The first public hearings of the Democrats' "impeachment inquiry" are scheduled for this week and will start in front of the House Intelligence Committee Wednesday morning.
Two weeks ago Democrats laid out the rules, which put Chairman Adam Schiff in charge of calling hearings, determining who testifies, how long question and answer sessions will be, whether attorneys can be present, etc.
Over the weekend Republican lawmakers on the Committee officially submitted their witness requests, which includes the Ukraine call "whistleblower" and Hunter Biden. Schiff has rejected both. Other witness requests under consideration are Fusion GPS' Nellie Ohr, David Jale, and Burimsa board member Devon Archer.
"As we move to open hearings, it is important to underscore that the impeachment inquiry, and the Committee, will not serve as vehicles for any Member to carry out the same sham investigations into the Bidens or debunked conspiracies about 2016 U.S. election interence that President Trump pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit," a letter from Schiff to Ranking Intelligence Committee Member Devin Nunes states. "The Committee also will not facilitate efforts by President Trump and his allies in Congress to threaten, intimidate, and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm."
Republicans have officially requested Schiff testify in a closed door hearing as part of the inquiry. There are serious questions about his relationship with the "whistleblower" and why Schiff hid the official whistleblower complaint from fellow Committee members for nearly a month.
?? ??IMPT question - when did Adam Schiff have access to the complaint or any related information? The letter to Schiff and Burr was dated August 12th. Did Schiff have ANY access earlier than Committee & if yes, why did he not immediately share this with his Committee? ????
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) September 27, 2019
As a reminder, Schiff has a long history of leaking out-of-context and selective information from closed hearings. He's also infamous for making false statements on national television. A reminder:
Here's Adam Schiff in 2017 lying to everyone about all the "collusion" evidence that it turned out didn't exist. People who believe his hysteria this time around just want to be duped. https://t.co/byqxWlFXok
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) November 11, 2019
It's the Schiff show and we'll be covering it all.
Meanwhile, President Trump continues to call Schiff's fishing expedition a "sham."
The lawyer for the Whistleblower takes away all credibility from this big Impeachment Scam! It should be ended and the Whistleblower, his lawyer and Corrupt politician Schiff should be investigared for fraud!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019
Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. We haven’t even seen the documents and are restricted from (get this) having a lawyer. Republicans should put out their own transcripts! Schiff must testify as to why he MADE UP a statement from me, and read it to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019