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.
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Georgia teacher, father hailed as hero after dying to save girl from Myrtle Beach rip current
Watch: Trump’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Unloads on Fauci Over Texts Showing He Thought One Thing, But Said Another to American Mothers
Zuckerberg Superyacht Accused of Ignoring Vessel’s Call for Help – Alaskan Cruise Captain Comes to the Rescue
Trump directs CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid gender transition funding for minors
Suspect in off-duty Philadelphia officer’s car theft linked to killing of Penn State student: police
DOJ won’t rule out new charges for Reflecting Pool vandals as Trump calls to revisit dropped cases
Vulnerable Dem’s campaign pitch clashes with ‘radical’ voting record on top culture war issue
Man wanted in robbery tied to Penn State student’s murder now sought after off-duty cop shootout
Democrats give Senate GOP new midterm ammo in opposing federal voter ID
…
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:
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Georgia teacher, father hailed as hero after dying to save girl from Myrtle Beach rip current
Watch: Trump’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Unloads on Fauci Over Texts Showing He Thought One Thing, But Said Another to American Mothers
Zuckerberg Superyacht Accused of Ignoring Vessel’s Call for Help – Alaskan Cruise Captain Comes to the Rescue
Trump directs CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid gender transition funding for minors
Suspect in off-duty Philadelphia officer’s car theft linked to killing of Penn State student: police
DOJ won’t rule out new charges for Reflecting Pool vandals as Trump calls to revisit dropped cases
Vulnerable Dem’s campaign pitch clashes with ‘radical’ voting record on top culture war issue
Man wanted in robbery tied to Penn State student’s murder now sought after off-duty cop shootout
Democrats give Senate GOP new midterm ammo in opposing federal voter ID
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.
