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.
California allocating $35M to support illegal immigrants amid Trump’s mass deportation agenda
Biden friends voice concern over increased fatigue amid cancer battle: report
Manhunt underway after Missouri deputy slain, suspect’s truck spotted heading toward Arkansas border
House Dem compares Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown to ‘terrorism,’ vows to abolish ICE
Abbott surges Texas troopers to border after cartel kingpin’s killing sparks violence in Mexico
Notorious Mexican Drug Lord Was Killed After Secret Rendezvous with Lover Went Awry
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Accused of Racism After Making SAT Score Comment to Black Mayor
Mamdani’s NYC: Mayor Says Deaths During ‘Historic’ Blizzard Were ‘Overdose Related’ and Not Due to Weather Conditions
Social media erupts after Stephen King makes false claim about Trump’s family: ‘What is this sh–?’
Jack Smith’s Report from President Trump’s Classified Docs Case Permanently Blocked by Judge Aileen Cannon
Republicans make new House push on cartels after death of Mexico kingpin
Trump’s ‘worldwide tariff’ sets stage for rebuke from Congress ahead of midterm elections
Trump Predicts Supreme Court ‘Will Find a Way to Come to the Wrong Conclusion’ on Birthright Citizenship
ICE arrests convicted pedophiles, violent assailants as Trump meets with Angel Families
Ex-Navy SEAL puts ‘deranged’ Mexican drug cartel on notice after violent weekend: ‘More like ISIS’
…
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:
California allocating $35M to support illegal immigrants amid Trump’s mass deportation agenda
Biden friends voice concern over increased fatigue amid cancer battle: report
Manhunt underway after Missouri deputy slain, suspect’s truck spotted heading toward Arkansas border
House Dem compares Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown to ‘terrorism,’ vows to abolish ICE
Abbott surges Texas troopers to border after cartel kingpin’s killing sparks violence in Mexico
Notorious Mexican Drug Lord Was Killed After Secret Rendezvous with Lover Went Awry
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Accused of Racism After Making SAT Score Comment to Black Mayor
Mamdani’s NYC: Mayor Says Deaths During ‘Historic’ Blizzard Were ‘Overdose Related’ and Not Due to Weather Conditions
Social media erupts after Stephen King makes false claim about Trump’s family: ‘What is this sh–?’
Jack Smith’s Report from President Trump’s Classified Docs Case Permanently Blocked by Judge Aileen Cannon
Republicans make new House push on cartels after death of Mexico kingpin
Trump’s ‘worldwide tariff’ sets stage for rebuke from Congress ahead of midterm elections
Trump Predicts Supreme Court ‘Will Find a Way to Come to the Wrong Conclusion’ on Birthright Citizenship
ICE arrests convicted pedophiles, violent assailants as Trump meets with Angel Families
Ex-Navy SEAL puts ‘deranged’ Mexican drug cartel on notice after violent weekend: ‘More like ISIS’
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.
