Just as the House Intelligence Committee is about to take a vote on its impeachment report, House Republicans have put together a report of their own.
House Republicans did a rather well-timed release of a 123-page report outlining the testimony that was given during the hearings and concluded, “The evidence presented does not prove any of these Democrat allegations, and none of the Democrats’ witnesses testified to having evidence of bribery, extortion, or any high crime or misdemeanor.”
Schiff Upset
Needless to say, the report did not go over well with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
By his response, you can tell he feels as though House Republicans are undermining his efforts to impeach Trump.
He did his best to dismantle the report before anyone ever put eyes on it.
Schiff stated, “The Minority’s rebuttal document, intended for an audience of one, ignores voluminous evidence that the president used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rival by withholding military aid and a White House meeting the President of Ukraine desperately sought.
“In so doing, the President undermined our national security and the integrity of our elections.
“Tellingly, the Minority dismisses this as just part of the President’s ‘outside the beltway’ thinking.
“It is more accurately, outside the law and constitution, and a violation of his oath of office.”
Impeachment Falling Apart
The Democrats have banked everything on the aid to Ukraine being held back for political reasons.
However, they have yet to actually prove this was the case.
Every piece of evidence and testimony they have provided thus far is what people think, not actual fact.
The transcript of the call did mention the investigations, but there was clearly never any pressure put on Zelensky by Trump to conduct those investigations or risk losing his aid.
Additionally, there is documentation proving that Trump wanted to ensure Zelensky was moving forward with the anti-corruption platform he promised.
When that evaluation came in, the aid was released.
Democrats might have a case that Trump violated certain protocols, but that is about as far as this will ever get.
They could make an argument that Trump should be censured, but I really don’t see this getting much further than that.
This is something several House Democrats have already mentioned they would support while at the same time saying based on the testimony thus far, they just don’t think it is an impeachable offense.
As I have stated many times, this is nothing more than a power grab and even some House Democrats are finally realizing it.