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BeyondGeography

(39,284 posts)
Mon May 20, 2019, 08:43 PM May 2019

WaPo: Pelosi's leadership team rebels on impeachment, presses her to begin an inquiry

Because a lot of people don’t believe Politico.

Members of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s own leadership team confronted her in a contentious Monday night meeting and argued that it was time to begin an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, according to multiple sources in the room.

At least five members of Pelosi’s leadership team — four who also sit on the House Judiciary Committee with jurisdiction over impeachment — pressed Pelosi to allow the panel to start the inquiry, which they argued would help investigators attain documents and testimony Trump has blocked.

Pelosi, according to sources in the room, pushed back on the idea with senior leaders, including House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). Pelosi has also long been an impeachment skeptic and tried to tamp down impeachment talk in her caucus as recently as last week by encouraging members to focus on their legislative agenda.

...The meeting underscores the first time Pelosi’s rank-and-file members — including members of her leadership team — have lobbied her to change her long-held position on impeachment. Judiciary members for days have discussed how to move the speaker toward their thinking, but few have been willing to break with her publicly.

However, a core group of Judiciary Democrats on Tuesday plans to begin calling for an impeachment inquiry if former White House counsel Don McGahn does not show for subpoenaed testimony at 10 a.m., according to multiple sources familiar with the plan. The White House on Monday moved to block McGahn from showing up, arguing that he is exempt from testimony.


More at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pelosis-leadership-team-rebels-on-impeachment-presses-her-to-begin-an-inquiry/2019/05/20/263c11de-7b5b-11e9-a66c-d36e482aa873_story.html?utm_term=.ce99a1d6b23e
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WaPo: Pelosi's leadership team rebels on impeachment, presses her to begin an inquiry (Original Post) BeyondGeography May 2019 OP
If pelosi fails to lead, democrats are sunk in 2020 beachbum bob May 2019 #1
Why not do both? guillaumeb May 2019 #2
Raskin, from the article BeyondGeography May 2019 #4
Exactly. guillaumeb May 2019 #5
"talk about the Democratic agenda items " TwilightZone May 2019 #8
Urging the Speaker to call for impeachment sooner than later isn't a "rebellion" StarfishSaver May 2019 #3
Ditto. I'm also sick of pundits' saying that the leadership's spooky3 May 2019 #7
McGahn's not going to show up gldstwmn May 2019 #6
I am losing confidence with Pelosi. What is her problem???? triron May 2019 #9

BeyondGeography

(39,284 posts)
4. Raskin, from the article
Mon May 20, 2019, 08:52 PM
May 2019
During the Monday night leadership meeting, Pelosi was speaking about how Democrats’ messaging isn’t breaking through because everyone is talking about corruption, special counsel Robert S. Mueller’s report and impeachment. That’s when Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a subcommittee chairman on Judiciary, jumped in to say something along the lines of “Madam Speaker, you’ve just made a great case for an impeachment inquiry,” according to sources in the room who summarized his words.

Raskin argued that an inquiry would allow leadership to centralize all of the investigations into one inquiry and then allow everyone else to focus and talk about the Democratic agenda items that won them the majority in 2018.

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)
5. Exactly.
Mon May 20, 2019, 08:57 PM
May 2019

Show the average voter, the un-obsessed voter, if you will, that the Democrats can handle both things.

TwilightZone

(25,342 posts)
8. "talk about the Democratic agenda items "
Mon May 20, 2019, 10:01 PM
May 2019

If/when we pursue impeachment, "Democratic agenda items" will get buried in the media. It will be all impeachment, all the time.

 

StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
3. Urging the Speaker to call for impeachment sooner than later isn't a "rebellion"
Mon May 20, 2019, 08:50 PM
May 2019

I'm tired of the media trying to ramp this up into "Democrats in disarray" headlines.

spooky3

(34,303 posts)
7. Ditto. I'm also sick of pundits' saying that the leadership's
Mon May 20, 2019, 09:07 PM
May 2019

Primary or only concern is that voters may not like their starting impeachment. I have not heard a single Democratic elected official’s saying this. I believe that, because the Senate will not vote to convict, the impeachment process will not result in the desired outcome, which is to remove Trump from office, and could even strengthen his hand in 2020. That is, I believe, the main reason the leadership thinks starting impeachment now would be a mistake. Their challenge continues to be, how to gain more public and court support for their actions, which may in turn increase pressure on Republican Senators to do the right thing, and lead voters to kick Trump out in 2020, if the Senate won’t.

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