A Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee defended holding the impeachment inquiry proceedings in secret and withholding transcripts by saying witnesses were giving depositions and not testifying in hearings.
“I think that at an appropriate point in the future these transcripts will be released. Let’s remember what’s happened here. These are not hearings. These are depositions and we’re following best practices for investigations,” Rep. Denny Heck said Monday night after nine hours of secret testimony from former top Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill. The Washington state Democrat added, “These are depositions, not hearings.”
“At some point, I believe in the near future, the transcripts will be released. And should there be a recommendation to the Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment, that will be a public process,” he explained, adding that articles of impeachment would then go to the House floor for a vote.
Republicans have cried foul because witness transcripts from closed-door House impeachment proceedings have yet to be released but House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has demanded the White House release documents related to the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
New York Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin pointed out that Schiff had compared the impeachment inquiry to the grand jury process. “If you actually believe that you should be treating this as grand jury testimony, then you shouldn’t be leaking and cherry picking any fact that you think” helps your own narrative.
Heck said the White House was “darn lucky” the hearings were not public. He continued, “We don’t want the witnesses knowing at this stage what one another said. These transcripts will be made available at some point, and this process will become open beyond belief at some point. But we are in the stage of the process which is investigatory.”
Zeldin said, “So they’ll talk to each other through Adam Schiff’s leaks. That’s it. So they will get to know what another person will testify to that Adam Schiff believes best fits his spin on reality.”
