Following reports over the weekend that the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee would start laying the foundation for formal impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in the coming days, the committee released the specifics of its next move.
In a Monday news release, Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) confirmed the reports that the panel would start to lay the official groundwork for impeachment in the coming week by setting a Thursday vote on a resolution that would lay out updated committee procedures for its "investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment" against the president.
The resolution would:
- Allow the committee chairman to "designate a full committee or subcommittee hearing" for the purpose of the impeachment probe;
- Allow designated committee staff to question witnesses at impeachment hearings "for an equal hour divided between the Majority and Minority";
- Allow evidence — such as secret grand jury information — to be reviewed by the committee in a closed session; and
- Allow the president's legal counsel to respond to presented evidence and testimony in writing.
"They know they don't have the votes for the whole House to impeach," the ranking member tweeted, "so they're trying to adopt committee rules to govern an 'impeachment investigation' the House hasn't even authorized."
