After a long and contentious markup session Thursday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler announced the panel would recess and vote on the articles of impeachment against President Trump Friday morning.
"It is now very late at night," Nadler said. "I want the members on both sides of the aisle to think about what has happened over these last two days, and to search their consciences before we cast their final votes. Therefore, the committee will now stand in recess until tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., at which point I will move to divide the question so that each of us may have the opportunity to cast up-or-down votes on each of the articles of impeachment, and let history be our judge."
Nadler’s announcement came shortly before midnight and after more than 14 hours of debate, leading to “an audible gasp from both the audience and the Republicans on the dais,” The Hill reports.
Ranking Member Doug Collins lashed out at Nadler for his unannounced and sudden delay.
"Mr. Chairman, there was no consulting with the ranking member on your schedule for tomorrow -- you just blew up schedules for everyone?" asked a livid Collins. "You chose not to consult the ranking member on a scheduling issue of this magnitude? This is the kangaroo court we're talking about. Not even consult? Not even consult? 10 a.m. tomorrow?"
He continued to vent to reporters:
“This is why people don't like us,” he said. “This crap like this is why people are having such a terrible opinion of Congress. What Chairman Nadler just did, and his staff, and the rest of the majority who sat there quietly and said nothing, this is why they don't like us. They know it's all about games. It's all about the TV screens. They want the primetime hit. This is Speaker Pelosi and Adam Schiff and the others directing this committee. I don't have a chairman anymore. I guess I need to just go straight to Ms. Pelosi and say, what TV hit does this committee need to do? This committee has lost all relevance. I'll see y'all tomorrow."
Chairman Jerry Nadler just pulled a fast one on House Judiciary Republicans. We were expecting to vote on Articles of Impeachment in Committee tonight before he recessed until tomorrow.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) December 13, 2019
This is yet another of a long line of bad-faith, dishonest dealings by the Democrats. pic.twitter.com/wvPs4XE1rF
Democrats lie so reflexively they can't even be honest about scheduling impeachment votes.
— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) December 13, 2019
How can anyone trust them about the claims in their actual impeachment articles?
GOP Rep. Andy Biggs called Nadler's "pulled a fast one," explaining that Democrats don't want to vote for both articles at one time, "they want to let some of their members vote yes and some vote no so they can trick their voters into believing that they were really thoughtful about this whole thing. It's been a travesty."
Chairman Jerry Nadler just pulled a fast one on House Judiciary Republicans. We were expecting to vote on Articles of Impeachment in Committee tonight before he recessed until tomorrow.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) December 13, 2019
This is yet another of a long line of bad-faith, dishonest dealings by the Democrats. pic.twitter.com/wvPs4XE1rF
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