(NMI GOP) — The Republican Party of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands issued the following statement Monday relative to the Senate hearing on the articles of impeachment:
“Attorney Ross Garber, a member of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ legal team, provided expert testimony that a legislative committee does not have the legal authority to command the head of state to attend a committee investigative hearing.
“Attorney Garber cited rulings from federal courts across the country that supported his assertion that the House JGO’s subpoena violated the CNMI Constitution. More so, that the U.S. Department of Justice has stated on numerous occasions that a legislative body may not subpoena, or command, a chief executive or any of his senior advisers to appear before said body.
“Further, it was noted for the record and widely publicized that Governor Torres has made every reasonable attempt to meet with the members of the CNMI House of Representative at a mutually acceptable time and location.
“Again, Governor Torres stated that he was more than willing to discuss the issues and respond to questions outside of the unlawful issuance of a legislative command. The JGO has yet to accept an invitation by Governor Torres to meet on any of the impeachment issues.
“Notwithstanding Governor Torres’ principled position to preserve the separation of powers, he went ahead and produced as well as published a question and answer video on the same issues.
“The bottom line is this: Governor Torres’ desire to preserve the doctrine of separation of powers is not a n impeachable offense. His good faith invitation to meet outside of the committee’s published demand was either rejected or unanswered on more than one occasion by the Democrat leadership.”
