The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Thursday bashed the Democratic-controlled House vote on a public impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, noting the "bipartisan opposition" to the probe.
In an email, RNC spokesman Steve Guest quoted a March headline from The Washington Post that featured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's conditions for any impeachment investigation: "'I'm not for impeachment' without bipartisan support, Pelosi says, roiling fellow Democrats."
"In March 2019, Nancy Pelosi set the ground rules for impeachment: It must be 'bipartisan,'" Guest, the committee's rapid response director, said in the email.
"Yet today's vote showed there is no bipartisan support for Pelosi and [House Intelligence Committee Adam] Schiff's Soviet-style impeachment inquiry," he said. "In fact, there is bipartisan opposition."
Two Democrats — Reps. Collin Peterson, Minn., and Jeff Van Drew, N.J. — joined Republicans in the 232-to-196 vote.
Pelosi and Schiff, both California Democrats, supported the impeachment resolution.
Guest continued, however: "In March, Pelosi said she wasn't supportive of impeachment because 'I don’t think we should go down that path because it divides the country.'
"But with this vote, Democrats made dividing this country their number one priority," he added.
"And, contrary to the Democrats' talking points that their new rules provide a more open process, it does the opposite," Guest said. "It's about control."
Poking at Schiff, who is currently overseeing the closed-door impeachment hearings, Guest said: "King Schiff is still going to shred due process with secret hearings, where President Trump's counsel isn't allowed to attend.
"Stop the madness," the RNC staffer declared. "In their last act before going on their 12-day recess, Democrats solidified their sham impeachment inquiry instead of passing the USMCA, voting on a bipartisan lowering of prescription drug legislation, or combatting the opioid crisis."
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