Pelosi Feels the Pressure, Schedules Impeachment Vote She Swore She Didn't Need
Nancy Pelosi was feeling the pressure.
After weeks of denying it was necessary to vote in the House of Representatives to give a legitimate sheen to Democrats’ attempt to impeach President Donald Trump, the House speaker announced Monday that there will be a vote on the floor on Thursday.
The announcement was contained in a “Dear Democratic Colleague” letter (which might give a hint as to just how “bipartisan” this whole impeachment strategy really is).
“For weeks, the President, his Counsel in the White House, and his allies in Congress have made the baseless claim that the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry ‘lacks the necessary authorization for a valid impeachment proceeding,’” Pelosi wrote. “They argue that, because the House has not taken a vote, they may simply pretend the impeachment inquiry does not exist.
“This argument has no merit.”
Well, Madam Pelosi might think the argument has no merit. And the flying monkeys of her Democratic caucus might think so, too.
But Republicans have been pounding on doubts about the legitimacy of the “impeachment inquiry” for weeks now — and obviously that’s had some effect on the Democratic leadership.
The star chamber being run by California Democrat Adam Schiff — the man President Donald Trump on Monday called “the biggest leaker in Washington” — was getting too hot.
Republicans like Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas were taking to social media to draw attention to the travesty.
Some, as CNN reported last week, even tried to storm the secure room where Schiff’s Intelligence Committee was deposing witnesses in secret (then leaking cherrypicked portions to friendly reporters).
On Fox News last week, former House Speaker Newt Gringrich pointed out just how completely Pelosi, Schiff & Co. had broken with precedents from past impeachment proceedings, which all included a vote of the House as a body before moving forward.
But Pelosi continued to resist, no doubt trying to shield the new members elected in 2018 from swing districts from having to commit themselves to what amounts to a vote to oust the president of the United States, and overturn the results of the 2016 election.
As recently as two weeks ago, Pelosi’s office released a statement declaring she didn’t need to hold a vote because the Constitution didn’t require it.
“There is no requirement under the Constitution, House Rules or House precedent that the House has to take a vote before proceeding with an impeachment inquiry,” the statement said, according to RealClearPolitics. “The Committees of the House now have robust authority under the House’s existing rules to conduct investigations for all matters within their jurisdiction, including impeachment investigations.”
The brass partisanship was obvious to every American with eyes and ears, but Pelosi still tried to hold firm. Even when she announced the vote on Monday, the motivation was obvious.
“We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump Administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives,” Pelosi wrote.
But if Pelosi thinks Thursday’s vote means the end of the White House resistance to what is becoming a Democratic coup attempt, the Trump White House spokeswoman’s response should be a sign of more conflict to come.
“We won’t be able to comment fully until we see the actual text,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement, according to Fox News, “but Speaker Pelosi is finally admitting what the rest of America already knew — that Democrats were conducting an unauthorized impeachment proceeding, refusing to give the President due process, and their secret, shady, closed-door depositions are completely and irreversibly illegitimate.”
There’s not likely to be a lot of drama about the outcome of Thursday’s vote — Pelosi wouldn’t be bringing it to the floor if she wasn’t assured of winning. (As Breitbart reported, 231 House Democrats voted to support Pelosi’s announcement in September that an “impeachment inquiry” was beginning. That’s comfortably more than the 218 votes that a House majority requires.)
Still, the move means one thing for sure – Nancy Pelosi was feeling the pressure.
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