Judge Andrew Napolitano said Thursday that the Republicans are protesting their own rules for impeachment inquiries.
Napolitano, an analyst for Fox News, said on “Fox & Friends” that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is following the impeachment rules that Republicans put in place with a GOP majority in 2015.
{mosads}“I read the House rules, and as frustrating as it may be to have these hearings going on behind closed doors, the hearings for which Congressman Schiff is presiding, they are consistent with the rules,” Napolitano said.
The judge noted that the “initial level of inquiry” in the impeachment questioning can be “done in secret,” like the witness interviews during President Nixon’s and President Clinton’s impeachment proceedings.
However, eventually the House Democrats are going to have to bring the information out into the public so the president’s lawyers can cross-examine the witnesses, the “Liberty File” host said.
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“I get it,” Napolitano said. “The Republicans are frustrated and they wanted to make a point and they made their point, but this is just not the most effective way to show respect for what your colleagues are doing.”
He added, “These are not the impeachment hearings,” saying the official hearings will be held in public with the House Judiciary Committee.
Napolitano’s comments come the day after GOP House lawmakers stormed the sensitive compartmented information facility where a deposition was being held in protest of the impeachment proceedings.
Several key players in the Ukraine scandal that sparked the impeachment inquiry have testified in private in the past few weeks.