Nancy Pelosi made it official on Tuesday evening. The House will begin a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.
The Washington Post leaked the news hours earlier, and it’s been clear for at least two days that the spiraling Ukraine scandal may have tipped the scales for the Speaker, who has spent months pushing back against those in her party who have demanded Trump be removed from office for a laundry list of offenses, large, small and everything in between.
“What do we have, a republic or a monarchy?”, Pelosi asked, recounting a question Americans posed to Benjamin Franklin in 1787. She was addressing the public following a meeting with Democrats who were informed that impeachment proceedings were set to begin.
Pelosi cited the acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire’s refusal to turn over the whistle-blower complaint tied to Trump’s call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
Inspector general for the intelligence community Michael Atkinson deemed that complaint an “urgent concern”, but the Trump administration has prevented it from being transmitted to lawmakers, who have given Mike Pompeo until Thursday to produce documents related to the call.
Maguire, who will appear before the House intelligence committee this week, “will have to choose whether to break the law”, Pelosi said, adding that Trump’s public comments over the past several days appear to be an admission that he discussed investigating Joe and Hunter Biden with a foreign leader in the interest of furthering his reelection campaign.
“The actions of the Trump presidency revealed… the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections”, Pelosi charged. “Therefore today, I’m announcing that the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry”.
She also cited Trump’s repeated references to Article 2 which, according to the president, allows him to “do whatever I want”.
Apparently, that contention is about to be put to the ultimate test – or at least in the House.
“The president must be held accountable”, Pelosi said, summing up. “No one is above the law”.
And so it begins.
I am pleased with this turn. Pleased meaning a huge relief. It seems like it has taken forever.
It would be wonderful, and unlikely, for the democrats to include Justin Amash in some way. I feel he is credible and would add a little c conservative voice. It would add credibility, at the very least. And thwart the march of sycophantic sociopaths that constitute the bulk of the GOP at this point, ruining conservatism for, perhaps, a generation.
The Republican Party’s complete abdication to Trumpism/Bannonism/Millerism should consign it to the same grave where the old Whig, No Nothing, and Populist parties lie. We can only hope.
We could be entering a transition period from republic to monarchy
The elephant in the room is the Republican Party. They can turn this into a circus or save the nation. Well Mitch?
If you are banking on Moscow Mitch to do the right thing you will be sorely disappointed. He will only do the right thing if Trump’s public approval rating drops to around 30% or below. That will only when it will be too late for him and much of the rest of the GOP caucus. Then and only then will you see the rats deserting the sinking ship.
The subtitle “So it begins…” should read “so it is at ever was….”
Trump is the master of contorting the story, obscuring the focus, bluffing, and shifting the blame to his detractors. Please don’t get your hopes up over impeachment, or even embarrassment or loss of support.