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Trump and GOP say Dems corrupted impeachment probe before formal vote

October 29, 2019

President Trump and his Republican allies are portraying Democrats' upcoming vote for a formal impeachment inquiry as too late to fix a corrupted process.

Mr. Trump said Tuesday that Congress should focus only on the transcript of July 25 phone call with Ukraine's president, in which he insists he didn't withhold military aid as pressure to start an investigation of Democratic front-runner Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter.

"Everything else is made up garbage by Shifty Schiff and the Never Trumpers," the president tweeted Tuesday, referring to Chairman Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted at the president Tuesday, "Everybody has read your words on the call. The Ukrainian President asks for military aid to fend off the Russian attack, you say ‘I want you to do us a favor though,' and then you spend the rest of the call asking for bogus investigations to smear your political opponents."

House Democrats have been hearing testimony from witnesses from behind closed doors for weeks, resisting calls from Republicans to open up their investigation and allow the president's lawyers to participate. Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, has announced the House will hold a vote Thursday to spell out a formal process going forward.

However, the text of the resolution has yet to be publicly released and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was vague on whether or not the vote would actually take place this week.

"We're going to have to consider whether or not it's ready to go on Thursday," the Maryland Democrat told reporters Tuesday.

The Ukraine investigations, which have been taking place behind closed-doors and lead by the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, have taken place at a rapid pace over the last few weeks.

Tuesday, members are hearing from Alexander Vindman, a military officer with the National Security Council, who told lawmakers he was concerned about the July 25th phone call between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky, where Mr. Trump mentioned investigating the Biden family's connections to a corrupt Ukrainian business.

The president is urging allies to focus solely on the contents of his phone call transcript. Mr. Trump also is retweeting comments from GOP lawmakers who say the investigation is already irretrievably tainted.

"The ship has already sailed on having a fair and transparent process," tweeted Rep. Jody Hice, Georgia Republican. "@RepAdamSchiff poisoned the well on day one. The time for a vote was a MONTH ago! This is like the referee showing up halfway into a football game."

Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican, said on Twitter that Democrats "have undermined the fairness of this unauthorized impeachment inquisition of" the president with "secret hearings, leaks of selective testimony, & lack of due process."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, tweeted, "A vote now is a bit like un-Ringing a bell as House Democrats have selectively leaked information in order to damage President @realDonaldTrump for weeks."

Democrats, meanwhile, have been defending their decision to hold a vote, despite touting a district court ruling that affirmed there was no need for formal authorization.

"There is a desire to have a process as we move into public hearings," Mr. Hoyer said.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, and Vice-Chair Katherine Clark, Massachusetts Democrat, were defending the decision to move forward with holding a vote on the impeachment inquiry — arguing that it wouldn't put their moderate members in a tough spot because most of the caucus was already on board with the inquiry.

A handful of moderates, including one of the last remaining impeachment hold-outs, Wisconsin Rep. Ron Kind, supported the upcoming vote, saying it was good to get all the facts before the public.

Rep. Cindy Axne, Iowa Democrat, who endorsed impeachment inquiry back in September, blamed the vote on what she saw as Republican obstruction.

"It's pretty unfortunate because we shouldn't have to do this. The only reason that we have to take this vote is because Republicans don't want to follow the procedures and processes that are in place that allow us to conduct the inquiry the way we've been doing it," she said.