Republicans Storm Closed-Room No-Rules Lynching, Demanding Due Process In Fake Impeachment

See the Daily Caller.

Schiff, it turns out, was a timid little sissy.

Dozens of Republicans, including some members of leadership, barged into the secure hearing room in the Capitol basement where Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, was set to provide private testimony. GOP lawmakers have argued that other lawmakers, not just members of the three committees leading the probe, should be able to attend the closed-door hearings with witnesses.

Several lawmakers said that, in response to the Republican protest, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) had left the room with Cooper, postponing the interview indefinitely.

Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said Schiff said "nothing" when the members sat down before he left with Cooper.

"He doesn't have the guts to come talk to us," Marshall said. "He left, he just got up and left. He doesn't have the guts to tell us why we can’t come in the room, why he doesn't want this to be transparent. It's the biggest facade, biggest farce of my life."

Pure political theater? Well, maybe not. The "testimony" is indefinitely delayed as Republicans and Democrats try to work out a compromise that will end the stand-off.

Like, maybe returning to the actual rules of impeachment?

The two sides were still trying to work through the standoff by mid-morning, with Republicans who do not sit on the committees leading the inquiry refusing to leave the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in the basement of the Capitol and Democrats insisting those lawmakers had no right to be there.

...

Republicans said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was threatening GOP lawmakers with ethics violations. Schiff was also consulting with the House's sergeant at arms.

So, batten down for some over-the-top partisan spin from Politico:

The GOP-led stunt, led by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), comes as President Donald Trump has demanded that Republicans "get tough and fight" for him in the impeachment probe. But Republicans have struggled to defend Trump on the substance of the allegations against him, and have instead focused on hammering Democrats over what they see as an illegitimate impeachment process.

Storming in and mostly out of places has been a standard congressional Democrat play for about 30 years -- and liberal media outfits like Politico have always called this tactic a "protest," not a stunt.

Now it's a stunt, and Republicans are seizing and/or pouncing on a complete absence of due process.

posted by Ace of Spades at 01:10 PM

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