Pelosi comes out against impeaching Trump, saying he's "just not worth it"

[thoughtone]

source: CBS News


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is opposed to impeaching President Trump, saying in an interview that the process would be too divisive for the country.

"I'm not for impeachment. This is news. I'm going to give you some news right now because I haven't said this to any press person before," Pelosi told The Washington Post Magazine in an interview published Monday. "But since you asked, and I've been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it."

Soon after the interview was published, Pelosi expanded on her remarks that Trump is "just not worth" impeaching. She told reporters that she does not "believe" in impeachment because it "divides the country."

"I just don't believe in it. They wanted me to impeach President Bush for the Iraq War. I didn't believe in it then I don't believe in it now. It divides the country. Unless there is some conclusive evidence that takes us to that place," Pelosi said.

Pelosi reiterated the point she made in her earlier interview, that impeachment would be a distraction from the things Democrats want to accomplish. "That's our agenda, that's our focus -- to take our eye off that ball, it's not worth it," she said. "That's why I say, impeachment, he's not worth it."

Asked about her previous comments that Democrats should wait to see what the Mueller report says, Pelosi reminded reporters that President Nixon was "not impeached -- the Republicans finally saw the light."

In the Washington Post Magazine interview conducted last week, Pelosi added that she doesn't believe Mr. Trump is fit for office: "I mean, ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don't think he's fit to be president of the United States."

Since Democrats took control of the House in January, liberal lawmakers and activists have pushed Democratic leadership to pursue impeachment. Billionaire Tom Steyer has led the charge, spending tens of millions of dollars on television ads calling on Democrats to begin the process.

In a statement Monday, Steyer reacted to Pelosi's feeling that Mr. Trump is "not worth" impeaching: "Is defending our legal system 'worth it?' Is holding the President accountable 'worth it?' Is doing what's right 'worth it?' Or shall America just stop fighting for our principles and do what's politically convenient?"

Pelosi and Democratic leaders have downplayed calls for impeachment while simultaneously opening wide-ranging investigations into the Trump administration and the president's business practices. The House Judiciary Committee, which would oversee any impeachment inquiry, demanded documents last week from 81 individuals tied to Mr. Trump as it opened a burgeoning investigation into potential obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

In her interview with The Post, Pelosi reflected on her 32 years in Washington and compared the current political atmosphere to the partisan battles of the 1990s.

"It's very divisive because of the person who is in the White House and the enablers that the Republicans in Congress are to him. It was terrible when we were here in the '90s and [Newt] Gingrich was speaker and impeached the president, Bill Clinton," the speaker said. "There's no question that that was horrible for the country."

Asked if she agreed with those who "feel the nation's institutions are in a perilous state," Pelosi said she didn't share that concern, but emphasized the importance of the coming presidential election.

"Our country is great. It's a great country. Our founders gave us the strongest foundation," she said. "All the challenges we have faced, we can withstand anything. But maybe not two [Trump] terms. So we have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Pelosi said it was up to Democrats to "make the contrast" with the president, but said the issues facing the country are bigger than the current occupant of the White House.

"This is coming across too negatively. I don't usually talk about him this much. This is the most I've probably talked about him. I hardly ever talk about him. You know, it's not about him. It's about what we can do for the people to lower health care costs, bigger paychecks, cleaner government."

 

[QueEx]

Fareed Zakaria:

A better strategy for Democrats than impeachment

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images North America. Oher Democrats can be irresponsible in calling for
impeachment so long as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains responsible.


NEW YORK — Consider, for a moment, what the growing talk of impeachment among Democrats sounds like to the tens of millions of people who voted for Donald Trump. Many of them supported him because they feel ignored, mocked and condescended to by the country’s urban, educated and cosmopolitan elites — especially lawyers and journalists. So what happens when their guy gets elected? These same elites pursue a series of maneuvers to try to overturn the results of the 2016 election. It would massively increase the class resentment that feeds support for Trump. It would turn the topic away from his misdeeds and toward the Democrats’ overreach and obsessions. And ultimately, of course, it would fail — two-thirds of this Republican-controlled Senate would not vote to convict him — allowing the president to brandish his “acquittal” like a gold medal.

I know, I know, many argue passionately that this is not a political affair but rather a moral and legal one. After reading the Mueller report, they say, Congress has no option but to fulfill its obligation and impeach Trump. But this view misunderstands impeachment entirely. It is by design an inherently political process, not a legal one. That’s why the standard used — “high crimes and misdemeanors” — is not one used in criminal procedures. And that is why the decision is entrusted to a political body, Congress, not the courts.

In 1970, when he was House minority leader, Gerald Ford provided the most honest definition of an impeachable offense: “whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.” Of the three cases in America’s past, history’s judgment is that only one — the impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon — was wholly justified. Andrew Johnson’s decision to fire his secretary of war — clearly lawful — should not have led to his impeachment. The same is true for Bill Clinton’s failed Whitewater land deal, which triggered an independent counsel inquiry that went into completely unrelated arenas and used questionable methods of investigation.


Harvard Law School’s Noah Feldman points out that neither history nor the Founders’ intent yields clear lessons on the topic. “It’s quite possible that many Founders would have supported impeachment for serious substantive matters like the usurpation of power by the president. By that standard would (Abraham) Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, FDR’s internment of the Japanese Americans or (Lyndon) Johnson’s massive expansion of the Vietnam War all have been impeachable offenses? Possibly.” But these presidents were not impeached, because Congress and the country exercised political judgment. And that is why it is entirely appropriate for Democrats to think this through politically.

For some Democrats, impeachment talk might be a smart, if cynical, short-term calculation. If you are running for the Democratic nomination and languishing in the polls, it is a way to get attention. If you are consolidating your support with the party’s base, the more fiercely anti-Trump you are, the better. But all these moves only work as long as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slow-rolls the process and stops it from getting out of hand. Others can be irresponsible on the assumption that Pelosi will be responsible. But what if things snowball, as they often do in politics?

The Democrats have a much better path in front of them. They should pursue legitimate investigations of Trump, bring in witnesses, and release documentary proof of wrongdoing, providing a national education about the way Trump has operated as president. But they should at the same time show the public that they would be a refreshing contrast to Trump — substantive, policy-oriented, civil and focused on the country, not on their narrow base. America is tired of the circus of Donald Trump. That doesn’t mean they want the circus of the House Democrats.

Trump is vulnerable. With strong economic numbers, he has astonishingly low approval ratings. He will likely run his 2020 campaign on cultural nationalism, as he did the last one. Democrats need to decide what their vision will be. That should be their focus for the next two years, not the unfounded hope that if they pursue impeachment, somehow a series of miracles will take place — a deeply divided country will coalesce around them and Republicans will finally abandon their president.

The real challenge the Democrats face goes beyond Trump -- it is Trumpism —

a right-wing populism that has swelled in the United States over the past decade.

Surely the best way to take it on is to combat it ideologically and defeat it electorally.

That is the only way to give the Democrats the real prize, which is not Trump’s scalp -- but the power and legitimacy to forge a governing majority.​

https://www.dailycamera.com/2019/04...tter-strategy-for-democrats-than-impeachment/


https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...cfeff232e8f_story.html?utm_term=.1ddef1c3b32f

.

 

[QueEx]

An interesting strategy in the long run, no?

 

[QueEx]

Dems see GOP effort to drive them to impeach Trump


The Hill
By Mike Lillis
and Cristina Marcos -
May 5, 2019


House Democratic leaders facing liberal calls for impeaching President Trump are confronting increasing pressure from an unlikely faction: Republicans who appear eager to goad them into it.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team have repeatedly sought to defuse the appeals for impeachment hearings, deeming them premature, and some Democrats sense the Republicans are setting a political trap to boost their ally in the White House.

But recent stonewalling actions by the administration have only fueled the liberal push to oust the president, complicating leadership efforts to keep a lid on the campaign.

GOP leaders know impeachment divides Democrats, and see a clear political advantage in promoting the debate. The Republicans’ campaign arm is steadily blasting emails linking moderate Democrats in swing districts to the impeachment effort. And a growing number of GOP lawmakers are all but daring Democratic leaders to launch the process while it remains unpopular with voters — a strategy not overlooked by top Democrats vowing to resist the bait.

“They would love to drive this to an impeachment, because they think it will be their political salvation,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a Judiciary Committee member, said of Republicans.

“If we get there, we will get there on our own time and our own way. We're not going to be baited into it,” Raskin said.

Those dynamics appeared front-and-center last week during the partisan fight over Attorney General William Barr’s scheduled testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Behind Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Democrats had demanded that Barr submit to interviews by staff attorneys from both parties. Barr declined, refusing to appear at all, and Republicans quickly accused Democrats of trying to employ the legal powers provided by impeachment before they’ve formally launched the process.

Rep. Doug Collins (Ga.), the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, seemed to challenge Nadler to take that step, saying in a Fox News interview that Democrats “don't have the fortitude to actually bring an impeachment inquiry."

“The procedural and legal perks of impeachment do not apply, and the chairman can’t have it both ways. He can’t try to pacify his liberal base by pretending to do impeachment without actually taking the plunge,” Collins wrote in prepared remarks for Thursday’s hearing. “The reality of our chamber and this distinguished committee is that when it comes to impeachment, you’re either in, Mr. Chairman, or you’re out, and, right now, you’re out.”

Collins was hardly the only Republican to invoke impeachment while attacking House Democrats’ treatment of Barr.

“Chairman Nadler decided to change the rules to satisfy the very obvious desire to impeach President Trump,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “Nadler has been wanting to impeach the day after the election. He can't have the facts to prove why he should, but he will not stop.”

“I view this as nothing more than a trial run for impeachment,” echoed Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).

Democrats face a balancing act as they seek to unite their diverse caucus in response to the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

Pelosi, joined by an overwhelming majority of Democrats, favors an aggressive investigative approach that seeks to gather more evidence of potential administrative wrongdoing — and swing more voters against the president — before they consider impeaching him.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll hints at the logic in that design, finding that 66 percent of voters currently oppose impeachment, versus just 29 percent who support it.​

“Obviously, impeachment is the ultimate [option],” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “But we need to pursue this in a very, very vigorous way. Because this goes to the very essence of the relationship between two co-equal branches of government.”

Yet the Democrats' tough talk has done little to prompt new cooperation from the administration. Trump has vowed to fight “all the subpoenas.” And Barr’s refusal to testify last week — combined with the recent airing of Mueller’s evident grievances with Barr's assessment of the investigators' findings — have left Democrats inching ever closer to impeachment proceedings.

“If the Trump administration wants impeachment, they're doing a good job of pushing the Democrats there,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), a Judiciary Committee member, told CNN Thursday. “We want to first gather facts to decide if we should impeach. If we can't gather facts, then we're going to launch an Article III impeachment.”

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is threatening again to force another House floor vote on impeachment. And Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a progressive freshman who has proposed legislation requiring the Judiciary Committee to begin examining potentially impeachable offenses, said interest in her resolution has spiked in the last week.

“For me, the Mueller letter to Barr, that is confirmation that Attorney General Barr works for Trump, not the country,” she said. “This is more and more looking like a coverup, right?”

Putting even more pressure on Democratic leaders, some presidential primary contenders are advocating for impeachment, particularly if the administration continues to refuse requests for information from the investigative committees. Joe Biden, the former vice president and now frontrunner in primary race, joined that chorus last week.

Few Democrats on Capitol Hill are sounding that alarm, however, weighing lesser legal options to gather documents and compel witness testimony, including Nadler’s recent threat to hold Barr in contempt of Congress.

“There's a process that's involved here,” Pelosi said Thursday. “The committee will act upon how we will proceed.”

Even Democrats who already support impeachment say the investigations effectively serve a similar purpose.

“In terms of the immediate next steps, I think functionally all the same things I would want to see in an impeachment inquiry are already under way,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). “Speaker Pelosi is making it clear that she's not pulling any punches on President Trump. She's not giving him any passes, we're going to hold him accountable.”

Whatever route the Democrats choose, they’re insistent that the Republicans’ pressure campaign will play no role whatsoever.

“If they want to impeach the president, they should go ahead and introduce the articles,” Raskin said. “As for us, we'll take our actions on our own schedule, and on our own volition.”



https://thehill.com/homenews/house/442115-dems-see-gop-effort-to-drive-them-to-impeach-trump