Pascrell Votes In Favor Of Impeachment Inquiry

ENGLEWOOD, NJ — The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved eight pages of procedures to take the impeachment inquiry against President Trump to nationally broadcast public hearings.

Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat representing New Jersey's 9th Congressional District, was among those who voted in favor.

The resolution defining the scope of the next phase of the inquiry was approved mainly along party lines, 232-196.

Pascrell released a statement following the vote:

"No Democrat or Republican wanted to ever reach this point. Throughout the 116th Congress, the House has been unrelenting in investigating corruption in this administration. But in the face of unprecedented obstruction of justice, we have passed the point where oversight by itself is enough. The outrages of this administration have not abated, but instead accelerated by a failure to constrain them. The gravity of these acts and the threat to our Constitution requires us to commence an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump to determine if he must be removed from office.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s patience and farsightedness has allowed us to reach this point. Her leadership is irreplaceable at this dark moment in our history, and I am thankful for it. Our inquiry will be objective and thorough. We will find the truth and lay it all out for the American public. We’re ready."

The House will move ahead with impeachment proceedings against Trump after a government whistleblower’s claims the president used the power of his office to solicit a foreign government to influence the 2020 U.S. election. Much of the testimony and documents released after the claim have supported the whistleblower’s account.

The impeachment effort has focused on three panels — Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight and Reform. In closed-door hearings that included Republicans on the committees, investigations have centered on how Trump urged Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, now running for president, while withholding nearly $400 million in military aid.

An investigation by the Judiciary Committee has focused on possible obstruction of justice by the president, based on episodes described in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Provisions in the resolution allow Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the Intelligence committee’s chairman, and Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the panel's top Republican, to each question witnesses for up to 90 minutes or delegate their time to staffers before rank-and-file lawmakers each ask questions for five minutes.

Republicans on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees could subpoena witnesses and documents, subject to the chairman’s approval, and Republicans could ask for a committee vote.

The vote came as Tim Morrison, Trump's former top adviser for Russian and European affairs, arrived on Capitol Hill to testify before the House. Morrison, who left his job Wednesday, served on the National Security Council and is the first White House political appointee to testify.

His testimony was scheduled behind closed doors, but he could provide information that is central to the push to remove Trump from office. Specifically, he will be asked to explain the "sinking feeling" he said he got when Trump demanded Ukraine's president investigate former Biden and his son over business dealings in Ukraine.

The resolution approved Thursday directs the House Intelligence Committee to hold the public hearings and write a report that will be handed off to the House Judiciary Committee, which would then draft articles of impeachment.

If the House moves forward, the Republican-controlled Senate would decide whether to remove Trump from office.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com