Today the House will vote on a resolution calling for the Acting Director of National Intelligence to provide the House and Senate Intelligence Committees with the whistleblower’s complaint and the IG’s determination that the complaint was a credible urgent concern as well as any other comments the Acting Director considers appropriate. The resolution also requires the Acting Director to take steps to protect the whistleblower and to preserve all records, documents, communications, and other information relating to the allegations. While it is only a non-binding resolution, the vote will put Republicans on record on this issue.
H.Res. 576
https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116hres576ih.pdf
Yesterday, three House committee chairs (Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight) sent a letter to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone following up on a September 9th letter they sent in which they requested by September 16 all records related to the whistleblowers complaint, the transcript of the President’s call, a full list of staff who participated in the call and in preparation for the call, and any records on the suspension of aid to Ukraine.
September 24th Letter
September 9th Letter
https://intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/ele_schiff_cummings_letter_to_sec_pompeo_on_ukraine.pdf
Also yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. The Speaker directed six Committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The committees are: Judiciary, Selection Committee on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, Ways and Means, and Financial Services. There was no concrete timeline laid out for the impeachment inquiry, although Pelosi wants it completed expeditiously. Some said it could move ahead within weeks. Others said it might continue to next year’s election. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler (D-NY) said he would like it done by the end of this year.
Speaker Pelosi did not say whether the full House would vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry or whether the six committee investigations would be condensed into a single probe. In past impeachment proceedings, each of the committees involved provided input to include in articles of impeachment. In this case, the articles could be written up by the House Judiciary Committee, which then would vote on whether to refer them to the full House of Representatives. After the Judiciary committee vote, the articles, if approved, would be given special status on the House floor and it requires a simple majority of voting lawmakers to approve them.