The editors of the Washington Post remark on the complaints about the “Star Chamber hearings” regarding the Houses “impeachment inquiry”:
Lawmakers lack a voluminous investigative record like independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s 1998 report. They must do their own basic investigating, which is why it makes sense to hold some hearings behind closed doors. Investigators don’t want witnesses to play for the cameras or dishonestly align their testimony with that of earlier witnesses. Classified material may be discussed. Republicans, in their incessant and fruitless investigations of Hillary Clinton and the 2012 Benghazi attacks, held many closed hearings — and insisted they were the most useful.
Moreover, Republican legislators are present at all of these closed-door sessions and are free to pose questions. In fact, the rules allowed many of those who stormed Wednesday’s testimony to enter the room in a civilized fashion if they so chose. The impression Republicans tried to convey, of Democrats cooking up an illegitimate indictment of the president while locking all others out of the room, is a partisan fantasy.
Marginally more persuasive was a memo Senate Republicans released Thursday complaining that the full House had not formally voted on conducting an impeachment inquiry and that Mr. Trump is not allowed counsel in the room. Neither is required by the Constitution or House rules. But holding a vote would add legitimacy, and, more to the point, the sooner House investigators move from closed hearings to open ones, the better. Citizens should learn the scope and gravity of the president’s misdeeds so they can form their own conclusions. House leaders should release transcripts of closed hearings, consistent with the protection of classified material, as soon as possible.
which approximates my view. Even if a full vote of the House on the inquiry is not required it would be prudent. The more open, methodical, and non-agonistic the House Democrats are in their inquiry, the more likely they are to garner support and the less likely they are to ensure what is, presumably, the opposite of what they want—that President Trump remain in office rather than being removed from it.
The Republicans marching into that room was a stunt. Of course it was. It is also a recognition that they are involved in a knife fight in a closet, not the debating society. Impeachment is a political process, driven by public opinion where most people read headlines and react to soundbites. Only the paid spinners and political junkies read the fine print.
When the opposition fights like a crazed, cornered animal but you insist on adherence to the Queensbury Rules you will be carried out as a corpse.
The House has always been pretty rough and tumble. Note the connection among the present goings-on, the incident linked, and the possibility of civil war I mentioned in my post today. What’s going on is not benign or merely symbolic.
I think that everybody should dial it back a notch.
Reality TV Congress to go along with reality TV POTUS. The GOP has members involved in the private meetings. They are not secret. This was a stunt for TV. So we get no governance or leadership. The Democrats hold private hearings exactly like the GOP did, and the GOP goes crazy, but that is what plays well on reality TV. Jerry Springer anyone? (Is there anything Drew won’t defend?)
Steve