In Nancy Pelosi's defiance of all House precedent, her dubious reliance on selective leaks of secret testimony to make her case, and her deference to Democrats who have been looking to impeach Donald Trump from the moment he was sworn in, the speaker now stands atop the most unprincipled presidential impeachment in U.S. history.
Her surprise decision Monday to call a vote that "Affirms" the continuing impeachment investigation and will set procedures going forward indicates she has realized this unfairness works to Mr. Trump's advantage.
That's what the Judiciary Committee did to get grand-jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller's report, back when House Democrats thought obstruction of justice was their path to impeachment.
Democrats have since moved on, but on Friday Judge Beryl Howell invited more judicial review when she ruled that the House is entitled to grand-jury information because "Impeachment trials ... constitute judicial proceedings." Justice is appealing, which opens the door for a higher court to consider not only Judge Howell's determination about impeachment being a judicial proceeding but her dismissal of a more fundamental argument by the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, Doug Collins, that the whole inquiry is illicit.
Mr. Collins notes that while the Constitution doesn't mandate a vote to authorize impeachment, it gives impeachment authority to the House, not to the speaker.
Going to court would still be a problem because, rather than insisting on taking as long as necessary to get to the truth, House Democrats have made clear they've already made their decision on impeachment and aim to deliver by Christmas.
If the hope is to build a credible public case that even Mr. Trump's supporters cannot deny, it's an odd choice to make the face of impeachment a man who had falsely assured the nation he'd seen "More than circumstantial evidence" the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-unfairness-advantage-11572302906?mod=hp_opin_pos_1
Her surprise decision Monday to call a vote that "Affirms" the continuing impeachment investigation and will set procedures going forward indicates she has realized this unfairness works to Mr. Trump's advantage.
That's what the Judiciary Committee did to get grand-jury material from special counsel Robert Mueller's report, back when House Democrats thought obstruction of justice was their path to impeachment.
Democrats have since moved on, but on Friday Judge Beryl Howell invited more judicial review when she ruled that the House is entitled to grand-jury information because "Impeachment trials ... constitute judicial proceedings." Justice is appealing, which opens the door for a higher court to consider not only Judge Howell's determination about impeachment being a judicial proceeding but her dismissal of a more fundamental argument by the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican, Doug Collins, that the whole inquiry is illicit.
Mr. Collins notes that while the Constitution doesn't mandate a vote to authorize impeachment, it gives impeachment authority to the House, not to the speaker.
Going to court would still be a problem because, rather than insisting on taking as long as necessary to get to the truth, House Democrats have made clear they've already made their decision on impeachment and aim to deliver by Christmas.
If the hope is to build a credible public case that even Mr. Trump's supporters cannot deny, it's an odd choice to make the face of impeachment a man who had falsely assured the nation he'd seen "More than circumstantial evidence" the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-unfairness-advantage-11572302906?mod=hp_opin_pos_1
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