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.
Two experienced skydivers die after midair collision entangles their parachutes
Betting Markets’ Midterm Predictions Were Dead On: Now They’re Saying DeSantis’s Odds of Becoming POTUS Are Skyrocketing
Chiefs Star Goes Bankrupt Mid-Season, Pawns Super Bowl Ring as Collateral
Ex-police officer accused of stabbing NYC jogger to death appears emotionless in new photos
Gun Rights Under Imminent Threat as Blue Wave Positions Dems to Revive Firearm Crackdown
Rubio defends Trump’s Iran decision: ‘Elected to do the hard things’
Melania Trump secures $7.2M for foster care scholarships at LSU ahead of Alabama showdown
DeSantis Slams Vivek Ramaswamy’s Disastrous Ohio Campaign: ‘How Bad Did They Beat Vivek? Like a Drum!’
DeSantis Gives Another Powerful Rebuke of GOP’s Strategy: ‘Screaming Socialism’ Doesn’t Work
Election Recap: Despite the GOP’s Massive Losses, Data Buried in Tuesday’s Results Show Voters Are Clamoring for Conservative Policies
Trump orders DOJ probe into Democrats over alleged threats against admin officials
Biden-appointed judge probes whether ICE skirted judge’s release orders in Colorado cases
Salon Signs Off: The Truth Outlasts the Smear
Newsom’s death-row commutations spark DA revolt as prosecutors warn of legal fight
Turning Point USA event at University of New Mexico ends with two arrests and a string of charges
…
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:
Two experienced skydivers die after midair collision entangles their parachutes
Betting Markets’ Midterm Predictions Were Dead On: Now They’re Saying DeSantis’s Odds of Becoming POTUS Are Skyrocketing
Chiefs Star Goes Bankrupt Mid-Season, Pawns Super Bowl Ring as Collateral
Ex-police officer accused of stabbing NYC jogger to death appears emotionless in new photos
Gun Rights Under Imminent Threat as Blue Wave Positions Dems to Revive Firearm Crackdown
Rubio defends Trump’s Iran decision: ‘Elected to do the hard things’
Melania Trump secures $7.2M for foster care scholarships at LSU ahead of Alabama showdown
DeSantis Slams Vivek Ramaswamy’s Disastrous Ohio Campaign: ‘How Bad Did They Beat Vivek? Like a Drum!’
DeSantis Gives Another Powerful Rebuke of GOP’s Strategy: ‘Screaming Socialism’ Doesn’t Work
Election Recap: Despite the GOP’s Massive Losses, Data Buried in Tuesday’s Results Show Voters Are Clamoring for Conservative Policies
Trump orders DOJ probe into Democrats over alleged threats against admin officials
Biden-appointed judge probes whether ICE skirted judge’s release orders in Colorado cases
Salon Signs Off: The Truth Outlasts the Smear
Newsom’s death-row commutations spark DA revolt as prosecutors warn of legal fight
Turning Point USA event at University of New Mexico ends with two arrests and a string of charges
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.
