WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC/KOBI) – For only the fourth time in history, Congress is moving forward with a formal impeachment investigation of a president.
“What is at stake in all of this is nothing less than our Democracy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
The House voted Thursday to take the investigation into President Trump into a public phase.
The resolution outlining the process permits public hearings, allows staff attorneys to question witnesses, and enables the president or his counsel to participate in the proceedings.
Republicans and the president have complained about a process that has so far played out behind closed doors.
The proceedings will largely focus on the controversial call between President Trump the president of Ukraine, and questions of whether there was an abuse of power when in pressuring a foreign country to dig up dirt on a political rival in exchange for military aid.
Representative Greg Walden (R-OR) provided the following statement after the vote:
“This has been a flawed process all along. It has lacked transparency and barred most Members of Congress, myself included, from being able to access testimony from witnesses. H. Res. 660 falls short of addressing the inequities in this partisan process and departs significantly from past resolutions on impeachment inquiries by failing to give both sides an equal role in the investigation. If you are going to overturn a vote of the American people, it must be a fair and just process. This investigation has been neither and this resolution is just another step in the overly partisan effort to impeach the President that started the day he was elected.”
Read more: https://nbcnews.to/335qgON
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.