Democrats slow pace on impeachment
Inquiry into Trump is likely to extend into Christmas season as scope widens
WASHINGTON » House Democrats have resigned themselves to the likelihood that impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump will extend into the Christmas season, as they plan a series of public hearings intended to make the simplest and most devastating possible public case in favor of removing Trump.
Democratic leaders had hoped to move as soon as
Thanksgiving to wrap up a narrow inquiry focused around Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, buoyed by polling data that shows that the public supports the investigation, even if voters are not yet sold on impeaching the president.
But after a complicated web of damaging revelations about the president has emerged from private depositions unfolding behind closed doors, Democratic leaders have now begun plotting a full-scale and probably more time-consuming effort to lay out their case in a set of high-profile public hearings on Capitol Hill.
Their goal is to convince the public — and if they can, more Republicans — that the president committed an impeachable offense when he demanded that Ukraine investigate his political rivals.
“Just the facts, baby,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “If we tell that story with simplicity and repetition, the American people will understand why the president must be held accountable. If we don’t, then there is great uncertainty, and in that vacuum Donald Trump may find himself escaping accountability again.”
Trump, increasingly embittered by the impeachment inquiry, complained Monday that Republicans were not defending him aggressively enough.
“Republicans have to get tougher and fight,” Trump said during a rambling, hourlong question-and-answer session with reporters at a Cabinet meeting. “We have some that are great fighters, but they have to get tougher and fight, because the Democrats are trying to hurt the Republican Party for the election, which is coming up, where we’re doing very well.”
The president belittled Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, one of the few members of his party who has signaled he may be open to impeaching Trump, underscoring how anxious the senator’s defection has made him about possible cracks in support from his own party.
The president’s allies on Capitol Hill tried Monday to ramp up their defense of the president by forcing a vote in the House to censure Rep. Adam Schiff, DCalif., who is leading the impeachment inquiry as the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. The vote, which failed in the Democratic-led chamber, was a display of Republican solidarity for Trump.
There are risks for Democrats in the longer timeline, which could make it more difficult for lawmakers in politically competitive districts who fear a backlash from constituents if they appear to be preoccupied with targeting Trump.
And Democrats are all too aware that Trump has succeeded in the past in steering the subject away from allegations of misconduct on his part, as he did with the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller.