JimBowie1958
Old Fogey
- Sep 25, 2011
- 63,590
- 16,833
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I am amazed that so many people are unaware of how impeachments work. IT STARTS with a document drawn up like a bill in the House which outlines and gives extraordinary authority to the impeachment process. It not only defines the process, but also recognizes the rights of the opposition party in the process and the due process rights of the person considered for impeachment.
And contrary to what some numbskulls today claim that the House can do whatever it wants, the 14th Amendment protects all citizens from processes that are not just and have legal precedent and gaurrantees due process.
This due process is not defined willy-nilly by the Speaker of the House. The House is not a dictatorship. And until the formal impeachment process is initiated by a duly passed bill that launches the impeachment process this is all nothing more than more political theater by Democrats that are desperate to win next years elections.
Mark Levin blasts Pelosi, Democrats for delaying impeachment vote, calls any future roll call a 'sham'
Gregg Jarrett: Latest Pelosi-Schiff impeachment ‘witch hunt’ is venomous affront to constitutional principles
And contrary to what some numbskulls today claim that the House can do whatever it wants, the 14th Amendment protects all citizens from processes that are not just and have legal precedent and gaurrantees due process.
This due process is not defined willy-nilly by the Speaker of the House. The House is not a dictatorship. And until the formal impeachment process is initiated by a duly passed bill that launches the impeachment process this is all nothing more than more political theater by Democrats that are desperate to win next years elections.
Mark Levin blasts Pelosi, Democrats for delaying impeachment vote, calls any future roll call a 'sham'
If House Democrats are not ready to hold a full vote on the Trump impeachment inquiry, it proves any future vote will be a "sham," according to radio host Mark Levin.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her caucus are keeping the American people and the White House largely in the dark about the specifics of the process, Levin claimed Tuesday on "The Mark Levin Show" on Westwood One.
"If you're not going to have a vote as of now then you don't need to have a vote at all," he said.
"Because, they're doing all the dirty work now, without the president's counsel available -- without the opposing party being able to call witnesses, without cross-examination, without all those things that are supposed to take place.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her caucus are keeping the American people and the White House largely in the dark about the specifics of the process, Levin claimed Tuesday on "The Mark Levin Show" on Westwood One.
"If you're not going to have a vote as of now then you don't need to have a vote at all," he said.
"Because, they're doing all the dirty work now, without the president's counsel available -- without the opposing party being able to call witnesses, without cross-examination, without all those things that are supposed to take place.
Gregg Jarrett: Latest Pelosi-Schiff impeachment ‘witch hunt’ is venomous affront to constitutional principles
There is nothing more chaotic (and mysterious) than the current impeachment inquiry. Evidence of this is undeniably compelling. No one knows what’s going on behind closed doors. The select few who are present or have access to information have been threatened with eviction or an ethics investigation should they disclose to anyone what is happening.
Witnesses have been threatened with obstruction of justice if they refuse to appear in these secret proceedings. Some have reportedly been told that legal counsel is not allowed. As Democrats selectively leak damaging information, Republicans are prohibited from rebutting it. The minority party is also deprived of subpoena power and forbidden from calling witnesses of its own. This is an abuse of the process and an egregious deprivation of rights.
Much of this is compounded by the persistent confusion over what constitutes an official inquiry and which committee is really in charge. At first, it was Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler who claimed he was presiding over a “formal impeachment proceeding.” Now, it seems that Schiff is doing the same. Has command been passed? Or are these now dueling inquiries?
No one seems to know, least of all Pelosi who feels no compulsion to inform the American people -- who are understandably bewildered. Like a ship adrift, who’s the captain here?
In an effort to rationalize the abiding secrecy, Schiff suggested that his hearings are “analogous to a grand jury proceeding done out of public view.” This is disingenuous, at best. A grand jury is a neutral body. Schiff and his fellow Democrats who control the Intelligence Committee are the antithesis of neutral.
It now appears that Schiff played a pivotal role in orchestrating the initial whistleblower complaint that led to the impeachment hysteria and then lied about it. Suddenly, he doesn’t want this anonymous informant to testify since that would surely implicate Schiff's own partisan machinations and deceptions. It might expose the “witch hunt.”...
All of this could have been avoided if Pelosi had called for a full vote of House members to initiate an official impeachment inquiry and identified the controlling committee. If nothing more, it would have established basic rules of conduct and ensured some measure of fairness. Instead, she acted unilaterally and without any real authority beyond her gavel. Mistakenly embracing a monarchy, Pelosi has become the self-appointed Queen.
As Queens and Kings are wont to do, the business of ruling is conducted by fiat. In turn, “due process” rights of the ruled are erased as if they never existed. But they do exist in a democracy and are enshrined in our own Constitution which is being trampled on with impunity.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone pointed this out to Pelosi and Schiff in his October 8 letter on behalf of President Trump. He correctly cited decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in Watkins v. United States (1957) and Quinn v. United States (1955) in which the Justices ruled that the Bill of Rights and “due process” guarantees apply to congressional investigations. They have also been recognized as a requirement in impeachment proceedings. For support, Cipollone quoted the very words of Nadler who stated, “the power of impeachment… demands a rigorous level of due process.” Indeed, it does.
Witnesses have been threatened with obstruction of justice if they refuse to appear in these secret proceedings. Some have reportedly been told that legal counsel is not allowed. As Democrats selectively leak damaging information, Republicans are prohibited from rebutting it. The minority party is also deprived of subpoena power and forbidden from calling witnesses of its own. This is an abuse of the process and an egregious deprivation of rights.
Much of this is compounded by the persistent confusion over what constitutes an official inquiry and which committee is really in charge. At first, it was Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler who claimed he was presiding over a “formal impeachment proceeding.” Now, it seems that Schiff is doing the same. Has command been passed? Or are these now dueling inquiries?
No one seems to know, least of all Pelosi who feels no compulsion to inform the American people -- who are understandably bewildered. Like a ship adrift, who’s the captain here?
In an effort to rationalize the abiding secrecy, Schiff suggested that his hearings are “analogous to a grand jury proceeding done out of public view.” This is disingenuous, at best. A grand jury is a neutral body. Schiff and his fellow Democrats who control the Intelligence Committee are the antithesis of neutral.
It now appears that Schiff played a pivotal role in orchestrating the initial whistleblower complaint that led to the impeachment hysteria and then lied about it. Suddenly, he doesn’t want this anonymous informant to testify since that would surely implicate Schiff's own partisan machinations and deceptions. It might expose the “witch hunt.”...
All of this could have been avoided if Pelosi had called for a full vote of House members to initiate an official impeachment inquiry and identified the controlling committee. If nothing more, it would have established basic rules of conduct and ensured some measure of fairness. Instead, she acted unilaterally and without any real authority beyond her gavel. Mistakenly embracing a monarchy, Pelosi has become the self-appointed Queen.
As Queens and Kings are wont to do, the business of ruling is conducted by fiat. In turn, “due process” rights of the ruled are erased as if they never existed. But they do exist in a democracy and are enshrined in our own Constitution which is being trampled on with impunity.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone pointed this out to Pelosi and Schiff in his October 8 letter on behalf of President Trump. He correctly cited decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court in Watkins v. United States (1957) and Quinn v. United States (1955) in which the Justices ruled that the Bill of Rights and “due process” guarantees apply to congressional investigations. They have also been recognized as a requirement in impeachment proceedings. For support, Cipollone quoted the very words of Nadler who stated, “the power of impeachment… demands a rigorous level of due process.” Indeed, it does.
