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Council can participate. officials i've talked to here say, that's still a problem, because we're coming in at a point where an inquiry has already, of course, been going on for some time. and publicly, it's being discussed and disseminated. so it's their argument that they're coming in at a point where their hands effectively tied behind their backs, as one white house official described it, even though some new public elements will come next. as you would expect, they are battling on the process and on the substance here from the white house. this is a day, a rainy day in washington where th...

>> so let me ask you this. as you and i established off the top of the interview, if this was -- this is a process vote. this just allows and determines the rules. your two democratic colleagues who voted against it, congressman jeff vann drew and collin peterson, what's the rationale for voting against it if this is just the rules. this isn't a statement on whether or not you think the president should be impeached or not. >> well, in fairness, i think you would probably have to ask both of them. for me, this was a process question. but there's no question that when i go home to rochester, ne...

For or against impeachment. >> no, that's absolutely right. actually, this is really the rule that sets forth the public phase, essentially, of this inquiry. so the inquiry has been, up to this point, taking depositions and hearing meetings, going through the intelligence committee. what will happen now is the public phase of that inquiry. and so it was necessary of the resolution so we would have the rules of engagement, essentially for the public process. >> talk to me about the process and the allegations made by republicans about the fact that the process has been secretive and behind clos...

Depositions and took testimony. so, this department of justice and the attorney general refusing to even acknowledge that there may be an issue here that rises to the level of a special prosecutor, really left us no choice but to have the closed-door taking of depositions and taking of evidence. what we now enter into is the public phase and the great thing about this is, like the closed-door sessions, republicans, minority members, will be seated at the table. they'll be able to ask questions. they'll be able to put together a list of people that they wish to subpoena. the president, unlike t...

>> however, the committees that have been holding these hearings do have republicans on them. and those republicans have been attending these depositions. so it's not that much of a secret. >> oh, no, there's no question. and it is really absurd to suggest that from the very beginning, we would have had a public process or a public hearing without closed-door sessions. and i hate to analogize this entirely with a criminal proceeding, but to the extent that the analogy holds up, this is really where investigators bring people in, want to make sure there isn't the coordination of stories by vari...