Nancy Pelosi just gambled and won
Given the haphazard and slightly mis-timed manner in which it came to fruition, it’s highly doubtful that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats knew that a tape of Donald Trump telling Lev and Igor to “take her out” was going to leak to the media. If Pelosi had this recording up her sleeve, it would have been employed by the House managers during their impeachment trial presentation.
That said, this leaked tape is the kind of development that Nancy Pelosi was betting on. She held onto the articles of impeachment for as long as she could (until the media finally started trying to use it against her), knowing that the extra time would allow for Donald Trump’s Ukraine scandal to further unravel on several fronts.
In that time we’ve seen Lev Parnas release damning evidence against Trump. We’ve seen John Bolton publicly offer to testify. Now we’ve got someone, who may or may not be Igor, but who is definitely not Lev, leaking this recording of Trump. Some of these are more meaningful wins than others, and some of them may not go anywhere. But the point is that things keep surfacing, and they’re going to keep surfacing. If Pelosi hadn’t waited, the trial would be over by now, and Trump would be crowing about his sham acquittal before any of this could come out.
The kicker is that once the Senate Republicans stake themselves to acquitting Donald Trump, even more evidence will keep surfacing which proves his guilt. At that point the House can launch new investigative hearings, which may or may not center around new articles of impeachment, and new witnesses and evidence can be put on display for all to see. It’ll further harm Trump’s 2020 chances, which is the name of the game. And it’ll harm the GOP’s chances of keeping the Senate in 2020, because the idiots will have acquitted Trump while he’s going to be increasingly seen as being guilty by the public. No one in politics has a magic wand, but Pelosi played the odds, and she’s winning.
