New developments have put pressure on congressional Democrats to launch impeachment proceedings against President Trump. A ranking lawmaker has even gone so far as to say that Trump is “raping the country,” while others say that it’s only a matter of time before the leaders change their course on the issue. On Wednesday morning, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a special meeting of House Democrats to discuss the topic of impeachment, as well as other intense topics.
Considering that the party is torn over what to do about Trump, meetings that were held by Pelosi and other top Democrats on Monday quickly turned into heated arguments. The most recent argument being over the decision to block the former counsel for the White House from testifying. Leaders of the Democratic Party, who have mostly supported impeachment, are now finding that it’s a bit difficult to keep their stance up as they receive calls to change their position. According to Fox News, a senior House Democrat said late Monday that Pelosi “isn’t going to be able to hold off on impeachment much longer,” and that she may have to change her stance “within the next two weeks.”
On Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that while Pelosi is doing what she can to bring the group together, politics are the main reason why members are hesitating to move forward. In an interview with reporters, Ocasio-Cortez said: “Just as impeaching without cause could be construed, and is, politically motivated, choosing to not impeach when there is an abundance of cause could also be construed similarly.”
Apparently, Rep. Steve Cohen from Tennessee confronted Pelosi during a Democratic Steering and Policy Committee meeting, demanding President Trump’s impeachment. According to Politico, Cohen stated that while former President Clinton was impeached “over sex,” President Trump was “raping the country.” Cohen apparently suggested that Pelosi is reluctant to proceed because she is worried about politics. Pelosi responded by saying: “This isn’t about politics at all. It’s about patriotism.”
Cohen is just one of the most outspoken critics of Trump in Congress. During a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing, Cohen drew attention to himself by eating fried chicken as an attempt to make a point about Attorney General Barr’s refusal to testify. Cohen referred to Barr as “Chicken Barr,” even though Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee the day before.
As the House Democrats discussed contempt proceedings for Barr, another argument broke out after former White House Counsel Don McGahn was instructed by the President’s administration to ignore the subpoena. Democrats wanted McGahn to testify in regards to the information that he provided to the Special Counsel’s Office, but the White House demanded that he ignore the subpoena. According to the Justice Department, McGahn has immunity from testimony about his official duties. In a statement released by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, she said: “The Democrats do not like the conclusion of the Mueller investigation – no collusion, no conspiracy, and no obstruction – and want a wasteful and unnecessary do-over.”
Jerrold Nadler, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, said after a closed-door meeting with Pelosi that Trump is “making it very difficult to avoid” considering impeachment. On Tuesday, Pelosi insisted that her party is united and that she’s not feeling the pressure from her colleagues. The previous day, she said: “There’s no divide. We’re fine. We’re good.”
Meanwhile, Nadler told Chris Cuomo from CNN that he plans to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress for not following through with the subpoena. According to Nadler, the White House’s effort to prevent McGahn from testifying was part of a pattern of “lawless behavior,” and President Trump is “willing to go to any lengths to prevent testimony that might implicate him.”
Rep. David Cicilline, the head of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, said on Monday that McGahn’s failure to testify would be grounds for opening impeachment proceedings. Not only is President Trump fighting off the efforts to get McGahn to testify, but he’s also in the midst of fighting the Democratic subpoenas for his personal records. In an effort to block a subpoena for his banking records, President Trump sued Capitol One and Deutsche Bank. He also attempted to keep documents from the accounting firm Mazars USA away from Congress, as well.
On Monday, a judge ruled against Trump in the Mazars case, saying that the Hosue Oversight Committee was well within their rights to look at the documents. The Trump Administration’s main argument was that the Democrats lacked a legitimate legislative purpose for looking at the documents, but Judge Amit Mehta said that the possibility of finding conflicts of interest in the administration or violations of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause was enough of a reason. Pelosi considers Mehta’s ruling a win, as well as a reason why impeachment isn’t necessary at the current time. During the Steering and Policy Committee meeting, Pelosi said: “Today, we won our first case. We’ve been in this thing for almost five months and now we’re getting some results.”
