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Letter from Nunes to Schiff with Minority Witness Requests Whistleblower Complaint on Ukraine (Kelly Smith, comp.) 1 (11/9/2019)

handle is hein.presidents/usgvtwht0143 and id is 1 raw text is: 


                      Congress of the Ilnitch S9tatres
                                U-ashingt1pon, DE~  201515


                                     November   9, 2019


 The Honorable Adam  Schiff
 Chairman
 Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
 U.S. House of Representatives
 Washington. DC  20515

 Dear Chairman Schiff:

       In March 2019, prior to unilaterally initiating an impeachment inquiry in the House of
Representatives, Speaker Pelosi said that impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless
there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan. I don't think we should go
down  that path because it divides the country.' Today, eight months after Speaker Pelosi's
statement, there is bipartisan opposition in the House of Representatives to pursuing
impeachment.2  Undeterred. Speaker Pelosi and you now plan to move your one-sided and purely
political impeachment inquiry from behind closed doors to open hearings next week.

       Speaker Pelosi promised the impeachment inquiry would treat the President with
fairness., You have failed to honor the Speaker's promise. During the Committee's last open
hearing. you fabricated evidence out of thin air to portray President Trump's telephone
conversation with President Zelensky in a sinister light.4 During your closed-door proceedings,
you offered no due process protections for the President. You directed witnesses called by the
Democrats  not to answer Republican questions. You withheld deposition transcripts from
Republican Members.  You  selectively leaked cherry-picked information to paint misleading
public narratives about the facts. You misled the American people about your interactions with
the anonymous  whistleblower. earning you Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post.5 Your
actions have greatly damaged the integrity of the Intelligence Committee and any legitimacy of
your impeachment  mquiry.

       Americans  see through this sham impeachment process. despite the Democrats' efforts to
retroactively legitimize it last week. The resolution that Democrats passed last week-over
bipartisan opposition-limits the rights of minority Members beyond those prescribed in the
House  Rules and prevents minority Members from fully and fairly participating in the
proceedings. While in traditional hearings the minority is permitted the ability to call a witness.
the resolution only allows minority Members to suggest a witness list and requires them to


Nicholas Fandos. Impeaching Trump Is Not Worth It,  Nancy Pelosi Says, N.Y. Times, Mar. 11, 2019.
H.  Res. 660, 116 Cong. (2019) (roll call vote 604).
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Transcript of Pelosi Weekly Press Conference Today (Oct. 2. 2019).
  1 Whistleblower Disclosure: Hearing of the H. Perm, Se/. Comm. on Inteligence, I 16th Cong. (2019) (statement
of Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman).
Glenn Kessler Schiff'sfalse claim his committee had not spoken to the whisdlelhower, Wash. Post, Oct. 4. 2019.


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