The Democrats' strategy for the public impeachment inquiry hearings for President Donald Trump is to allow the witnesses to speak and to let the American people hear the story "firsthand, unfiltered," Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said early Wednesday.
"I think for those of us in positions of elected office for the public, the big questions are the big questions," the New York Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Did the president abuse his office? Is it ever okay that an American president, this one or a future one, extort the help of a foreign leader for an advantage in an American political campaign? Is that okay? Can that be something we put up with? Can that coexist with the way our constitution works? And if not, how do we hold the president accountable? Those are the big questions."
The best evidence remains from Trump's own words, as well as the "admission of the White House Chief of Staff (Mick Mulvaney) that there was a quid pro quo," said Maloney. "By the way, we should see the contemporaneous notes and e-mails that the State Department continues to withhold. Those would be important pieces of corroborating evidence."
He further predicted that through the "credible, decent public servants" testifying in the House, it will be proven that Trump's actions in Ukraine are impeachable.
"I think the witnesses that are coming forward will give us the four corners of what the president did, when he did it, what he knew, what his intentions were," said Maloney. "We can keep adding layers of gloss on this, and I want everybody's evidence, but let's not lose sight of the fact that we have the core facts here. They will be presented in a credible fashion to the American public . . . the president is not above the law. "
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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