As House Democrats geared up for the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump in 2019, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) became agitated with his party over the process, which he derided as “unconstitutional,” according to a new book.
Nadler wanted his Judiciary Committee to oversee cross-examination witnesses during impeachment proceedings to give Trump adequate due process, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) reportedly rebuffed him.
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“I worry you’re putting us in a box for our investigation,” Nadler fretted to Schiff, according to the book.
“I don’t appreciate your tone,” Schiff reportedly shot back. “I worry you’re putting us in a box for our investigation.”
The account comes from Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump by Politico Playbook’s Rachael Bade and Washington Post reporter Karoun Demirjian.
The veteran New York congressman felt he was being sidelined during the first impeachment of Trump and raised concerns that forgoing cross-examination from the Judiciary Committee was unconstitutional and could provide fodder to detractors of impeachment.
Meanwhile, Pelosi and Schiff were keen on moving ahead without the Judiciary Committee questioning witnesses, the book said. During previous presidential impeachments, the panel conducted cross-examination.
“Pelosi simply didn’t trust the panel — which was stacked with liberal crusaders and hotheaded conservatives — to handle the rollout of the complex Ukraine narrative with the careful, compelling treatment it required. ”
To court favor with the speaker, Nadler’s “aides sucked up to her staff relentlessly,” and he tapped attorneys to assess previous impeachments of presidents in preparation, according to the book.
His efforts lead both Pelosi and Schiff to reexamine the Judiciary Committee’s involvement, and ultimately, the committee was tasked with writing the rules for impeachment, but Nadler reportedly felt unsettled by the lack of due process Pelosi and Schiff favored.
Nadler believed Trump’s team should have the opportunity to face his accusers directly, but Pelosi and Schiff feared Trump’s lawyers could supplant Democrats’ message during the 2020 presidential election, the book claims.
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The book is slated for release on Oct. 18.
During the first impeachment trial, Trump was accused of soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election. The impeachment was sparked after reports surfaced of a phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he appeared to nudge him into finding information on the Biden family.
Backers of impeachment noted that he appeared to leverage military aid to Ukraine in order to prod Zelensky into investigating Burisma Holdings Limited, the board on which Hunter Biden held a post. The complaint alleged Trump engaged in abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.
