Republicans Reportedly Want To Disrupt Impeachment Hearings, Interrogate Witnesses And Attack Whistleblower
On Saturday, President Donald Trump bragged that the Republican Party has never been more “unified,” attacking Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats, while repeating that he has done nothing wrong during his contacts with the Ukrainian government.
The president is not alone in his aggressive pushing back against impeachment. The GOP is indeed unified, and virtually every Republican in the United States Congress has unequivocally backed Trump, fighting back against the inquiry.
The House is yet to vote to impeach the president, however, and the GOP appears determined to discredit, slow down, and eventually destroy the investigation.
A new report from The Daily Beast details Republican efforts to derail and disrupt impeachment proceedings.
According to the report, the GOP is “preparing to unleash a counter-push to disrupt impeachment proceedings, discredit the whistleblower, and interrogate every person the whistleblower spoke with.”
According to lawmakers and aides who spoke to the publication, Republicans’ primary goal is to continue alleging that the entire impeachment process is a partisan effort to unseat Trump and that House Democrats are being “profoundly unfair” to both the president and his party.
Republicans reportedly want to focus on the whistleblower, discredit and attack the individual, while disrupting the whole process. They plan on calling for witnesses and interrogating everyone involved in the probe, including every single person the whistleblower spoke with.
Disruption will reportedly be one of GOP’s main tactics because the party wants to lower the public’s confidence in the inquiry by hammering away at procedural issues. By focusing on process and disrupting the hearings, Republican leaders reportedly believe, they will manage to derail the investigation and at the same time keep the president happy.
President Trump: "Where is the second whistleblower and why did Schiff make a lie when he said about what I said on the phone call?" pic.twitter.com/Txb2EGyq3d
— The Hill (@thehill) November 4, 2019
Jack Kingston, a former Republican representative who served in the House during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, said that the GOP has done a “decent job,” arguing that Republicans need more “activist” lawmakers in their ranks.
“Everyone was an activist during the Clinton thing on the Democratic side. Everybody needs to get off the bench and start talking about it,” Kingston explained.
Devin Nunes of California, Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Doug Collins of Georgia, and Jim Jordan of Ohio have done a good job defending the president, according to Kingston.
According to the Daily Beast, Republicans will also aim to change the narrative around impeachment, making it about former Vice President Joe Biden’s alleged corruption. A number of Obama administration officials will be summoned to testify if everything goes according to the GOP’s plan, and lawmakers will continue pushing Trump’s allegations about Biden to the forefront.
