The Republicans' dissent outlined in the House Judiciary Committee's report released Monday is based on the concerns a "fraudulent process" brought the push to impeach President Donald Trump to its current point, and the case has "no merit", according to Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., a member of the committee.
"[The Intelligence Committee] had secret meetings in the basement," Johnson told Fox News' Dana Perino. "They cherry-picked the witnesses and the testimony that they wanted. Even to this day, even though I am a member of the House Judiciary Committee and the subcommittee, we have jurisdiction over it, and I still am not able to review all the evidence. So why is that?"
In addition, Republicans believe there is an "utter lack of merit" in the two articles of impeachment, charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Johnson said.
The abuse of power charge is "not a specific crime," said Johnson, and the obstruction charge is "absurd."
"Donald Trump did nothing different than any previous administration, including the one before him, Barack Obama," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Johnson said he does no think there is any question the upcoming vote to forward the articles of impeachment to the Senate will be partisan.
"That is the real peril of this," he said. "What the founding fathers warned us about specifically was the single-party impeachment. That is what we have. The reason they were concerned is because they knew that that would divide the country, perhaps irreparably."
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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