Some House Democrats are privately calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to hold a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry to undermine Republican criticism that the process is illegitimate, Politico reported this week.
So far, Pelosi has refused to schedule a vote, arguing that the Constitution and House rules do not require the lawmakers to do so.
Meanwhile, the White House and its Republican congressional allies contend that such a vote is necessary to legitimize the inquiry per the recognized standards of previous impeachment efforts.
Politico reported:
Some Democratic lawmakers and aides have begun to say privately — and, to a lesser extent, publicly — that the House should just vote to formalize the inquiry, robbing the GOP of its main talking point.
Man indicted for allegedly posting gruesome death threats against Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi on social media
Paralyzed subway victim confronts attacker, calls his actions ‘evil’ at sentencing
EMT Students Snap Into Action When They Realize Instructor Isn’t Acting During Training Exercise: ‘OK, This Is Real’
Prominent Democratic Mayor Announces Unexpected Resignation 6 Months After Re-Election
Southern Poverty Law Center pleads not guilty as CEO vows to fight fraud case
Trump surprises famously low-profile power player with tribute as she steps out for rare public appearance
Bipartisan lawmakers want to strip Big Tech’s legal immunity that can shield social media companies
Breaking: US Launches Strikes on Two Iranian Targets
Israeli Military Investigating After Soldier’s Picture with Mary Statue Draws Outrage from Catholic Officials
FIRST ON FOX: Top Republicans take abortion pill fight to Supreme Court, citing coercion and safety risks
Starmer fears Reform UK, Green Party gains in British election blitz
Lawyer handling key Trump litigation to depart DOJ later this month
Future of Ron DeSantis’ controversial ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ ICE holding facility revealed
Substitute teacher whose sobbing mugshot went viral reaches plea deal in sex case involving student
Six underage girls recovered in sweeping operation targeting notorious trafficking corridor
…
Though a small but growing chorus of Democrats has started urging a vote simply to undercut this GOP talking point, others say that nothing will stop Trump and his supporters from claiming Democrats’ efforts are unfair and inconsistent with past impeachment procedures. They say the party shouldn’t take the White House’s bait, arguing that the president’s defenders will simply find other reasons to not comply with the inquiry.
The “private” debate on whether or not to hold a vote “is threatening to cleave Democrats’ unified front” in favor of impeachment, the news outlet added.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) publicly called for a vote, telling Politico,“If Nancy asked me, I would say sure, let’s have a vote. Everybody’s on record, so they’re not going to vote any differently. What’s the danger in having a vote to formalize it?”
House lawmakers voted to allow an investigation into whether to impeach President Bill Clinton and President Richard Nixon. Republicans have pointed to those votes as evidence that Democrats are acting in an unfair and illegitimate manner.
Politico noted:
Man indicted for allegedly posting gruesome death threats against Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi on social media
Paralyzed subway victim confronts attacker, calls his actions ‘evil’ at sentencing
EMT Students Snap Into Action When They Realize Instructor Isn’t Acting During Training Exercise: ‘OK, This Is Real’
Prominent Democratic Mayor Announces Unexpected Resignation 6 Months After Re-Election
Southern Poverty Law Center pleads not guilty as CEO vows to fight fraud case
Trump surprises famously low-profile power player with tribute as she steps out for rare public appearance
Bipartisan lawmakers want to strip Big Tech’s legal immunity that can shield social media companies
Breaking: US Launches Strikes on Two Iranian Targets
Israeli Military Investigating After Soldier’s Picture with Mary Statue Draws Outrage from Catholic Officials
FIRST ON FOX: Top Republicans take abortion pill fight to Supreme Court, citing coercion and safety risks
Starmer fears Reform UK, Green Party gains in British election blitz
Lawyer handling key Trump litigation to depart DOJ later this month
Future of Ron DeSantis’ controversial ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ ICE holding facility revealed
Substitute teacher whose sobbing mugshot went viral reaches plea deal in sex case involving student
Six underage girls recovered in sweeping operation targeting notorious trafficking corridor
Democrats have long argued that they don’t need a vote to launch formal impeachment proceedings, even if that had been the practice in prior presidential impeachment processes. In fact, House lawyers backed by Pelosi have made that argument in a succession of court cases seeking evidence to support their impeachment inquiry, and proponents of that position worry a formal vote would undercut their legal claims.
Similarly, Democrats are worried that a near-term floor vote would drive away a handful of Republicans who are wavering over whether to support impeachment proceedings. A party-line vote would hand the White House another talking point, they argue: that impeachment is a purely partisan effort by Democrats.
In a letter to Pelosi and the House chairmen pursuing the impeachment inquiry, the White House said the Democrats were conducting a “constitutionally invalid” and “illegitimate” impeachment probe that absolves lawmakers of “taking political accountability.”
The White House said it would not cooperate with the ongoing “partisan” impeachment investigation. Although the letter stopped short of explicitly calling on Pelosi to hold a vote, it all but dared the Speaker to do so.
Most of the 235 members of the House Democratic Caucus support the impeachment probe, but there are still eight who did not, as of Thursday afternoon, a tally from the New York Times revealed.
Story cited here.
