When President Trump called the impeachment proceedings against him a “lynching”, Democrats predictably clutched their pearls. Their faux-outrage was, of course, almost immediately undermined by footage of leading Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden saying exactly the same thing when Democrat President Clinton was impeached. In fact, at least five Democrats used the shocking “L-word”.
But that’s only the beginning of the Democrats’ hypocrisy.
The Democrats have abused due process at every step of the Trump presidency, most egregiously (until now) in the farcical confirmation hearings for Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh. But the impeachment hearings are taking their Machiavellian manipulation to new, deceitful heights.
Contrast today’s partisan inquiry with the Nixon impeachment. As American Enterprise Institute President Robert Doar has pointed out, the Nixon inquiry was a model of bipartisan cooperation. The Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Peter Rodino (N.J.), assembled a unified staff […] The president’s counsel was allowed to be present during depositions, given access to all of the documents and materials presented to the committee, allowed to cross-examine witnesses, and even permitted to call witnesses of his own. Most important, the committee did not leak or release selective documents cherry-picked to make the president look bad.
The same was true during the Clinton impeachment inquiry. As former House speaker Newt Gingrich explained in a recent interview, Republicans “adopted every single rule that Rodino had used in 1973.” Yet today, Rodino’s party is systematically undermining every principle of fairness and due process he put in place in 1973.
The Trump impeachment proceedings are enough to make the epithet “Star Chamber” redundant.
Take this week’s testimony by acting ambassador William B. Taylor Jr…He was deposed inside a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in the Capitol, a room that is designed to protect the government’s most highly classified information. Cellphones are not permitted inside a SCIF. Yet somehow what appear to be cellphone photos of his prepared statement were leaked to the news media.
But the full transcript of his deposition — including his answers to questions from Republicans challenging his accusations — remains under lock and key in that SCIF. The president’s counsel is not allowed to see it, much less be present at the deposition to cross-examine the witness. So, Democrats are leaking derogatory information about the president, while restricting public access to potentially exculpatory information, all while denying him the right to see or challenge testimony against him.
Secret hearings are not unknown under US law (Grand Juries, for instance, convene in closed proceedings) – provided that due process is followed. The Democrats are blatantly abandoning due process, by leaking damaging testimony, while barring the president or his counsel the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, challenge evidence, or present evidence of their own.
The partisan nature of the Democrats’ inquiry will backfire in a number of ways. For one thing, it allows Republicans to make the case to the American people that the process is unfair, and if there is one thing Americans demand, it is fairness…Second, their partisan behavior has given the president justification to refuse to cooperate with the investigation, just as President Dwight D. Eisenhower refused to cooperate with the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. And finally, it has made it easier for congressional Republicans to rally around the president.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/24/democrats-are-violating-every-standard-due-process-it-will-backfire
Trump, the political outsider, has never been popular with large sections of his own party. But this farcical kangaroo court is uniting Republicans as no other issue has. The Democrats’ behaviour is also guaranteeing that the proceedings will fail. The supermajority required by the Constitution demands bipartisan agreement, which they are supremely unlikely to get.
Of course, such corruption of state power by the Democrats should surprise no one. The Obama administration weaponised nearly every arm of the state to pursue its political enemies, from the IRS to the DOJ. The swamp monsters got a taste for blood and realised just how much they relish it.