Republican strategist and political analyst Susan Del Percio told MSNBC on Sunday afternoon that the first three witnesses to testify in open impeachment hearings next week are too credible for GOP members to attack.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff on Wednesday announced that House Democrats will take their formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump public this coming week with three witnesses set to testify: State Department official George Kent and U.S. Ukraine diplomat Bill Taylor are both testifying next Wednesday, while ex-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will appear on Friday.
In discussing the upcoming hearings with MSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin this weekend, Del Percio predicted that Republicans will have a hard time attempting to discredit the witnesses because they're all very "accomplished" and credible.
"We've seen some of what the Republicans have up their sleeves. They are going to try and discredit the witnesses. But as Sam Stein said, they are unimpeachable witnesses," Del Percio said. "These are all government servants, people who have dedicated their lives not just to their post, but in Taylor's case, he served in Vietnam. These are very accomplished people."
"I think the Republicans will also try and do some procedural things as the hearings go on, I think that can backfire on them," she continued. "The narrative that the Democrats have to give is a very smooth one, which is why the opening of the hearings, when you have 45 minutes to ask questions by professional staff, will make a huge difference in contrast to some of the other hearings we have seen."
In a letter to Schiff on Saturday, current ranking Republican Congressman Devin Nunes asked for Hunter Biden, the anonymous whistleblower and several others to testify as part of the impeachment probe. Schiff responded by confirming that Biden will not be called to testify as the proceedings will not be probing "sham" claims, but agreed to review the rest of the Republicans' list.
Del Percio on Sunday called the request by Republicans "ridiculous" and one that "makes no sense."
"They're also going after the whistleblower," she added. "Which I wish, quite frankly, that the Democrats would push back on more. The whistleblower's complaint was verified by a Trump appointee, the IG of the Intel Committee said this is a valid complaint and he looked into it and thought it was credible and urgent and moved it forward. So, I wish that was something we took off the whistleblower and put back on the IG."
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