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.
Ex-con charged in Christmas Day CVS robbery that left clerk fatally stabbed
Rob Schneider Goes Off on Minneapolis Mayor for Fanning Flames After ICE Shooting
NASA makes ‘unprecedented’ call to bring astronauts home after illness, expert says: ‘Evacuated from orbit’
How One Trump Admin Arrest May Soon Refill the Strategic Oil Reserves Biden Drained
Left-wing group backs tens of thousands of anti-ICE demonstrations nationwide
Lib Reporter Faces Subpoena After Doxxing Delta Force Commander Over Maduro Capture
Charlie’s Legacy: Ex-Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy Has ‘Surrendered’ to Jesus, Says Kirk’s Death Immediately Drove Her to Start Studying the Bible
DC pipe bomb suspect pleads not guilty to planting devices at DNC and RNC headquarters
Trump says Venezuela has begun releasing political prisoners ‘in a BIG WAY’
Trump Launches Plan to Protect Americans from Getting ‘Ripped Off’ By Credit Card Companies
MTG May Have Leaked Trump’s Location to Unhinged Activists: White House
Justice urges ‘stand up for our girls’ as Supreme Court weighs fate of his ‘Save Women’s Sports Act’
Who is Michael David McKee, the man accused of killing ex-wife and dentist husband in Ohio
Hochul, AOC, Mamdani slam ‘we support Hamas’ chants at Queens protest: ‘Disgusting and antisemitic’
Aurora terrorized by Venezuelan gang as dictator Maduro let Tren de Aragua seize power
…
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:
Ex-con charged in Christmas Day CVS robbery that left clerk fatally stabbed
Rob Schneider Goes Off on Minneapolis Mayor for Fanning Flames After ICE Shooting
NASA makes ‘unprecedented’ call to bring astronauts home after illness, expert says: ‘Evacuated from orbit’
How One Trump Admin Arrest May Soon Refill the Strategic Oil Reserves Biden Drained
Left-wing group backs tens of thousands of anti-ICE demonstrations nationwide
Lib Reporter Faces Subpoena After Doxxing Delta Force Commander Over Maduro Capture
Charlie’s Legacy: Ex-Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy Has ‘Surrendered’ to Jesus, Says Kirk’s Death Immediately Drove Her to Start Studying the Bible
DC pipe bomb suspect pleads not guilty to planting devices at DNC and RNC headquarters
Trump says Venezuela has begun releasing political prisoners ‘in a BIG WAY’
Trump Launches Plan to Protect Americans from Getting ‘Ripped Off’ By Credit Card Companies
MTG May Have Leaked Trump’s Location to Unhinged Activists: White House
Justice urges ‘stand up for our girls’ as Supreme Court weighs fate of his ‘Save Women’s Sports Act’
Who is Michael David McKee, the man accused of killing ex-wife and dentist husband in Ohio
Hochul, AOC, Mamdani slam ‘we support Hamas’ chants at Queens protest: ‘Disgusting and antisemitic’
Aurora terrorized by Venezuelan gang as dictator Maduro let Tren de Aragua seize power
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.
