A resolution to formalize how the House of Representatives proceeds forward on an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s actions while in office was released to the public on Tuesday, with a vote on the matter slated to take place on Thursday.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced on Monday that such a vote would take place, HillReporter.com previously reported.
In a letter to Democratic colleagues in the House, Pelosi wrote that the vote would establish “the procedure for hearings that are open to the American people, authorizes the disclosure of deposition transcripts, outlines procedures to transfer evidence to the Judiciary Committee as it considers potential articles of impeachment, and sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel.”
Pelosi also wrote in her letter on Monday that the vote on Thursday was not to authorize the impeachment inquiry, which Democrats have asserted previously did not require a full House vote. The resolution released on Tuesday also makes clear that it’s not an authorization of the inquiry, but rather a roadmap for how it will be conducted in the future.
The eight-page-long document (PDF), officially submitted by Rules Committee Chair Rep. James McGovern (D-Massachusetts), directs committees involved in the process “to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach” President Donald Trump.
BREAKING: House Democrats release text of resolution that will detail their procedures as they move forward with the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. https://t.co/Mf5TMnhohw
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 29, 2019
The resolution would grant House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff the ability to conduct open hearings, and allows for the ranking Republican member, Rep. Devin Nunes, to subpoena witnesses, provided he submits justification for doing so relevant to the inquiry.
Additionally, the House resolution would include the Judiciary Committee into the inquiry. Previously, the impeachment inquiry was limited to just three committees, CNBC reported — Oversight, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence.