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.
Correspondents’ dinner chaos hits high-profile guests already marked by political violence
Breaking: WH Correspondents’ Dinner Shooter Identified, Appears to Be Kamala Harris Donor on Public Listing
Trump strikes defiant tone after another shooting: ‘I can’t be concerned’
WH Correspondents’ Dinner Cancelled After Shooting Despite Trump Wanting the Show to Go on
Secret Service in line of fire at WHCA shooting still unpaid due to Dem-led shutdown
Man charged security checkpoint and shot Secret Service agent at White House correspondents’ dinner: Trump
Trump rushed from same hotel where Reagan assassination attempt unfolded in 1981
Breaking: Shooter Reportedly Shot Dead or Apprehended at WH Correspondents Dinner with Trump in Attendance
Breaking: Shots Reportedly Fired at WH Correspondents Dinner, Trump and Melania Rushed Out
Trump shares details on ‘very sick person’ who fired shots at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Trump and Cabinet members evacuated from correspondents’ dinner after shooting
King Charles to meet Mamdani in New York during US state visit next week
Illegal alien accused of biting 3-year-old girl’s face at Texas park; ICE lodges detainer after arrest: DHS
Trump vows to ‘get to the bottom’ of Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovation after probe shift
Winery belonging to Ilhan Omar’s husband shut down amid financial spotlight
…
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:
Correspondents’ dinner chaos hits high-profile guests already marked by political violence
Breaking: WH Correspondents’ Dinner Shooter Identified, Appears to Be Kamala Harris Donor on Public Listing
Trump strikes defiant tone after another shooting: ‘I can’t be concerned’
WH Correspondents’ Dinner Cancelled After Shooting Despite Trump Wanting the Show to Go on
Secret Service in line of fire at WHCA shooting still unpaid due to Dem-led shutdown
Man charged security checkpoint and shot Secret Service agent at White House correspondents’ dinner: Trump
Trump rushed from same hotel where Reagan assassination attempt unfolded in 1981
Breaking: Shooter Reportedly Shot Dead or Apprehended at WH Correspondents Dinner with Trump in Attendance
Breaking: Shots Reportedly Fired at WH Correspondents Dinner, Trump and Melania Rushed Out
Trump shares details on ‘very sick person’ who fired shots at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Trump and Cabinet members evacuated from correspondents’ dinner after shooting
King Charles to meet Mamdani in New York during US state visit next week
Illegal alien accused of biting 3-year-old girl’s face at Texas park; ICE lodges detainer after arrest: DHS
Trump vows to ‘get to the bottom’ of Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovation after probe shift
Winery belonging to Ilhan Omar’s husband shut down amid financial spotlight
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.
