Pelosi doesn't rule out second impeachment over replacing RBG
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not rule out the possibility of impeaching President Donald Trump if he tries to push through a Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a lameduck session when asked if she was considering that option on Sunday.
The California Democrat said Ginsburg's death made it more critical than ever that Americans vote in the 2020 general election. ABC News “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos pointed out that even if Democratic nominee Joe Biden emerges victorious and the Democrats re take control of the Senate, Trump and Senate Republicans might still try to get a nominee confirmed.
Stephanopoulos said “some have mentioned the possibility” of moving to imp each Trump or Attorney General William Barr “as a way of stalling and preventing the Senate from acting on this nomination.”
“Well, we have o ur options. We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now,” Pelosi said.
“Right now, our main goal – and I think Ruth Bader Ginsburg would want that to be –would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the American people from the coronavirus,” Pelosi said.
Ginsburg's death less than two months before the election has fueled a fierce debate over the timing of her replacement. Democrats are demanding Republicans wait until at least the results of the Nov .3 election. They say pushing through a nominee before then would be hypocritical after denying then-President Barack Obama's nominee Merrick Garland a vote in 2016, citing the proximity of the election, which was nearly eight months away.
Republicans argue this situation is different because the same party controls the White House and the Senate. They also say it would be unwise to level a vacant seat heading into a hotly contested election in which the Supreme Court could be asked to resolve legal disputes.
House Minority Whip Steve Sc ali se, R-La ., called Pelosi's comment “scary.”
“Pelosi is refusing to rule out impeaching @realDonaldTrump again solely to delay the Senate filling the Supreme Court vacancy. Impeachment was never about a `crime' for Dems,” Scalise tweeted, referring to Democrats' impeachment of Trump in December for allegedly abusing his power by using military aid to Ukraine as leverage for political gain.
“They only care about one thing: their own power – and they'll stop at nothing toge tit ,” Scalise said of Democrats.
While she didn't immediately spurn the idea of impeachment, Pelosi did shoot down the possibility of using federal funding as leverage to stall a nominee.
“None of us has any interest in shutting down government. That has such a harmful and painful impact on so many people in our country. So I would hope that we can just proceed with that,” she said when asked about that possibility. “There is some enthusiasm among some exuberance on the left to say let's use that, but we're not going to be shutting down government.”
Pelosi did not answer directly when asked if she would consider, as some liberals have suggested, of expanding the number of justices on the court – often referred to as court-packing – in retaliation if Trump successfully adds another conservative to the bench before leaving office.