Pelosi: “Clinton allowed witnesses to come forward. Pres.Trump has prevented that from happening.”@GStephanopoulos: “Why not wait for the courts to rule?”
Pelosi: “Because it will be— how long do the courts take? … We have confidence in our case.” https://t.co/G6Ef3GUsED pic.twitter.com/A6WQ86tXku
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 12, 2020
A legal expert called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday because she said on ABC’s This Week that lawmakers were “in court” to get more witnesses for the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. That attorney said that lawmakers from the lower chamber of Congress actually didn’t subpoena former National Security Advisor John Bolton and many other witnesses, and didn’t try to enforce its actual subpoenas in court.
From impeachment expert and Real Impeachment podcast host Ross Garber:
🤥 House didn’t subpoena Bolton and other key impeachment witnesses. And House didn’t seek to enforce subpoenas it did issue. Senate has no more power to enforce subpoenas than does the House. (Exec priv, and maybe immunity, may preclude getting Bolton Senate testimony) https://t.co/WjhfvYGuba
— Ross Garber (@rossgarber) January 12, 2020
Bolton has voiced a willingness to testify if subpoenaed by the Senate. Some was skeptical if he was sincere. In any case, the president has suggested invoking executive privilege to stop the testimony.
Kyle Cheney, a POLITICO reporter, pointed out that the House was in court for former White House counsel Don McGahn, but “has intentionally avoided subpoenas for Ukraine witnesses.”
“None of the witnesses Schumer has identified as crucial for Senate trial — Bolton, [Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney], [former Mulvaney aide Robert Blair], [Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey] — are being pursued in court by the House,” he wrote. “They weren’t even subpoenaed. Some Democrats say this was to avoid entangling them in court during impeachment process.”
Trump was impeached last month after allegedly making military aid to the Ukraine conditional on them investigating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. This has largely been a party-line fight, with no Republicans voting in favor. Now it’s going to trial before the Senate, where the GOP command a majority. Their numerical advantage may be slight, but assuming a party-line vote, it’s more than enough to prevent the supermajority required to remove Trump from office.
The House held off on formally sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Now they’re set to do so as early as Wednesday. Pelosi said Sunday that she and other lawmakers will discuss this on Tuesday. She argued it was good move to wait, saying it helped elicit more evidence in the case. Pressed by host George Stephanopoulos, she said they didn’t wait for courts to enforce House subpoenas because of the amount of time it would take.
“No, no, no,” Speaker Pelosi tells @GStephanopoulos when asked if she has “second thoughts” about waiting to send the articles of impeachment, adding that it “produced a positive result” and highlights the importance of having “witnesses and documents.” https://t.co/G6Ef3GUsED pic.twitter.com/cXwBcQv09F
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 12, 2020
Garber also took Pelosi to task for her saying McConnell moved to dismiss impeachment.
🤥 McConnell didn’t sign on to a resolution to dismiss the impeachment. He signed on to a resolution to set a deadline for the House to transmit the articles of impeachment for trial. (If the House continued to refuse to allow a trial, Senate could then consider dismissal.) https://t.co/bwKVbri3wo
— Ross Garber (@rossgarber) January 12, 2020
[Screengrab via ABC News]
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