Maybe?
Folks?…There isn’t gonna be an actual serious impeachment effort from the Democrats….
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is dead set against doing something that isn’t going anyplace past the US House with a Republican majority…
Sixteen House Democrats, in interviews, offered conflicting assessments of the status of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation of Trump, which its chairman — Rep. Jerry Nadler — bills as an “impeachment investigation.”
“We have been in the midst of an impeachment investigation,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
“No, we’re not in an impeachment investigation,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
A third, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), said the House is investigating to determine “whether or not there should be an impeachment investigation.”
Others are wrangling over semantics, with some insisting the House is in an “impeachment inquiry” while others are hewing to the “impeachment investigation” terminology, which the Judiciary Committee introduced in court filings in late July. Others, like Nadler, say they’re synonymous.
“You know, I think people can call it whatever they want to call it, but I think we’re just trying to get to the truth and we’ll see where that leads us,” said Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“Go to the dictionary and try to determine the difference between an inquiry and an investigation,” Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), who supports impeachment, said with a laugh.
“I can’t even tell you which of those is more significant,” Sherman added. “And I realize the politics of it. I realize how they’re using the language. But somebody just focusing on the dictionary couldn’t tell you which is more important.”
According to a source familiar with the matter, some lawmakers called Nadler over the August recess in order to “get a better understanding of what’s going on.”
Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi avoids the terms altogether. In a talking-point document sent to the caucus Tuesday morning, Pelosi’s office described the House’s investigative activities in anodyne terms, characterizing them as typical House oversight of the executive branch. The talking points characterized a Thursday vote by the House Judiciary Committee — billed by the panel as a formal acknowledgment of the House’s impeachment probe — as “procedures related to its investigation of the president’s wrongdoing.”….
image…slate.com
Democrats are muddling their way thru this….
House Democratic leaders still can’t get their impeachment messaging straight.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday backtracked after saying Democrats were not conducting an “impeachment inquiry,” a remark that directly contradicted top House investigators and sowed further confusion about Democrats’ strategy.
The No. 2 Democrat later released a statement that said he misunderstood a question from reporters, shortly after he told reporters that he did not believe the House is conducting an impeachment investigation — a direct contradiction of the language in the House’s own court cases against President Donald Trump, and one that senior Democrats fear could hurt their standing with the federal judiciary.
“I thought the question was in regards to whether the full House is actively considering articles of impeachment, which we are not at this time,” Hoyer wrote in a statement.
“I strongly support Chairman Nadler and the Judiciary Committee Democrats as they proceed with their investigation ‘to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment to the full House,’ as the resolution states,” he continued.
Earlier, when pressed whether he agreed with Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler’s characterization that the House had begun an impeachment inquiry, Hoyer said, “no.”….
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