House Dems defying procedure

Democrats have spent the past few months holding hearings to impeach the President of the United States.

Their hearings, held behind closed doors in the basement of the Capitol, have been shut off to the press and the American people.

They’ve been shut off to the President, who has not been allowed to have his lawyers present to defend his case. This is not how impeachment proceedings have taken place in the past nor how they should be held.

Both Presidents Nixon and Clinton were subject to an extended, independent legal investigation by the Department of Justice before their impeachment hearings in the House began.

Last week, House Democrats have chosen instead to rely on House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a highly partisan elected official, to run the investigation.

The difference in the way things are being done cannot be overstated.

If Democrats wanted a legitimate review of the facts, they would have called for the appointment of a Special Counsel instead of sending House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to her podium to announce their new impeachment inquiry.

The truly sad thing about this charade is that it’s clear Democrats don’t want to hold a fair process.

They have spent hours after every single one of these closed-door hearings reciting cherry-picked lines from the testimony to sway public opinion in favor of impeaching the president.

If they had any desire for a legitimate process, they wouldn’t be leaking information from hearings they said needed to be classified.

All of this is to say the Democrats have carried out their attempt to impeach President Trump in as sloppy a way anyone could imagine.

The drama they’ve created will continue its ups and downs, but I’ve maintained my position since the beginning of this debacle.

The American people should be the ones deciding their president in the 2020 election.

House Democrats will pay the price for trying to take that choice away from them.

Lance Gooden is the U.S. Representative for Texas’s Fifth Congressional District. He previously served in the Texas House of Representatives for District 4.