House Lawyers Spar with Each Other and Lawmakers at Judiciary Committee Impeachment Hearing
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WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee has made the first move since Speaker Nancy Pelosi's announcement on moving forward with drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump.
While those articles are expected to be released later this week, Democrats and Republicans on Monday took what could be their final opportunity to plead their cases to the public.
For the House part of this impeachment process, the end could soon be near. Both sides hope to finish strong and win in the coveted court of public opinion as they plead their cases.
The Judiciary Committee heard testimony from both Democrat and Republican lawyers involved in the Intelligence Committee's hearings. As was expected, the testimony was split along party lines.
"President Trump's actions are an impeachable offense," Barry Berke, Democrat counsel told the committee.
"To impeach a president who 63 million American people voted for over eight lines in a call transcript is baloney," countered Steve Castor, GOP counsel.
Tensions flared between lawmakers at many points throughout the day's hearings.
"For the next four hours, you're going to try to overturn the results of an election with unelected people giving testimony," said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Republicans accused Democrats of denying the minority a hearing day and not following proper procedure.
"This is not appropriate to have a witness be a questioner of someone who was just a witness," said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).
President Trump turned up the heat over the weekend - sharing more than 100 tweets on Sunday alone defending himself.
Witch Hunt! https://t.co/JIJk7l5TAX
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2019
Republicans so far remain unified in their support of the president, claiming this is all just an attempt to overturn the 2016 election results.
"I think we'll be unified," said Rep. Dan Bishop, (R-NC). "I think it'll only be bipartisan in being opposed. That is to say, I think we'll see some Democrats vote no, and I think you'll see the Democrats that vote yes will have some serious questions to answer to their constituents."
The House Judiciary Committee is likely to draft and vote on articles of impeachment by the end of this week. Next, they will move to the House floor and could be voted on just before Christmas.
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