Nancy Pelosi just subtly committed herself to impeaching Donald Trump
When the Democratic chairs of the three most influential House committees all began talking openly about the possibility of impeachment this past weekend, Palmer Report pointed out that they wouldn’t be doing this without the blessing of their boss, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Sure enough, now Pelosi is talking impeachment herself – and in fact she’s taking it further than the three committee chairs.
Here’s what Nancy Pelosi said about impeachment to House Democrats during a conference call on Monday, according to USA Today: “If that’s the place the facts take us, that’s the place we have to go.” This quote is carefully worded, to say the least. But make no mistake here. Pelosi just said that if the facts end up calling for impeachment, then House Democrats “have” to impeach Donald Trump. The crucial part here is that Pelosi already knows where the facts are going to take us.
To be clear, Pelosi doesn’t appear to have any interest in rushing into impeachment, or at least rushing into calling it impeachment. She also said this during the conference call: “Whether it’s articles of impeachment or investigations, it’s the same obtaining of facts. We don’t have to go to articles of impeachment to obtain the facts, the presentation of facts.” This is in line with Palmer Report’s premise that the next month or so of public hearings is going to look the same whether they’re calling it “impeachment” or not.
So now we’re at a place where Nancy Pelosi, who will ultimately be the one to make the decision, is committing herself to impeaching Donald Trump if the upcoming public testimony from people like Robert Mueller and Don McGahn ends up laying out the kinds of evidence that warrant impeachment. That said, it’s more clear than ever that even as Pelosi and the House Democratic leadership swiftly move forward with impeachment hearings and testimony, they’ll wait as long as possible before committing to calling it impeachment.
