House Republicans have continually pushed back against Democrats and their impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. One of the biggest issues the GOP had with this entire saga – besides the fact that the saga is entirely partisan and a witch hunt based on emotions, not fact – is the lack of due process. Democrats started this impeachment process without allowing Republicans to have any say in what was taking place.
Republicans couldn't call witnesses or issue subpoenas.
The Democrats finally decided to allow Republicans to issue subpoenas and interrogatories, although House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NJ) has to approve them. And we know how that will work.
"First and foremost, the first person that needs to testify is Adam Schiff," Collins said. "Adam Schiff is the author of this report. Adam Schiff is the author of many things, a lot of them found to be false the past couple years. But he knew the author of this report. He's compared himself to a special counsel in the past. This is what he said he was doing."
"When we go back to Clinton and even Nixon, Ken Starr was a special counsel, he presented a report that we're going to get in the Judiciary [Committee]. He came and sat and testified under oath and took questions from all sides, including the White House," Collins explained. "My first and foremost witness is Adam Schiff."
According to Collins, Schiff has "put himself in the position" he's in, which is why he needs to come before the various Committees to testify and be cross-examined.
"If [Schiff] chooses not to, the only question is veracity and what he's putting in his report. I question his motives and why he's doing this," the Judiciary Committee's Ranking Member explained. "It's easy to hide behind a report. It's easy to hide behind a gavel in Intelligence Committee's behind closed-door hearings but it's going to be another thing to get up and have to answer questions about what his staff knew, how he knew, what he knew about the whistleblower report, his interactions that he's had with the Ukraine... and also why he has not released documents to our Committee and reports to our Committee that we need to actually proceed in our Committee, the Judiciary Committee, which is the Committee of impeachment."
Collins brought up one other point: if the Democrats truly believe they have found Trump committed impeachable offenses, why won't Schiff and Intelligence Democrats hand that information over to the Judiciary Committee?
"Give us all the materials and don't let Jerry Nadler write a crazy letter that says on the sixth let us. know who your witnesses are," Collins said. "We don't even have the information from the Intel Committee yet. That's why this is a problematic exercise and a made-for-tv event coming on Wednesday."
Democrats want to be able to say they gave Republicans the ability to call witnesses and issue subpoenas yet they refuse to hand over the very documents their counterparts need in order to issue said subpoenas.
The Democrats botched this process from the beginning. We knew it was going to be a mess when they launched their inquiry before Trump released the transcript of his call. They doubled down when the Democrats voted, along party lines, weeks down the road to officially begin the process that they had already started.
Buckle up, folks. This is just another bumpy ride on the impeachment train.
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