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.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke
Martha Stewart Makes Homeless Costume 10x Worse With One of the Most Disastrous Apologies We’ve Ever Heard
Haley Stevens’ endorsement stunt backfires with El-Sayed setting single-day fundraising record
Watch: Giant Man Picks Up Kicking, Screaming Woman and Simply Carries Her Away in Daylight Kidnapping Attempt
Steve Hilton rallies at ‘symbol of 16 years of Democrat failure’ in closing days of California race
Watch: El-Sayed’s Last Minute ’60 Minutes’ Mess – Just Can’t Say Israel Has Right to Exist Full Stop
Staff exodus ensues after Dem Haley Stevens flips on own party and endorses GOP rival and more top headlines
George Floyd-era police watchdog chair charged with selling name to inmate who vowed to ‘blow down’ witness
The GOP reveals a fresh $100B talking point as the battle for Congress looms
How to watch critical 2026 midterm election races in TX, OH, MI, WI, GA, IA, NV, ME and FL
Mamdani says Trump agrees to grant visa so mother can attend funeral of teen killed in Bronx shooting
Collins accuses Schumer of pushing attack ads filled with ‘outright lies’ in tight Maine race
Missing Utah teen Kylie Arellano found safe in Oregon after 500-day search
Michigan Democrats in disarray after Haley Stevens endorses Mike Rogers and gets kicked out of party
Chicago Assailants Picked the Victim, Quickly Discovered He Had a Concealed Carry Permit
…
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:
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke
Martha Stewart Makes Homeless Costume 10x Worse With One of the Most Disastrous Apologies We’ve Ever Heard
Haley Stevens’ endorsement stunt backfires with El-Sayed setting single-day fundraising record
Watch: Giant Man Picks Up Kicking, Screaming Woman and Simply Carries Her Away in Daylight Kidnapping Attempt
Steve Hilton rallies at ‘symbol of 16 years of Democrat failure’ in closing days of California race
Watch: El-Sayed’s Last Minute ’60 Minutes’ Mess – Just Can’t Say Israel Has Right to Exist Full Stop
Staff exodus ensues after Dem Haley Stevens flips on own party and endorses GOP rival and more top headlines
George Floyd-era police watchdog chair charged with selling name to inmate who vowed to ‘blow down’ witness
The GOP reveals a fresh $100B talking point as the battle for Congress looms
How to watch critical 2026 midterm election races in TX, OH, MI, WI, GA, IA, NV, ME and FL
Mamdani says Trump agrees to grant visa so mother can attend funeral of teen killed in Bronx shooting
Collins accuses Schumer of pushing attack ads filled with ‘outright lies’ in tight Maine race
Missing Utah teen Kylie Arellano found safe in Oregon after 500-day search
Michigan Democrats in disarray after Haley Stevens endorses Mike Rogers and gets kicked out of party
Chicago Assailants Picked the Victim, Quickly Discovered He Had a Concealed Carry Permit
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.
