Unsurprisingly, the “authorized” public stage of the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry isn’t looking much different from what came before. As Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) releases transcripts of testimony given behind closed doors, Republicans say the Democrat is cherry-picking witnesses and releasing documents out of order for maximum anti-Trump spin, the Washington Examiner reported.
For weeks, Republicans have accused Schiff of selectively leaking testimony from the hearings to fabricate a false narrative about President Donald Trump and Ukraine. Republicans failed in several efforts to formally censure or discipline Schiff, who has gained almost total control over the impeachment inquiry as it enters a public stage.
“Manipulated propaganda”
Days after Democrats voted to formalize the impeachment and establish procedures for public hearings, Schiff released transcripts from testimony given by Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and Michael McKinley, a former aide of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Schiff has said that he will release testimony from Trump’s former envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, and former ambassador to the European Union, Gordan Sondland, on Tuesday.
Yovanovitch, who has said that she was pushed out by the Trump administration, was praised by Schiff and the media for being one of the first State Department witnesses to defy the White House in what some have called a “revolt” against Trump and Pompeo. But Republicans say that Schiff should have released the testimony from Volker and Sondland first, since they were deposed first in the inquiry, and that Schiff is intentionally switching up the order because the testimony from Volker and Sondland was not damaging to Trump.
“Why pick these two?” asked Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC). “These are two of the most disconnected depositions as it relates to impeachment allegations.”
Reacting to the transcripts’ release, Trump said that Republicans should “give their own transcripts of the interviews to contrast with Schiff’s manipulated propaganda.” Republicans have echoed those fears, saying that Schiff will release transcripts in a calculated fashion to paint a damaging media narrative for Trump.
Indeed, Schiff’s gesture at “transparency” has done little to mollify Republicans, who have accused Schiff of trying to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors in a one-sided “kangaroo court.” As evidence, Republicans point to the shadowy nature of the process, Schiff’s false impression of President Trump’s phone call with Ukraine, as well as the Democrat’s foreknowledge of the “whistleblower” and his complaint, which led Republicans to suggest that the complaint was coordinated between the CIA officer and Schiff or members of his staff.
Too far gone?
Schiff may see in Yovanovitch’s testimony a neat starting point for the narrative that President Trump compromised foreign policy (how could that be possible, anyway, when the president sets foreign policy?) by seeking to have Ukraine investigate Joe Biden through a “back channel” that attacked Yovanovitch in a “smear campaign.” Speaking to reporters Monday, Schiff said that Yovanovitch “is one of the first witnesses to this irregular backchannel that the president established with Rudy Giuliani and the damage that it was doing to America’s national security and foreign policy interests.”
Democrats claim that witnesses in their inquiry have corroborated the whistleblower’s complaint, even as Schiff and other Democrats sought to keep the whistleblower from testifying. Meanwhile, Republicans say that the transcript of Trump’s phone call with Ukraine is enough to establish that he did nothing wrong, that Schiff and his fellow Democrats are afraid of having the whistleblower exposed because their narrative is false, and that the “brave witnesses” who are “stepping forward” to testify against Trump are actually anti-Trump bureaucrats with an axe to grind.
The transcripts’ release comes after Democrats sought to legitimize the inquiry by voting to establish ground rules and pave the way for public hearings. But Republicans reacted to last week’s impeachment rules vote by claiming that it was too little, too late to establish “transparency” in a process already too far gone in partisanship.
Political power play
Indeed, Republicans have said that the impeachment vote merely gives Schiff greater power over the impeachment process while denying Republicans an independent right to call witnesses. It also gives Schiff the authority to release transcripts, but does not require him to do so, and it also does not specify that he must release all transcripts or release them in order.
Republicans are planning to have Schiff testify as a “fact witness” once the inquiry reaches the Judiciary panel, whose ranking member Doug Collins (R-GA) has challenged Schiff to answer questions about his staff’s contacts with the whistleblower. Meanwhile, Trump and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are calling on the media to confirm the identity of the so-called whistleblower.
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