Dems: We're going to start an impeachment inquiry
GOP: Holding private hearings is illegal, we're being excluded, and President Trump's due process rights are being violated!
Dems: (checking notes) This is the process you set up in 2015 when you re-wrote the rules for the Benghazi hearings. Private hearings, only committee members allowed in the room.
GOP: But you're excluding us from the process!
Dems: (checking notes again) Republican committee members can attend these hearings and ask questions, as can their counsel. No one is on the committees is being excluded. There are about 47 members of your caucus that have full access.
GOP: This is a sham! The House never voted to authorize this inquiry!
Dems: (checking Constitution and statutes) We're not required to do that.
GOP: There's precedent from the last two impeachment inquiries!
Dems: OK, we'll take a vote, and we'll even give Trump more due process than either Nixon or Clinton got.
GOP: We vote no.
Seriously - NO ONE has a right to due process during the investigation and possible indictment, which is what impeachment is all about. Due process - if it applies - happens during the trial. The Fifth Amendment is very specific about the right to due process - it's when a defendant in a criminal or civil case is facing the loss of life, liberty, or property. Impeachment is a political process; the defendant isn't facing ANY of those - the maximum penalty is removal from office. The Constitution allows the Senate to determine its own rules for an impeachment trial, and although a Republican Senate will give Trump every break it can, due process ia not a requirement. |