House Republicans demand transparency from Democrats' impeachment inquiry

Traanscribed from Fox News' 6PM Special Report evening news panel discussion, Oct 23, 2019:

 Quote:
REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: Behind those doors they intend to overturn the results of an American presidential election. We want to know what's going on.

REP. TED LIEU, D-CALIF.: They are trying to be disruptive because the facts are not on their side. The law is not on their side.

REP. MARK MEADOWS, R-N.C.: The fundamental question is a question of fairness, and especially on the most important vote that many members will take.



REP. ERIC SWALWELL, D-CALIF.: They are doing this because this is what the guilty do. Innocent people cooperate with investigations. Innocent people follow the rules of the House. People who are doing this are clearly doing it at the behest of the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Dramatic images up on Capitol Hill today as House Republicans, I guess, took the advice of President Trump and decided to step up, and in this case tried to get into a hearing where there was a deposition of a deputy assistant secretary of defense, Laura Cooper, first career official to testify from the Pentagon. The DOD had tried to block Cooper from appearing before the deposition. The House Intel Committee issued a subpoena. She complied to testify. She had assumed responsibility for policy concerning Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and western Balkans.

But the scene was these Republicans storming in, causing a big scene on Capitol Hill today. Let's bring in our panel, "Washington Post" columnist Marc Thiessen, Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio, Susan Ferrechio, Chief Congressional Correspondent for the "Washington Examiner," and Steve Hayes, editor of "The Dispatch."

Susan, first to you. The scene today kind of a little different up on Capitol Hill.

SUSAN FERRECHIO, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Right, although I will argue the case here that there has been building discontent. I'm not sure Trump is really behind all this. Republicans have become increasingly frustrated with being shut out of the process. Today you had a witness testify about spending security aid, an employee of the Defense Department, the assistant secretary, yet members of the Armed Service Committee were not in there. In fact they don't have access to the transcripts in this instance.

Now, this was a deposition, so the Democrats argue all depositions are handled this way. But the overarching argument against that is this is about the impeachment of the president of the United States. So you pull back the scope a little bit and look at it and say, why shouldn't this be open to the press? Why shouldn't it be open to the public? That is the case Republicans are making today, and they have been getting increasingly upset about it as the weeks have gone on and witness after witness has come and gone from the Capitol without any of them hearing it.

BAIER: What about that argument, Marc? Is that a powerful argument for Republicans to make? It's a process argument that is made in Washington, but there is substance that is being leaked out, but we are not really seeing the Q and A part of some of these depositions.

MARC THIESSEN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Americans care about fairness, so if the process is not fair, then of course it's an effective argument. Swalwell was just quoted on your show saying that guilty people don't behave this way. People who are interested in an impartial investigation aimed at finding the truth don't behave the way the Democrats are doing. And just in that example, the room they were storming the room was a SCIF, a secure compartmented facility that is designed for accepting classified information. Yesterday Bill Taylor testified there, and his testimony was leaked as cell phone photographs of his testimony out of this secure compartmented facility. It's ridiculous.

And on top of that, the Democrats criticized Donald Trump for putting the Zelensky transcript on a secure server that was reserved for highly classified information, yet they are using a secure compartmented facility to prevent people from being able to get access to the information that is being given in the deposition. It is total hypocrisy.

BAIER: Which is unclassified, we should point out.

THIESSEN: Yes, most of it is not classified. So why are they doing it in a SCIF? Have it in a hearing room.



In other words, House Democrats keep "secure" what they don't want known with closed-door testimony. And then they leak what is advantageous to Dems to their pals in the media, despite that it was in closed-door SCIF testimony!
And as I said, this testimony was back in October, and the transcript from intelligence community inspector general (I C I G) Michael Atkinson's testimony has >>>STILL<<< not been released to Republicans. Clearly revealing something behind closed doors the Democrats don't want Republicans to know.

The highlighted portions are by a Washington Exaaminer news reporter. It is and was common knowledge that Republican committee members were not permitted to hear testimony firsthand, and had to wait for transcripts long after.
Rep Lee Zeldin (R-NY) said that even when the transcripts were given to him 2 or 3 weeks later, they were incomplete, and he was deprived of being able to see the witnesses and observe their body language during questions firsthand.

Whatever liberal-controlled "Factcheck" and "Politifact" sites allege, it was and is common knowledge that Republican House members were excluded from testimony, and had to wait for testimony transcripts, usually several weeks after the actual closed-door testimony of witnesses. And in the case of Atkinsson's testimony, never received at all.

My point is that there was a very tight lid on Republican access to firsthand testimony, where Democrats would only permit them to read testimony in transcripts after-the-fact. If they were permitted to read testimony before transcripts were given them weeks later, they would have to go in a special room with a Democrat standing with them watching them all the time. Even in cases where Judiciary committee member Republicans were permitted to attend they could not take notes, and Republican committee members of related committees like the Armed Services committee were not allowed to enter the SCIF and watch testimony.
EVEN AS DEMOCRATS WERE ABLE TO LEAK ANYTHING THEY WANTED KNOWN, TO REPORTERS WAITING EAGERLY OUTSIDE FOR PRECISELY THAT PURPOSE!