To Impeach, or Not to Impeach?
It seems like ever since the day Trump took office, Republicans and Democrats have been arguing about whether or not Trump should be impeached. Following the special investigation headed up by Robert Mueller–which looked at the Trump administration’s role in the Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election–the debate became even more heated. Now, Democrats are discussing taking the next step forward and consider impeachment proceedings. They’re meeting with some reluctance, however, and not always from Republicans: some Democrats also aren’t sure that impeachment is a good way to go. Here, Election Central takes a closer look.
The Push for Impeachment
You might wonder why all of this is happening now. It’s because the findings from the Mueller investigation convinced many congressional Democrats that the time had finally come to take formal action against Trump. According to the committee, Mueller’s report revealed ten possible times when Trump had obstructed justice. It also led to 37 criminal indictments and, so far, seven guilty pleas. Many Democrats feel that because of this, there is finally enough evidence to try and remove Trump from office.
A House Divided
But Democrats are divided between more moderate Democrats who have traditionally made up the party’s leadership and progressives who are making the push for impeachment. The Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee is the body that has the responsibility to pursue the impeachment path, and according to its chairperson, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the committee is already well on its way. In fact, last Thursday, the committee voted in favor of instituting new procedures for its impeachment process.
The committee will now be allowed to question witnesses for an additional hour, and to accept evidence behind closed doors to help protect the privacy of their sources. (All of these changes are legal and have happened before with other impeachment proceedings.) This all means that, as early as this week, the committee will begin hearing testimony from such people as Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary.
A Different Approach
Congressional Democrats who are against impeachment, however, stress that they would rather focus their time on legislative issues, such as gun control.
Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has indicated that she would be against pursuing impeachment proceedings without strong public support–which she doesn’t think is there yet at the moment. However, Pelosi says that she supports the House Judiciary Committee and its investigation. Last month, for the first time, the majority of House Democrats publicly voiced support to proceed with an impeachment inquiry.
If the efforts of progressives are successful, the House might issue articles of impeachment by the end of the calendar year. But there could be lots of political changes between now and then.
What Do You Think Visit the following site to view a graphic representation of who in the House does and does not support beginning formal impeachment proceedings against the president. Based on this graphic, do you think it’s likely that the House will vote in favor of impeachment? Explain.
