Democrats now say they have the votes to impeach President Donald Trump and have set the official poll for Wednesday, even though some moderate and red state Democrats have warned Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other leaders that Trump is still popular and their seats could be in jeopardy.
The Wall Street Journal reports Tuesday that House Democrats who had been on the fence about impeachment are now whipped into place and Democrats have enough votes to pass impeachment, albeit on a strict party-line vote with no Republican defections aside from Rep. Justin Amash, who now identifies as an independent.
“By Monday afternoon, at least 17 from the 31 Democratic-held districts that Mr. Trump won in the 2016 presidential race had announced they would support the abuse-of-power and obstruction of Congress charges, according to a Wall Street Journal survey, with two saying they are opposed,” according to the WSJ. “With the new announcements of support, and assuming no unexpected defections, Democrats have enough votes to impeach the president.”
The Dems say they can afford a few defections because their majority in the House is somewhat comfortable.
Some members of the House, including Republicans, questioned the timing for Wednesday’s vote, suggesting that a longer period between releasing the articles of impeachment and voting on the articles would give Democrats the opportunity to make a bipartisan case for impeachment to the House GOP and would set the Senate up for a more convenient trial, perhaps after several Senators, competing for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, sail through the Super Tuesday primaries.
But in a meeting of the House Rules Committee Tuesday morning, Democrats setting the ground rules for Wednesday’s impeachment vote claimed they needed to act with “urgency” to prevent the President from committing any further crimes.
Chairman Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) addressed the committee, noting that, “[i]t’s unfortunate that we have to be here today, but the actions of the President of the United States make that necessary. President Trump withheld congressionally approved aid to Ukraine, a partner under siege.”
“It’s no secret that President Trump has a penchant for cozying up to notorious dictators. He’s complimented Vladimir Putin. Congratulated Rodrigo Duterte. Lauded President Erdogan. Fell in love with Kim Jong-Un. I can go on and on and on, and maybe the President is jealous that they can do whatever they want,” McGovern added, comparing Trump to global dictators. “These dictators are the antithesis of what America stands for, and every day we let President Trump act like the law doesn’t apply to him, we move a little closer to them.”
“Congress has no other choice but to act with urgency,” he concluded.
But while McGovern may see Trump’s actions as criminal, that’s not a foregone conclusion. The impeachment report, released overnight between Sunday and Monday fails to make the case that President Trump viewed foreign aid as a “quid-pro-quo” in return for a promise, on the part of Ukrainian officials, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, over their involvement with a Ukrainian oil and gas company.
Instead, Democrats are proposing that Trump be impeached for unspecified “abuses of power” stemming from a call between Trump and Ukrainian officials, and contempt of Congress for refusing to allow White House aides to submit to Congressional subpoenas requiring them to testify on the incident — an issue that is still under litigation.