Geraldo Rivera: Impeachment process ‘grotesquely unfair and divisive’

Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera on Friday called the current impeachment inquiry into President Trump “grotesquely unfair and divisive,” saying the process is enraging Republicans “and other fair-minded people.” 

Rivera’s comments come the day after a measure that approved procedures for the inquiry to be moved from behind closed doors into the public passed the House in a 232-196 party-line vote. 

{mosads}”It’s grotesquely unfair and divisive. Even The New York Times got it right. Fractured House, bitter vote. This is absolutely the way this went down yesterday,” Rivera said on “Fox & Friends.” 

“The Speaker of the House, the Democrats, have crafted an impeachment which is inherently divisive and made it so very unfair as to enrage Republicans and other fair-minded people,” he continued. “You cannot have a process wherein the Speaker, running the event, gets to say the other side what witnesses they can call, and has veto power over those witnesses and over any kind of subpoenas.”

“It is so deeply and fundamentally unfair,” Rivera later added. “I predict it will lead to the kind of Tea Party uprising we saw in 2009 and 2010. It will divide this country along partisan lines in a way we have heretofore never seen. And I do not believe it will result in justice.”

The next phase of the impeachment process will include public hearings after weeks of closed-door testimony. 

If Trump is impeached in the House, 20 Republican senators would need to split from the party to convict him in a Senate trial in order to remove him from office.