What a difference a day makes! The impeachment train has left the station, and shit's about to go down! The Washington Post reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is "privately discussing the creation of a select committee to conduct the possible impeachment of President Trump, according to multiple lawmakers and congressional aides." This afternoon's Democratic caucus meeting is going to be LIT. And also, we're guessing, LEAKY, so we should know where this is headed pretty soon after that.
Spoiler Alert:
CONFIRMED: Pelosi will announce a formal impeachment inquiry later today AND share that she personally supports impeaching Donald Trump.
— Kaivan Shroff (@Kaivan Shroff) 1569346266.0
As of this writing, there are currently165171 Democratic House members who have come out in favor of opening impeachment hearings, according to Politico's handydandy chart . The seven freshmen holding hands and jumping together last night appears to have burst the proverbial dam, and more than a dozen of their colleagues have come out in favor of impeachment today alone. Some close Pelosi allies, like Maryland'sJohn Sarbanes(whoops, there he goes! ) and Steny Hoyer, are likely waiting for the signal from Speaker Pelosi before making an announcement.
Looks like John Lewis is all the way to there however.
NEW: Rep. John Lewis: "I truly believe the time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come.… https://t.co/NrOy7Ve0Ap
— ABC News (@ABC News) 1569341843.0
Because we are Democrats, though, we're definitely going to argue about it for a minute. Pelosi's push to form a new impeachment panel would likely mean starting over, jettisoning the work already begun in the Judiciary Committee and taking control away from Jerry Nadler.
Yes, this is an emergency. We don’t have the luxury of time w/ another committee. Judiciary has been investigating… https: //t.co/xvHLJqecWj
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1569339459.0
On the other hand, Nadler's Judiciary Committee inquiry has made scant headway, is currently bogged down in the courts over Trump's facially ridiculous assertions of privilege, is inextricably tied to the Mueller report, and has failed to drum up popular support for impeachment. If, as the Post suggests, Pelosi wants to convene a new, hand-selected panel led by Adam Schiff specifically to impeach the motherfucker over the Ukraine extortion plot, Your Wonkette is FINE WITH IT.
CNN got more details on internal Democratic deliberations, saying that Pelosi has been encouraging her members to get off the fence and come out in support of impeachment, and that she wants to get the resolution on the table before Acting DNI Joseph Maguire testifies on Thursday. She's laying down a redline, saying that impeachment proceedings will begin if the White House doesn't release the whistleblower report. And since the White House is all the way to dug in on this one, safe to say make up sex is off the table.
But it's not all standing behind Nancy Pelosi waiting for the starter gun for congressional Democrats. This morning the chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Intel, and Oversight committees sent a joint letter to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone reminding him that they asked him two weeks ago for documents relating to Trump and Giuliani's efforts to gin up a smear campaign against Joe Biden, and "To date, the White House has failed to acknowledge our request or comply in any way with the Committee's request for documents." Since then, the President has publicly admitted that he ordered the President of Ukraine to cooperate with Rudy Giuliani to make this Ukrainium One thing happen. So it's now long past FUCKIN' GIVE IT-THIRTY, Pat!
The Department of Justice, your office, and you personally have reportedly played a direct role in devising a purported legal basis for the Acting DNI to circumvent both the statute and Congress' clear intent that all whistleblower disclosures intended for Congress reach the relevant committees unfiltered. If true, your office's involvement raises the specter of a significant cover up in which the White House has improperly intervened to withhold such information from Congress in contravention of the clear command and purpose of the whistleblower statute.
Not that the chairmen are contemplating obstruction of Congress charges, Pat. But they are just saying you should probably quit screwing with them. PAT.
Pelosi's announcement is scheduled for 5 pm, just in time to lead the evening news. Because this ain't Miss Nancy's first rodeo, fellas. And it ain't ours either! Your Wonkette will see you back here in two hours for go time.
BRING IT!
[ WaPo / CNN / House Letter Cipollone / Wonkette Bazaar ]
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It's a complication as far as getting out of the situation. I don't believe as many rank and file GOPs were caught up in Nixon, so they had less at stake personally.
They also threatened to hold up all bipartisan legislation until Democrats STOP impeachment.
Liars, hypocrites, wanna-be authoritarians. Nobody should trust them, ever.