Ross: If GOP wants impeachment transparency, Trump should release tax returns
Oct 24, 2019, 7:35 AM | Updated: Oct 29, 2019, 1:47 pm
(Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
It’s getting nastier.
The Republicans want all of their members to be allowed into the secure room where impeachment witnesses are being deposed by three House committees. The rules say only Republicans and Democrats who are on those committees are allowed in.
Ross: The problem with businessmen in charge of politics
But Republicans say impeachment is different.
“When we’re talking about removing the President from office it should be completely transparent — completely open,” argued GOP House members on Wednesday.
And so, a group of Congressional Republicans held a sit-in and delayed a closed-door deposition. That’s embarrassing for a major country. You expect it in some of your minor countries like Elbonia, or certain parts of Oregon.
But in America?
And yet, transparency sounds like a reasonable request. So, how about this: Republicans get the transparency they want, including the right to witness the depositions, and Democrats get the transparency they want, and which in fact was promised long ago.
Are you ready for some prime impeachment TV?
“If I decide to run for office I’ll produce my tax returns absolutely,” Donald Trump said in 2014.
“You will see piles and piles of paper stacked many feet into the air,” he stated a year later.
Full transparency for both sides. Heck, I’ll bet if he releases his returns before the election, Democrats would drop impeachment in a heartbeat.
“But Dave,” you say, “isn’t that a quid pro quo?” Yes – yes it is. Get used to it.