[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 172 (Wednesday, October 30, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6262-S6263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, speaking of impeachment, yesterday, 
House Democrats released their much-hyped resolution, which was 
advertised as bringing fairness and due process into Speaker Pelosi's 
and Chairman Schiff's closed-door, partisan inquiry. Unfortunately, the 
draft resolution that has been released does nothing of the sort. It 
falls way short--way short.
  As I have said repeatedly, an impeachment inquiry is about the most 
solemn and serious process the House of Representatives can embark 
upon. It seeks to effectively nullify Democratic elections and cancel 
out the American people's choice of a Commander in Chief.
  For that reason, any such inquiry must be conducted by the highest 
standards of fairness and due process. But thus far, this time around, 
instead of setting a high bar, House Democrats seem determined to set a 
new low.
  Speaker Pelosi has initiated a bizarre process, starting with the 
fact that she began it with a press conference instead of a proper vote 
of the House. The process seems to be treating Chairman Schiff as 
though he were a de facto special prosecutor, notwithstanding the fact 
that he is a partisan Member of Congress whose strange behavior has 
already included fabricating a lengthy quotation and attributing it to 
President Trump during an official hearing, which he was chairing.
  House Democrats' inquiry thus far has been conducted behind closed 
doors. They have denied their Republican counterparts privileges that 
Democrats received during the Clinton impeachment when they were in the 
minority. Unlike during the inquiries around both President Clinton and 
President Nixon, they have denied President Trump basic due process 
rights and are cutting his counsel out of the process in an 
unprecedented way.
  House Democrats' new resolution does not change any of that. It does 
not

[[Page S6263]]

confer on President Trump the most basic rights of due process or, 
seemingly, alter Chairman Schiff's unfair process in the House 
Intelligence Committee in any way whatsoever.
  Chairman Schiff can continue doing this behind closed doors without 
the President's participation, so long as he holds at least one public 
hearing at some point. He is not even required to make all the evidence 
he obtains public. He alone gets to decide what evidence goes in his 
report. And the resolution doesn't even give the President any rights 
in the public hearing that it requires Chairman Schiff to hold.
  The resolution merely seems to contemplate that maybe--maybe--someday 
in the future, at some other phase of this, due process might--might--
finally kick in, but only if the House Judiciary Committee feels like 
holding hearings and calling its own witnesses--in other words, no due 
process now, maybe some later, but only if we feel like it.
  ``No due process now, maybe some later, but only if we feel like it'' 
is not even close to fair. ``No due process now, maybe some later, but 
only if we feel like it'' is not a standard that should ever be applied 
to any American, and it should not be applied here to the President of 
the United States.
  I understand that many House Democrats made up their minds on 
impeachment years ago, but our basic norms of justice do not evaporate 
just because Washington Democrats have already made up their minds.

                          ____________________