, Judge Napolitano went on to explain that Congressman Schiff, following the set of rules written in 2015 that were signed by Republican John Boehner and enacted by a Republican majority, chose to do the initial interviews in a closed-door setting.
To repeat: eventually there will be a public presentation in which lawyers for Mr. Trump can cross examine the witnesses and challenge them. This is the process.
It looks like the GOP members who violated the security of the SCIF with cell phones, halting Laura Cooper’s testimony for several hours, aimed to distract from recent previous testimony from Bill Taylor. Taylor is a West Point graduate and former military officer and career diplomat with the rank of ambassador under the last four presidents. Taylor’s testimony was that U.S. aid to Ukraine, a country trying to defend itself against Russia, was explicitly tied to Ukraine’s willingness to investigate President Trump's political rivals.
Mr. Trump responded to Taylor’s testimony by suggesting that Taylor is a “Never Trumper,” tweeting,
“Never Trumper Republican John Bellinger, represents Never Trumper Diplomat Bill Taylor...in testimony before Congress!... Never Trumper Republicans... are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats [sic]. Watch out for them, they are human scum!"
However, the facts of the matter are that this year Secretary of State Mike Pompeo personally recruited Taylor, who was retired at the time. Taylor was then appointed by President Trump to serve as the chargé d'affaires for Ukraine (or a charge-D, a diplomat who heads an embassy).
First Person Temple of Narcissus Credo
upon being told I automatically disagree
with anything any Republican ever says
That, Sirrah, is absolutely untrue:
two of the most powerful and influential Republicans
on this planet are Rupert Murdoch
and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
and both have been heard and then quoted
(with no subsequent denial)
as stating, "Donald Trump is a fucking moron,"
and there is no statement in my lifetime
with which I agree more than that.
-David Lee
