Skip to main content

Rep. Andy Biggs' move to censure head of impeachment probe fails

October 21, 2019

The Republican effort to censure the man leading the impeachment inquiry fizzled on Monday with Democrats indefinitely delaying a vote on the measure introduced by U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona.

In a party-line, 218-185 vote, Democrats opted to table Biggs' resolution against Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for flippant comments he made describing the information on President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine that gave rise to the impeachment probe.

It effectively ends the legislative push against the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee but allows Republicans to claim Schiff was grinding a political ax by pursuing the president rather than seeking an honest account of possible wrongdoing.

"I am disappointed that my Democrat colleagues failed to uphold the integrity of the House of Representatives by condemning the actions of Chairman Adam Schiff," Biggs said in a statement after the vote.

"An impeachment proceeding to remove a duly elected president is one of the most solemn decisions a member of Congress may be forced to make in their tenure. Instead of operating with integrity, Adam Schiff misled the American people about the content of the transcript being used to drive the most recent impeachment narrative against President Donald Trump."

Schiff defended himself in a brief tweet.

"It will be said of House Republicans, when they found they lacked the courage to confront the most dangerous and unethical president in American history, they consoled themselves by attacking those who did," he wrote.

It was an anticlimactic ending to an effort that gathered solid GOP support, including from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., but never had a chance in the Democratic-controlled chamber.

The resolution was perhaps the most high-profile move yet by Biggs, who in his second term in Washington took over as chairman of the House Freedom Caucus earlier this month.

Biggs emerged during the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as a leading voice on the right raising doubts about that probe and especially its origins.

His resolution sought to censure Schiff over his characterization of information in the whistleblower complaint related to Trump's July 25 request that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "do us a favor" and investigate Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son.

Speaking at a Sept. 26 congressional hearing, Schiff offered what he presented as an imagined conversation involving Trump and Zelensky that sounded like a mob shakedown.

"Shorn of its rambling character and in not so many words, this is the essence of what the president communicates," Schiff said. "'We've been very good to your country, very good. No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what? I don't see much reciprocity here.'"

Schiff went on to say that Trump told Zelensky to "make up dirt" on Biden. According to the summary of the phone call from those taking notes, Trump asked Zelensky to open an investigation of Biden.

Schiff has said his comments were "meant to be at least part in parody."

"Instead of quoting directly from the available transcript, Chairman Schiff manufactured a false retelling of the conversation between President Trump and President

Zelensky," Biggs' resolution said. "This egregiously false and fabricated retelling had no

relationship to the call itself," and made a mockery of the impeachment process, it said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., defended Schiff in a statement, though not his remarks that gave rise to the resolution.

"Chairman Schiff is a great American patriot. Our country is extremely well-served by his serious, smart and strategic leadership to protect our elections, national security and democracy — which sadly stands in stark contrast to Republicans in the Congress who cover up the truth, look the other way when the president invites foreign governments to interfere in our elections and vote against legislation to secure the ballot from foreign attacks. What the Republicans fear most is the truth."

For his part, Trump urged the House on Monday to take action against Schiff.

"Censure (at least) Corrupt Adam Schiff! After what he got caught doing, any pol who does not so vote cannot be honest....are you listening Dems?" Trump tweeted.