Collins Warns Nadler About Rules Of Conduct In Upcoming ‘Mock-Impeachment Inquiry’
12:22 AM 06/09/2019 | Politics
Kerry Picket | Reporter
WASHINGTON—House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins on Friday accused Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler of scheduling a “mock impeachment inquiry†of the president for Monday as opposed to a legitimate congressional oversight hearing.
The upcoming hearing titled “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes†is expected to include testimony from Watergate key witness John Dean along with other legal experts to drive the obstruction narrative for Democrats. However, former special counsel Robert Mueller will not be a witness.
According to Collins, House Judiciary Democrats scheduled what appears to be an impeachment inquiry without officially launching an impeachment inquiry but have no plans to abide by long-standing House Rules. Collins reminded Nadler in a letter that outside an official impeach inquiry, members are restricted from accusing the president of a crime.
Collins wrote in a letter to the chairman:
The fact you are attempting to make the case for starting an impeachment inquiry has no bearing on the applicability of the Rules. Outside of such an inquiry, Members are prohibited from accusing the President of a crime or alluding to potential impeachable offenses. Jefferson’s Manual further states:
Although wide latitude is permitted in debate on a proposition to impeach the President, Members must abstain from language personally offensive; and Members must abstain from comparisons to the personal conduct of sitting Members of the House or Senate. Furthermore, when impeachment is not the pending business on the floor, Members may not refer to evidence of alleged impeachable offenses by the President contained in a communication from an independent counsel pending before a House committee, although they may refer to the communication, itself, within the confines of proper decorum in debate, and may not otherwise suggest that the President has done something worthy of censure or impeachment.
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https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/09/collins-nadler-rules-trump-impeachment/