After five weeks of letting House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., subvert the Constitution through impeachment by leak, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. was facing mounting pressure due to negative optics of the Democrats’ shadowy manipulated process. So she announced the House would vote Thursday on a resolution regarding the Democrats’ impeachment “inquiry.”

One minor problem. This is not an impeachment resolution. It is not a formal House authorization for impeachment like the one every other House has authorized in the three times in our history when Congress embarked on the extraordinary endeavor to remove a duly elected president and overrule the votes of the American people.

Democrats, Pelosi said, are voting to affirm “the ongoing, existing investigation.” In other words, the idea is to give a stamp of approval to Schiff’s Commissariat for Justice, which has been marked by no transparency and no due process, where elected Republican House members must be chaperoned by unelected Democratic staff members if they want to look at the evidence.

REP. ANDY BIGGS: TRUMP-HATING DEMOCRATS DOING WHATEVER IT TAKES TO IMPEACH, IGNORING PRECEDENTS

Last week Republicans rightfully stormed these Soviet-style secret proceedings, where exonerating evidence benefitting the president is kept hidden behind secure doors reserved for classified briefings, even though the depositions of witnesses were not classified.

Senate Republicans reinforced the argument with a resolution sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The Graham-McConnell resolution demands Democrats end their partisan charade in secret and afford the president a fair and transparent process.

In response, Democrats are now promising to open hearings to the public – but only on their terms.

Who will be running the show (trial)? Bucking precedent, the reins will remain in Adam Schiff’s hands. The same Adam Schiff who lied about evidence of Trump-Russia collusion for more than two years, lied about what President Trump said on the phone call with the president of Ukraine, and lied about his committee meeting with the “whistleblower.”

This resolution proves Democrats are making up the rules as they go along. First step: manufacture a scandal, collude with a registered Democrat in the CIA, and leak to allies in the media to whip up hysteria around a phone call.

What happens when President Trump called their bluff and released the transcript of the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, proving nothing was improper? The Democrats changed the rules again, and retreated behind closed doors.

It is easier to strongarm witnesses in the basement of the Capitol than in a public hearing. Schiff has been doing his best impersonation of a mob boss lately – not just when he made up his own fake dialogue of the Trump-Zelensky phone call.

“Ambassador, you're making this much more complicated than it has to be,” Schiff said, as he leaned on former U.S. special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker, when Volker did not give Schiff what he wanted to hear and repeatedly denied that Ukraine felt any pressure to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.

Lacking substance, the Democrats tried to generate some through a rigged process. Over the course of their impeachment in name only, they have selectively leaked bits of information that – surprise, surprise – only fits the Democrats’ false narrative.

By not releasing full transcripts of testimony, Democrats have controlled the flow of information to allow them to pretend fourth-hand hearsay about a phone call that is already public is a “smoking gun.”

Now the Democrats are trying to dress up their impeachment charade with a resolution on an inquiry that was never officially opened, all while ceding complete control of the process to Schiff. Only Schiff can sign off on any witness requests made by Republicans.

While Democrats promised more transparency, they instead restricted the members who are allowed to participate. Now instead of 110 members engaged in the process, Democrats have restricted access to just 22 members.

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The New York Times reports Schiff will “transmit raw evidence” and compile a report to the Judiciary Committee, making him akin to an “independent counsel.” In what world?

Only after Schiff’s inquisition does President Trump receive due process. “It is at that stage when Democrats appear poised to give Mr. Trump and his legal team a chance to offer input on the case,” the Times reports. A little late for that.

As long as Schiff is in charge, we know this will be the same partisan game: all smoke and mirrors with no “there.” The goal was never fairness. The mission was to overthrow a duly elected president and it remains unchanged.

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Democrats are making a mockery of the Constitution. An endeavor as monumental as overturning the will of the American people deserves deference to longstanding rules and procedures.

But Democrats have long since thrown out the rulebook. They abide by only one rule: Get Trump. Unfortunately for them, their partisan tricks will ensure they will get him – for four more years in the White House.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BY LIZ HARRINGTON