The House has made much progress on impeachment — now only days away from a full floor vote — but the partisan battle lines haven’t moved an inch.
After more than two months of investigations and weeks hearings, Republicans and Democrats stuck to their scripts Thursday as the House Judiciary Committee prepared to sign off on two articles of impeaching against President Trump.
The Republican lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee continued to gripe about the unfair process and not having a day dedicated to the minority party to call witnesses to defend the president.
They also continued to rail against the Democrats’ articles of impeachment, saying neither the charge of abuse of power nor obstruction of Congress qualify under the high crime or misdemeanor standard dictated by the Constitution for impeaching a president.
Rep. Steven Chabot, Ohio Republican, said those charges are “vague and ambiguous.”
“This president isn’t even accused of committing a crime,” he said.
SEE ALSO: Jerry Nadler rejects Republican demands for minority hearing on impeachment
Democrats, though, countered that Republicans aren’t standing up for the Constitution and are simply falling in line with Mr. Trump, afraid to challenge him.
They returned to double down on their argument that the facts of their case are uncontested by several of the key witnesses that testified as part of the inquiry — something Republicans continue to reject.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, California Democrat, said the president committed bribery. Bribery, though, is not one of the charges outlined in the articles of impeachment.
“How about the highest crime that one who holds public office could commit? Crime against our Constitution,” Mr. Swalwell said.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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