December 11, 2019

Exactly who is obstructing in this impeachment show?

By John D. Dingell III

The second impeachment article (ARTICLE II: OBSTRUCTION OF CONGRESS) released by House Judiciary Chairman Nadler (D-N.Y.) charges the following:

... President Trump directed Executive Branch agencies, offices, and officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President Trump thus interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, and assumed to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the "sole Power of Impeachment" vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives.
President Trump abused the powers of his high office through the following means:
(1) Directing the White House to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents sought therein by the Committees.

(2) Directing other Executive Branch agencies and offices to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the Committees — in response to which the Department of State, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense refused to produce a single document or record.

(3) Directing current and former Executive Branch officials not to cooperate with the Committees — in response to which nine Administration officials defied subpoenas for testimony, namely John Michael "Mick" Mulvaney, Robert B. Blair, John A. Eisenberg, Michael Ellis, Preston Wells Griffith, Russell T. Vought, Michael Duffey, Brian McCormack, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl[.]

In Article II, President Trump is being charged with asserting his privilege to deny Congress testimony and information about policy formation within the Executive Branch, a privilege recognized by American courts for 45 years.

Beyond its illegitimacy, the second article of impeachment is a supreme act of hypocrisy by the chairman, who refused to honor the December 5 request from the ranking minority member of his committee, Doug Collins (R-Ga.), for a minority hearing day. Clause 2(j)(1) of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 116th Congress, states:

Calling and questioning of witnesses
(j)(1) Whenever a hearing is conducted by a committee on a measure or matter, the minority members of the committee shall be entitled, upon request to the chair by a majority of them before the completion of the hearing, to call witnesses selected by the minority to testify with respect to that measure or matter during at least one day of hearing thereon.
Chairman Nadler's refusal to allow his committee's minority members a hearing day is functionally indistinguishable from President Trump's assertion of executive privilege, but without the legitimacy of court recognition. It doesn't even accord with the Rules of the House.

Chairman Nadler is interposing his authority to obstruct any meaningful defense of President Trump during the House impeachment process by silencing witnesses and denying exhibits that might contradict the Democrats' fanciful script — all the while charging President Trump with the very same form of obstruction.

The blatant hypocrisy of House leadership writ large in their second article of impeachment speaks volumes about the malign impeachment articles and the illegitimate nature of the House Democrats' impeachment process.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog...ment_show.html