Duncan Blasts House Democrats for Illegitimate Impeachment Inquiry

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jeff Duncan released the following statement blasting House Democrats for attempting to make their illegitimate, Soviet-style impeachment inquiry seem legitimate.

“Our nation is witnessing a disgusting and unprecedented abuse of power by House Democrats to take down a President they despise and overthrow the will of the American people. Their Trump Derangement Syndrome has soared to new heights, and today’s resolution is nothing but a trick to fool the American people into thinking they care about due process or fairness. The mainstream media will happily aid them in this messaging effort and write those headlines for them. But the American people will not be fooled – they see right through this outrageous sham.

“This Soviet-style impeachment resolution does nothing to change how the Democrats have corrupted, tainted, and destroyed the process for weeks in secret, keeping information from 75% of Members of Congress and most importantly from the American people. Democrats abandoned due process – a bedrock of our judicial system – weeks ago, and under the resolution, due process will only be granted if Democrats feel like it. Fairness for President Trump is not guaranteed. They have been making the rules up as they go, while keeping the nation in the dark and selectively leaking hand-picked sentences and phrases to the mainstream media to perpetuate their chosen narrative. They have done irreversible harm to the process and this institution. Their actions have truly been reprehensible. But it doesn’t seem to matter to them – they want to take President Trump down – no matter the cost.”

Background:

House Democrats have been engaged in a secret and illegitimate impeachment inquiry, without transparency, due process, or fairness in the darkness of the basement Capitol. Now, they are attempting to use damaged evidence – gathered in secret hearings, where witnesses have been urged to not answer Republicans’ questions – to further their agenda to overthrow the President.

The House Democrat “impeachment” resolution:

• Fails to provide the minority and the Trump Administration with the same due process rights which have been afforded in past presidential impeachments.
• The procedures for the Nixon and Clinton impeachment inquiries gave both the Chairman, and Ranking Member the authority to issue subpoenas, acting jointly or unilaterally, while this resolution only permits the Ranking Member to issue a subpoena with the permission of the Chairman. 
• Ranking Members do not have the ability to check the authority of the Chairman to issue subpoenas, however in previous inquiries, the Rankers had the ability to put the decision before the entire committee.
• The President’s Counsel will be prevented from reviewing all of the evidence of the HPSCI investigation by allowing Chairman Schiff to selectively send to Judiciary the evidence that is best suited to his narrative while discarding evidence that doesn’t fit his case.
• Nothing in the resolution will provide due process for the President in the current HPSCI investigation and nothing forces Chairman Schiff to make public the materials and testimony gathered through their investigation, preventing the American public from viewing all of the evidence.
• Only after Judiciary receives the tainted report from the HPSCI investigation is the President’s counsel allowed to participate, and that is subject to Chairman Nadler revoking those privileges if he so chooses.

Under House Rules, Congressman Duncan should have access to materials and documents pertaining to the “impeachment inquiry,” so he wrote to the committees requesting access. He has yet to receive a response.

• Read the letter to Chairman Adam Schiff HERE.
• Read the letter to Chairman Eliot Engel HERE.
• Read the letter to Acting Chair Carolyn Maloney HERE.

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