Himes: The GOP has ‘fully given itself over to being a personality cult for Donald Trump’

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the No. 2 Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, defended the House’s party-line vote on formalizing procedures in its impeachment inquiry, saying the vote was the result of the GOP being a “personality cult for Donald Trump.”

Pressed by Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” on the zero Republican votes after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the impeachment process must be bipartisan, Himes responded by pointing to Wallace’s previous guest, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.

{mosads}”As you just experienced with Kellyanne Conway for 12 minutes of some of the most ludicrous TV and unfactual statements by a White House official I have ever heard, the Republican Party has now fully given itself over to being a personality cult for Donald Trump,” Himes said.

“For understandable reasons, every one of my Republican colleagues understands that if they do what they know is right … the president lights them up on Twitter and they lose a primary election,” he added.

Himes told Wallace that his “best guess” was that open hearings in the inquiry would begin in “the next two or three weeks,” adding that “we need to interview a few more witnesses before we’re in a position” to begin that stage of the process.

Wallace grilled Himes on whether House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) would use his authority to block witnesses called by Republicans, with Himes responding that a full committee vote could be taken on whether to block a subpoena.

When Wallace noted that the committee was majority Democratic and would not defy Schiff, Himes defended the “majoritarian process” and said that “the rules have never said that the minority can subpoena some conspiracy theorist who believes that the [Democratic National Committee] server is in Ukraine.”