The Editorial Board

USA TODAY

President Donald Trump and his defenders have spent the past few weeks attacking the process by which an impeachment inquiry has unfolded in the House. They have not done themselves any favors.

They have impugned the integrity of witnesses. They have engaged in publicity stunts, like when several dozen House members stormed the secure hearing room where depositions are heard, some of them violating security protocols by bringing cellphones into the facility.

And their protests of Democratic “secrecy” rang hollow because Republicans on three committees — including 13 of the stormers — have been allowed in to participate.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has defied subpoenas and withheld witnesses, while arguing that the House impeachment inquiry isn’t legitimate without a vote to formally launch one.

Vote on impeachment resolution

Now they are going to get that vote, something House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should have scheduled weeks ago. Better late than never, we suppose. The resolution coming before the House as early as Thursday would move the impeachment process to open hearings and create ground rules very much like those the Republicans adopted in President Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings in 1998.

With attacks on the process faltering, Trump suggests he'll begin to mount a more substantive defense of his actions. “I’d rather go into the details of the case rather than process,” he told reporters. “Process is good. But I think we ought to look at the case.”

Yes, we should, Mr. President.

The details that have come out so far are damning. They confirm virtually every element of the whistleblower complaint that triggered the impeachment inquiry. Witnesses have said that duly appropriated military aid to Ukraine, as well as a personal meeting between Trump and the Ukrainian president, were made contingent on that country launching an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Those are very serious accusations that the president abused his power by subordinating national security to his personal political interest in digging up dirt on a potential rival.

Why was military aid withheld?

A credible defense on the substance would involve providing a legitimate rationale for why the nearly $400 million in security aid was withheld. It would also mean finding credible witnesses to counter the ones who have come forward.

Yet no sooner had Trump said it was time to look at the substance of the impeachment inquiry, than he reverted to petty personal attacks.

OPPOSING VIEW:House Democrats are just trying to invalidate the 2016 election of President Trump

He called one witness, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a “Never Trumper” — a term generally applied to Republicans and independent conservatives who oppose him. Unlike previous witnesses, Vindman was cleared and listening in on Trump’s call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, and he offered a firsthand account to House investigators Tuesday. In as much as Trump has previously called Never Trumpers “human scum,” the logical inference is that the president is calling Vindman human scum.

That’s pretty harsh for someone who has made military service his career, who is a combat veteran of Iraq, who was awarded a Purple Heart after almost being killed by a roadside bomb, and who was chosen for the high honor of serving as a uniformed staff member of the president’s National Security Council.

Some of Trump’s enablers have pointed to Vindman’s heritage as a Ukrainian whose family fled to America when he was 3 years old in 1979. Former Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin even suggested that Vindman did not have America’s interest at heart but rather those of Ukraine. That comes close to questioning the patriotism and loyalty of someone who has served the United States of America with extraordinary distinction.

Enough is enough. Stop the character assassinations. Call off the stupid stunts. Face the facts, which provide ample reasons for elevating the impeachment inquiry to the next level.

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