Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large
Updated 7:37 PM ET, Wed December 4, 2019
(CNN) On Wednesday morning, the House Judiciary Committee convened its first hearing in the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump — bringing in four constitutional lawyers to debate what, exactly, constitutes “high crimes and misdemeanors” and whether the President had committed any of those acts.
I watched the hearing and identified key moments and takeaways in real time. They’re below.
It was a looooong day.
It became clear within the first five minutes of the hearing that Republicans were committed to trying to gum up the works using a variety of parliamentary stall tactics. Within the first 90 minutes of the hearing, Republicans forced roll call votes of the 41 members on the committee three times — once to try to force Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, to testify, once to postpone the hearings and a third time to force the so-called “whistleblower” to testify. While all those motions were voted down — as will all such future motions offered by Republicans on Wednesday — they had the desired slow-down effect nonetheless.
Continued
PolarParty
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/04/politics/house-judiciary-committee-impeachment-hearing-moments-takeaways/index.html