UPDATED: Thursday Impeachment Vote Not Certain?
The Washington Examiner is reporting that things are up in the air: Democratic leaders walk back Thursday impeachment vote . This is based on statements by Steny Hoyer, the Dems' #2. Hoyer made it clear that this would not be a vote on an impeachment inquiry. Instead, he stated that it would be a vote to move from talking to people behind closed doors to bloviating in public. But he wouldn't actually commit to there being a vote on Thursday. Since Hoyer is the Majority Leader, the suspicion is that there's a concern that the Dem leadership could lose that vote--apparently "moderate" Dems have been consulting the polls:
But Democrats are suddenly wary of calling it an official vote to open an impeachment hearing and aren’t even promising a vote on Thursday.
Hoyer said the resolution “addresses moving from the investigatory phase to the hearing phase,” of the impeachment proceedings, entering the public phase. Hoyer, who controls the floor schedule, would not fully commit to holding the vote on Thursday. “We are going to have to consider whether or not it is ready to go on Thursday,” Hoyer said. The resolution will be drafted and advanced Wednesday by the House Rules Committee, whose Democrats operate as an essential arm of the speaker.
Hoyer described the resolution as one that would establish a process for ending the closed-door investigatory phase of the impeachment proceeding, which has so far involved depositions taken in a secure room in the basement of the U.S. Capitol.
UPDATE: Yep, it's all a hoax--via Zerohedge :
According to the resolution, the three Democratic-led impeachment panels are directed to continue their probes into the Trump administration's interactions with the Ukrainian government to determine whether a quid pro quo or other impeachable offenses have been committed.
It also allows the GOP to "question witnesses for equal specified periods" as the Democrats for up to 90-minute sessions, thus depriving Republicans of the argument that they're being denied due process during the proceedings. Still, it will be up to the Democrats to approve or deny witnesses.
So, nothing changes except that the GOP gets equal questioning time--but can't call witnesses without Dem approval.