Isnt About Process News Today

Republicans. if democrats were smart theyd bring republicans in, make them part of the process -- >> congressman dent, republicans, just to be clear, are part of the process. there is an equal number of republicans in that skiff yesterday who could ask questions. as mark meadows said publicly, they can ask as many questions as they want, they have equal time, they go as long as they want. thats the benefit of having private hearings at this point, and that will then go public. i want to play som...

Only democrats leak, which as we know, thats not the case. and certainly republicans have leaked things that were said in this. and opening statements have been released. also full transcripts are going to be released. and theyre going to call back these people for public hearings. so how is this like a soviet-style star chamber? >> the reason we go to the skiff is when you have classified information. on financial services i was the chair of the oversight committee and we have public hearings. ...

Here, shouldnt they focus on that rather than focusing on the process, which as you know is in the early stages, like a grand jury isnt open, it then is going to move to open hearing? >> the congress is not a grand jury, so the concern with the process is the fact that the american people dont have all the evidence. and so what happens is -- >> right, but its going to be released -- the transcripts will be released -- >> hold on let me tell you why were concerned about it. we dont have it, so in...

A little more transparent. i do understand why they have -- they take that position sometimes behind closed doors. i was chairman of the ethics committee, we did all our proceedings behind closed doors because of personnel matters. at the end of the day, this isnt about process and procedure. if the facts arent on your side, if the policy isnt on your side, you argue process and procedure. thats whats happening here. because lets face it, the substance of these allegations are very serious, and ...

People give an opening statement and convict them on the opening statement. >> this is not a courtroom. >> the credibility -- >> as you said, its not a grand jury, this is not a courtroom. >> this is a political process, not a legal process. >> right, so with the political process, youre trying to judge the president on an opening statement when you havent heard the 10 hours of testimony and the cross examination. >> which is why hes going to be called back and the transcript is going to be rele...

Congress, see the testimony, make judgments for themselves, not based on just leaks but based on the actual testimony, i think the american people would be better off, democrats would be better off, the president would be better off. this would be a process we could all buy into. but when you close it off, then you get those process arguments because we dont have all the information require think were entitled to, we deserve all the information. charlie does, you do, i do, so do the american peo...

So its really a, in my view, a very clear case. >> congresswoman speier, appreciate your time, thank you very much. perspective on the breaking news and another day of republicans attacking the process. dana bash, the argument from republicans that this is all happening in secret, logically that is just -- there are republicans in there, its not as if its all democrats, a cabal of democrats with witnesses. public hearings, though, clearly democrats want those as much as anybody. >> yeah, because...

Reasons why still it is -- people are disgusted by the place where i live, washington, d.c., is because there is always amnesia when another party takes control. what she said about benghazi is true. republicans did act in private as they investigated before they went in public. and that is exactly what democrats are doing. having said that, republicans understand how critical it is, for as much as democrats want to increase public support for impeachment, republicans want to decrease it, which ...

Message to the public that this is a fair game. having said that, having said that, i think its also very, very clear that the republicans are overstating their criticisms of the way this is going on. this is being played by the benghazi rules, essentially, which the republicans themselves came up with. if you go back to bill clinton, before they went to impeachment, before the process started, there was ken starr. a lengthy process of inquiry that was done behind closed doors. and built that up...

>> which by the way, sondland supposedly in his testimony said he didnt remember those -- any kind of conversation like that. >> exactly. but what the democrats want in order to make their case publicly is not just these officials to lay it out in private, but ultimately when we get to the public hearings for somebody like morrison or others to be a john dean, to be willing to come forward and say in public, yes, this happened, and i didnt think it was right. that is a moment that if they dont h...