House Judiciary impeachment hearing to feature constitutional lawyers

The House Judiciary Committee is slated to hear from constitutional lawyers during the panel’s public impeachment hearing next week, marking the next phase in the inquiry.

The hearing is slated to take place on Dec. 4 after the House Intelligence Committee transmits a memo with its findings after holding seven public impeachment hearings and a series of additional closed door depositions, according to House Democratic aides.

“Our first task is to explore the framework put in place to respond to serious allegations of impeachable misconduct like those against President Trump,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

The hearing — “The Impeachment Inquiry into President Donald J. Trump: Constitutional Grounds for Presidential Impeachment” — will feature a panel of legal experts who Democrats say will apply constitutional law “to the facts that have been found.”

“This is a very serious and solemn matter. This process starts with applying the constitutional law to the facts that have been found and the evidence is order to assess the seriousness of the alleged high crimes and misdemeanors,” one House Democratic aide said.

This will be the first time the Judiciary panel moves to examine the evidence gathered by the House Intelligence Committee, which examined allegations that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open two investigations that would benefit him politically.

Nadler also sent a letter to the White House, reiterating that the president and his counsel are welcome to attend the hearing. He asked that the White House respond by Sunday.

“I have also written to President Trump to remind him that the Committee’s impeachment inquiry rules allow for the President to attend the hearing and for his counsel to question the witness panel,” Nadler said.