THE House leadership requested a 30-day extension to correct deficiencies in its submitted impeachment record, but the Senate said there are no provisions in the impeachment rules that permit an extension.
House clerk Linda B. Muna wrote a letter to Senate clerk Dolores S. Bermudes on Wednesday, April 6, requesting an extension of the 48-hour deadline.
“Fully complying with all requested changes within the 48-hour time span mandated by Rule 9 is simply not feasible,” said Muna, adding that the Senate had 11 calendar days to identify these deficiencies.
“By contrast, I have only 48 hours to correct these deficiencies, which would entail rearranging thousands of documents from dozens of disparate sources. This is an unreasonable and unfair burden for me to complete within such a short time span. Further, I have concerns about some of the requested changes,” Muna said.
She said the rearrangement of documents within the tranches submitted to the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations would distort the nature of the record.
“The order of these documents within the House Impeachment Record accurately reflects the order in which they were received and compiled. All parties should want a record which is both organized and useful at trial. It would defeat the purpose to have a record which is mechanically organized chronologically but which separates records which relate to one another and which were received together,” Muna said.
“My office, with assistance from members’ staffers, compiled the record provided to your office from many different sources, including large numbers of documents received by the JGO Committee in response to subpoenas duces tecum. These documents were scanned and entered into the record in the order in which they arrived, and were typically not arranged in any systematic order when provided to the House. It was a mammoth task to organize these documents and compile them into a searchable record as we did, and I maintain that the record I transmitted on March 24, 2022, was in substantial compliance with Rule 9,” Muna added.
“Still, I would be willing to undertake the challenge to make a good faith effort to correct the identified issues if given sufficient time and resources to do so. My office will endeavor to correct typographical errors, adjust the consecutive pagination of documents, and arrange documents in chronological order to the extent feasible,” Muna said.
She requested the extension — which, if approved, would be on May 6, 2022 — to correct the deficiencies by the Senate, as well as an opportunity to confer with Bermudes and her support staff in identifying said deficiencies enumerated in her letter “for clarifications as the need arises.”
Bermudes, in response, said the extension request should be directed to the presiding hearing officer, Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider.
Muna then addressed her concerns to the Senate president who responded, “I must decline your request for an extension of time to file the corrections of the non-compliant impeachment record. There is no provision in the Senate Rules of Impeachment which permit the extension of this deadline. The House of Representatives has been given ample time to provide the record organized in the manner prescribed by the Rules of Impeachment. To imply by your letter that the Senate staff has taken an inordinate [amount of] time to return the disorganized record to you, is, frankly, an insult at a time when you are requesting the Senate’s consideration.”
He noted that these rules were presented and made available to the public on Feb. 28, 2022, then voted and passed by the Senate on March 3.
The House was required to provide the impeachment record by March 17, which was later extended to March 24.
“A further extension was available under Rule 9(c)(2), which was not requested. In all, the House of Representatives was fully aware of the simple and easy-to-follow format required of the impeachment record for 25 days, 19 days of which were regular workdays,” Hofschneider said.
“The Senate will proceed with the impeachment process as required by these Rules,” he added. “Any requests made to me as the Presiding Officer of these proceedings should cite the appropriate provision in the rules which would permit the action requested.”
The governor was impeached by the House of Representatives on Jan. 12, 2022 by a vote of 15 to 4 with 1 abstention, on allegations of felonies of theft, corruption and neglect of duty. He has denied the charges.
At least six of the nine senators must vote to convict in order to remove the governor from office.
