Pelosi Rejects Request to Suspend Impeachment Inquiry, Insists No Vote Needed

peaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at a press conference about the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 2, 2019. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that she would not suspend the impeachment inquiry into Republican President Donald Trump.

McCarthy sent a letter on Oct. 3 to Pelosi asking her to suspend the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump until she puts into place “transparent and equitable rules and procedures.”

He said there was a slew of issues with the inquiry, including the lack of a vote on whether to launch it. Pelosi announced the inquiry on Sept. 24.

In a letter responding to McCarthy (pdf), Pelosi said that there is no need for a vote to launch an impeachment inquiry.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House intelligence chairman, hold a press conference about the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, at the Capitol in Washington on Oct. 2, 2019. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

“The existing rules of the House provide House Committees with full authority to conduct investigations for all matters under their jurisdiction, including impeachment investigations,” she wrote.

“There is no requirement under the Constitution, under House rules, or House precedent that the whole House vote before proceeding with an impeachment inquiry.”

“As you know, our Founders were specifically intent on ensuring that foreign entities did not undermine the integrity of our elections,” she continued. “I received your letter this morning shortly after the world witnessed President Trump on national television asking yet another foreign power to interfere in the upcoming 2020 elections. We hope you and other Republicans share our commitment to following the facts, upholding the Constitution, protecting our national security, and defending the integrity of our elections at such a serious moment in our nation’s history.”

McCarthy’s letter to Pelosi came after the revelation that Rep. Adam Schiff was aware of information in the whistleblower’s complaint—the trigger for the impeachment inquiry—before the complaint was filed, sparking outrage from a number of lawmakers who said he should step down from his chairman position. Schiff said he regretted “not being more clear.”

President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Florida from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Oct. 3, 2019. Leah Mills/Reuters

Pelosi in the letter was referring to Trump on Wednesday saying he thinks China and Ukraine should probe the past actions of former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who was involved with an energy company in Ukraine until earlier this year and is still active in an investment company in China.

Asked if he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help probe the Bidens, Trump replied: “I haven’t, but it’s certainly something we can start thinking about.”

“Because I’m sure that President Xi does not like being under that kind of scrutiny where billions of dollars are taken out of his country by a guy that just got kicked out of the Navy. He got kicked out of the Navy, all of a sudden he’s getting billions of dollars. You know what they call that? They call that a payoff,” he said.

“I would say [Ukrainian] President [Volodymy] Zelensky, if it was me, I would start an investigation into the Bidens because nobody has any doubt that they weren’t crooked,” he also said. “[Hunter Biden] had no knowledge of energy, didn’t know the first thing about it, all of a sudden he’s getting $50,000 a month plus a lot of other things.”

“And they got rid of a prosecutor who was a very tough prosecutor, they got rid of him.”