‘Fox News’ Legal Expert Says Democrats Leading Impeachment Are Following The Rules Put In Place By Republicans
A Fox News legal analyst is pushing back against claims from Republicans that Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry are breaking rules and running a secret process, saying that they are actually following all the rules that Republicans themselves put in place.
Some congressional Republicans have become increasingly vocal about the process, echoing complaints from Donald Trump that the process is unfair to him and are shutting out Republicans from taking part.
Andrew Napolitano, a senior judicial analyst for the right-leaning cable news network, said that Republican complaints about a secretive, closed-door process are unfounded. As many others have done, Napolitano pointed out that Republicans were actually the ones who set the newest rules for congressional investigations, many of which were put in place when Republicans wanted more power to investigate Hillary Clinton.
“As frustrating as it may be to have these hearings going on behind closed doors…they are consistent with the rules,” the Fox News expert said, via Newsweek.
“When were the rules written last? In January of 2015. And who signed them? John Boehner [the Republican speaker of the House]. And who enacted them? A Republican majority.”
Napolitano went on to say that the information-gathering process takes place behind closed doors, but that Democrats will eventually present the information to the public and could introduce articles of impeachment that would go to a public vote. If passed, then Donald Trump would go on trial before the U.S. Senate and would have the opportunity to defend himself.
Democrats have even floated the idea of holding public hearings in primetime in the coming weeks, allowing all Americans to see the evidence against Donald Trump that could lead to articles of impeachment. As BuzzFeed News reported, some Democrats like the idea of making the evidence-sharing process as transparent and public as possible, even taking a page out of Trump’s playbook by going for big ratings.
“Do it in primetime, so that the majority of Americans can be home watching it — even though most people don’t get their news from TV anymore,” Rep. Kathleen Rice, a former prosecutor, told BuzzFeed News.
On Wednesday, a group of Republicans stormed the secured room where an interview for the impeachment inquiry was taking place, demanding that they be able to take part. As The Inquisitr noted, this group of Republicans included several members of the three investigative committees that are taking the lead on the impeachment inquiry, and would have been allowed to attend the meetings anyway.
