Rep. John Ratcliffe said Friday he's eager for public hearings to begin in the impeachment inquiry hearings for President Donald Trump, and he thinks House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff should be the first to testify as a material witness.
"I don't know who the Democrats would bring forward, because there hasn't been any witness who has credibly put forth any information that would support that something illegal happened on the call," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "Witness after witness that the Democrats have brought in have expressed concerns about the policy of Donald Trump but can't articulate any high crimes or impeachable offenses."
Meanwhile, the Democrats' resolution for rules to take the inquiry public, they gave Schiff the most authority in the impeachment process moving forward, said Ratcliffe.
"Schiff is someone who has tried to impeach the president now three times," said Ratcliffe. "The first time he accused the president of treason and said he had evidence to support collusion with Russia. That wasn't true. Then he said we should impeach the president because he obstructed justice and promised Bob Mueller would breathe life into that until Mueller said it was under a burden of proof that didn't exist."
And now, Schiff is pushing a "fake impeachment effort" through information provided by a whistleblower who first met with Schiff's staff, said Ratcliffe, but he won't release the inspector general's sworn testimony showing the contacts.
"If we have a trial, the person who planted fake evidence shouldn't be the one ruling on the admissibility of fake evidence," said Ratcliffe.
However, he does believe Democrats will push for impeachment, as only two "had the courage" on Thursday to vote against the rules resolution.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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