House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff set the stage for the first public hearings as part of the impeachment inquiry by vowing to keep questions at Wednesday’s lead-off session focused on the Ukraine controversy — in an implicit shot at Republican members who have signaled an interest in turning the tables on Democrats as they defend President Trump.
“It is important to underscore that the House’s impeachment inquiry, and the Committee, will not serve as venues for any Member to further the same sham investigations into the Bidens or into debunked conspiracies about 2016 U.S. election interference that President Trump pressed Ukraine to undertake for his personal political benefit,” Schiff, D-Calif., wrote as part of a memo and letter to colleagues on procedures for the open hearings.
Notably, he cited rules for the investigation that would keep it focused on alleged attempts by the president to seek politically advantageous investigations from a foreign government, and whether he sought to cover it up.
The first hearings in the public phase of the impeachment inquiry will feature testimony from State Department official George Kent and top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor on Wednesday. Later this week, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich will appear.
“The House’s inquiry into whether grounds exist for President Trump’s impeachment has been, and will continue to be, a sober and rigorous undertaking,” Schiff wrote to both Democrat and Republican members of the committee, vowing that the public hearings will adhere to House rules governing the impeachment process and that participants will be “treated fairly and with respect, mindful of the solemn and historic task before us.”
Schiff outlined some of the rules, including that members not assigned to the Intelligence Committee are not permitted to make statements or question witnesses, but are allowed to sit in the audience; there will be “equal time” for himself and Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to make opening statements; and there will be five-minute questioning segments for both parties. – READ MORE