Top Dem Abruptly Reverses Course on Impeachment Chatter
Reflecting the turmoil and divisions within the Democratic Party on the issue of impeaching President Donald Trump, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Monday distanced himself from his Sunday comments that the process of impeaching Trump was moving along.
“I think we’ve already begun. We’ve got all of these committees doing their work, we’re having hearings,” the South Carolina Democrat said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I never said he should not be impeached. What I said time and time again is Mueller has developed the grounds for impeachment. The House has to determine the timing for impeachment. There’s a big difference,” Clyburn said, citing special counsel Robert Mueller.
That was Sunday. On Monday, Clyburn spoke to the media after a House Democrat leadership meeting.
“I’m probably farther away from impeachment than anybody in our caucus,” he said, according to Politico. “We will not get out in front of our committees. We’ll see what the committees come up with. I’ve said that forever.”
Addressing the question of whether impeachment was inevitable on Monday night, he said it was not.
“I don’t know why y’all pick up one line,” Clyburn said, according to Roll Call.
“I also said we must not get out in front of our committees, all in the same sentence,” he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has opposed more aggressive calls for impeachment from some House Democrats and progressive groups, including those who on Tuesday called for action on the issue.
BREAKING: 30 progressive groups just sent an open letter to @SpeakerPelosi urging her to stop delaying and open an impeachment inquiry.
Here’s the letter, in full: https://t.co/QZa03ty9Ln
Here’s the @AP story: https://t.co/vix3RLqqgx— CREDO Mobile (@CREDOMobile) June 4, 2019
Pelosi’s comments have indicated her goal is to allow the various investigations of Trump conducted by several House committees to move forward, and pursue any possible impeachment if those committees turn up misconduct that is an impeachable offense.
On Monday night, she was asked about Clyburn’s comments from Sunday.
“It’s his view,” Pelosi said. “Everybody has their view about this, and our committee chairs are doing a great job taking us where the facts will take us. And if Mr. Clyburn views that as inevitable in terms of impeachment then … it’s a point of view.”
Pelosi was asked if she disagreed with that stance.
“I’ve said what I’ve said about that, and I will continue to make statements about it, but not in the hallway,” she said, Roll Call reported.
The tactics of House leaders in refusing to condemn impeachment while also not moving quickly on it were noted by The Washington Post’s Amber Phillips.
“Are House Democratic leaders trying to run out the clock on impeachment while saying they support it? By next year, the presidential campaign will be fully underway, and the public will probably be even less likely to support impeaching a president who may lose his job via the ballot box,” Phillips wrote.
“Maybe House Democratic leaders are coming around to impeachment proceedings, cautiously. But, given Pelosi’s unwavering focus on protecting her vulnerable lawmakers, it seems more likely that they are trying to have it both ways: address growing pressure to begin impeachment proceedings without beginning them,” she wrote.
On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama noted that political calculation should keep impeachment from moving forward.
“Go back to the last time something like this happened, and that was when Republicans were in control of the House and President [Bill] Clinton was the president,” Byrne, who is planning to run for Senate in Alabama in 2020, told Hill.TV.
“Republicans went after President Clinton, actually did have impeachment against him, sent it over to the Senate,” he said.
“It hurt the Republicans in the elections. I’m going to tell you right now if the Democrats keep going with this, it’s going to hurt them in the elections in 2020.”
Byrne said the real question is whether Democrats will heed history.
“The speaker knows that. The majority leader knows that,” he said.
“That’s why they’re pushing back so fiercely against the effort to do this. But it looks to me like there’s enough people inside the Democratic conference in the House who are demanding this, and I don’t know that they can restrain them.”
House Democrats have the power to file articles of impeachment against Trump, but that alone would not remove Trump from the White House.
The Senate, which has a Republican majority, would have to try Trump on the charges.
Republican senators have suggested any trial would be short and Trump would emerge the winner.
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