Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will convene the Democratic caucus at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday to discuss whether to impeach President Donald Trump.
The new development, reported by Washington Post congressional correspondent Rachel Bade on Monday evening, comes in the wake of reports late last week that President Trump encouraged Ukrainian officials to re-open inquiries into the business dealings of former president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
As Breitbart News reported earlier this year, Biden forced out former Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin as he was investigating an energy company called Burisma Holdings, which was paying Biden handsomely as a member of its board. The former vice president even boasted to the Council of Foreign Relations last year that he had threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid unless the prosecutor was fired. (He did not tell the audience about his son’s role.) Conservatives claim Biden obstructed justice to protect his son — who enriched himself using his father’s prestige.
Girl Whines Her Birthday’s Ruined After She’s Fired for Telling World That Trump Is Dead
Trump says Colorado’s mail-in voting system ‘a big factor’ in decision to move Space Command to Alabama
House releases 33,000 pages of Epstein files from DOJ
Trump Puts Social Media Rumors to Rest About What He Was Doing In Recent Days
Trump’s Justice Department moves to block blue state from giving financial aid to illegals
Teen prank turns deadly in Dem-run city, homeowner facing murder charge
Appeals court blocks Trump from firing FTC commissioner in case testing president’s removal powers
House Oversight Committee releases thousands of Epstein documents
Baltimore fire causes building collapse in massive downtown emergency as arson teams, ATF investigates
Senate advances defense bill boosting service member pay, Pentagon reforms
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst Announces Retirement
Watch: Now They Want to Separate Families at Border? – 3 Lib Women Desperately Flail as Scott Jennings Exposes Them as Frauds on National TV
Farage and Starmer furious after comedy writer arrested in UK over transgender criticism
Trump responds to bizarre weekend rumors of his death: ‘I was very active’
Burning Man homicide rocks festival as police ask for public’s help after man found in ‘pool of blood’
It is not clear what law, if any, Trump would have broken by urging the Ukrainian government to re-open the case. The alleged “whistleblower” in the case did not hear his conversations with Ukrainian leaders directly, and the Wall Street Journal has suggested there was no quid pro quo — that Trump did not offer (or withhold) anything in return.
Nevertheless, the story has given new enthusiasm to supporters of impeachment in the House Democratic caucus, who had been somewhat deflated after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of Russian collusion.
In July, the House voted 332-95 to postpone an impeachment resolution. As of last week, the Democrats only had 175 votes for impeachment from their 235 member — 43 votes short of the 218 necessary for a House majority. Almost all of the Democratic presidential contenders support impeachment, but only 37% of the public support it, while half oppose impeachment, according to the most recent Politico/Morning Consult poll released last week.
On Saturday, however, in the wake of the Ukraine story, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — who enjoys unrivaled support among the “progressive” base — tweeted: “At this point, the bigger national scandal isn’t the president’s lawbreaking behavior – it is the Democratic Party’s refusal to impeach him for it.” (She did not cite any law Trump had broken.)
Girl Whines Her Birthday’s Ruined After She’s Fired for Telling World That Trump Is Dead
Trump says Colorado’s mail-in voting system ‘a big factor’ in decision to move Space Command to Alabama
House releases 33,000 pages of Epstein files from DOJ
Trump Puts Social Media Rumors to Rest About What He Was Doing In Recent Days
Trump’s Justice Department moves to block blue state from giving financial aid to illegals
Teen prank turns deadly in Dem-run city, homeowner facing murder charge
Appeals court blocks Trump from firing FTC commissioner in case testing president’s removal powers
House Oversight Committee releases thousands of Epstein documents
Baltimore fire causes building collapse in massive downtown emergency as arson teams, ATF investigates
Senate advances defense bill boosting service member pay, Pentagon reforms
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst Announces Retirement
Watch: Now They Want to Separate Families at Border? – 3 Lib Women Desperately Flail as Scott Jennings Exposes Them as Frauds on National TV
Farage and Starmer furious after comedy writer arrested in UK over transgender criticism
Trump responds to bizarre weekend rumors of his death: ‘I was very active’
Burning Man homicide rocks festival as police ask for public’s help after man found in ‘pool of blood’
On Monday, Politico reported that “Democratic all-stars” — including former Vice President Al Gore and other “alumni of the Clinton and Obama administrations” — were backing impeachment. NBC News quoted a “senior House Democratic aide” who said “[t]he dam could break on Thursday” for impeachment.
Pelosi had long resisted pressure to impeach the president, having seen the backlash that hit Republicans when they impeached President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Even though Clinton had committed actual crimes (obstructing justice and lying under oath), voters decided those did not amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors” — at least, not high enough to warrant reversing the results of a democratic election.
But on Monday, Bade reported, Pelosi had begun “sounding out members on impeachment, asking if the time has come.” Bade also reported that Democrats may use a “select committee” to conduct an impeachment inquiry, and not the contentious House Judiciary Committee run by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who has become a favorite Republican target.
Impeachment will not lead to President Trump’s removal from office unless the Senate votes to convict him by a two-thirds majority. Since Republicans have 53 seats, and Democrats (including independents who caucus with the Democrats) only have 47, the minority party would have to convince 20 Republicans — nearly half — to convict.
Story cited here.
