GOHMERT RESPONDS TO FALSE CLAIMS MADE BY LONGVIEW NEWS JOURNAL

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX-01) released the following statement in response to a false “Duster” printed in the Longview News Journal on October 25, 2019:

“The Longview paper revealed their own ignorance when they printed false and misleading statements about me, the impeachment process, and the rules of the House of Representatives. At the time, I lawfully went into the deposition. There is no rule, precedence, or authority for the INTELLIGENCE Committee to conduct Impeachment proceedings or inquiries. I am on the Judiciary Committee and authorized to participate in any impeachment proceedings. By keeping me and other Members out of the depositions, Democrats were violating the rules.
 
Democrats are the majority and could take a resolution to the House floor to amend the Rules and give Impeachment jurisdiction to the Intelligence Committee, but they have not done that. Further, the House of Representatives had not voted to make this an official impeachment inquiry. As such, under the House rules, depositions can be taken, as they were in the Judiciary Committee last year while Republicans were in the majority. Depositions are not taken in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) with armed guards outside. Adam Schiff himself says to each person they call to testify in his star chamber that the testimony is not classified. Further, any Member is allowed into depositions.
 
The resolution that will finally come to the floor on Thursday, does authorize the Intelligence Committee to have OPEN hearings on impeachment henceforth, along with the Judiciary and other Committees.  Though a vote is being scheduled, it still is not a proper authorization of impeachment proceedings, and it is doubtful that there will ever be a vote in the House to actually impeach or charge President Trump. If there were, then it would go to the Senate, where the Senate would refuse to remove the President on such bogus charges. That would lead to a repeat of 1996 which got the incumbent President reelected.
 
For those who have claimed that I violated rules by taking cell phones into the SCIF, rest at ease--I put my phones in the designated spot before I went in. It is unfortunate that those at the Longview paper would condemn me without all the facts and without a clear knowledge of the House rules. They cannot rely on false, partisan statements to inform their own partisanship. The “Duster” is what that day’s paper should be used for then discarded.”

You can read the “Duster” in the Longview News Journal here.