Pressure is mounting for House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler to launch impeachment proceedings, but the New York Democrat is weighing dueling loyalties to eager members and to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has urged her caucus to stay the course on investigations and ignore the growing chorus for what would become a bitterly divisive process.
« He’s in a very difficult position, » said Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat on the committee who has pressed for opening an impeachment inquiry.
For many Democrats, Pelosi’s urging of her caucus to take a deliberative approach became harder Tuesday when members of the House Judiciary Committee gaveled in to yet another hearing with an empty witness chair. This time, former White House counsel Don McGahn had ignored his subpoena under the orders of President Donald Trump because of the White House’s position that former top aides cannot be compelled to testify about their interactions with the President. Earlier this month it was Attorney General William Barr who refused to show.
« I believe we are going to be left with — and probably right now are left with — nothing but that we must open an inquiry, » said Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, another Judiciary Committee member.
Behind the scenes, the calls for begin an official impeachment inquiry are louder than ever, with members arguing that the pitch from the speaker to focus on congressional investigations has grown almost impossible in the wake of the Trump administration’s blanket blockade on their oversight.
So far, Nadler has resisted calls to begin impeachment proceedings, arguing that the committee has to first conduct its broad investigation into the President and his administration before determining whether such a step is necessary. But the tide among rank-and-file committee members has shifted in recent days, as more and more Democrats on the panel are publicly declaring that beginning an impeachment inquiry is a necessary response to the President’s stonewalling.
« After so many accommodations that we’ve made, accommodation after accommodation, I don’t think that we should wait any longer, » said Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas who’s a member of the Judiciary Committee.
« I am, » Escobar added when asked whether she was concerned about Pelosi’s and Nadler’s more cautious approach. « I understand why they’re not there yet, and I understand that there are still paths we have not gone down that are areas of opportunity. But I’m there. »
« No one is prejudging the outcome, but a number of us are convinced that an impeachment inquiry would make sense, » Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, told CNN.
