15 New Democrats Sign On to Impeach
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Last night, The Washington Post revealed that Trump withheld almost $400 million in military aid for Ukraine approximately one week before the phone call where Trump allegedly pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Hunter Biden. Acting chief of staff and current Director at the Office of Management and Budget (O.M.B.), Mick Mulvaney, relayed Trump’s order to the State Department and the Pentagon during an interagency meeting in mid-July and the explanation given to officials was that Trump had “concerns” and wanted to analyze the necessity of providing the aid to Ukraine altogether.
According to officials familiar with the internal deliberations who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity, they were then directed to tell lawmakers that the delays were part of an “interagency process.” Officials were further instructed to obfuscate what was really happening by refusing to give any additional information for the next two months. Then the funds were suddenly released by the White House on the night of Sept. 11. Just one day before this, the whistleblower scandal broke when Rep. Adam Schiff wrote to acting D.N.I. Maguire, demanding the he forward the complaint to Congress. This was also the same day that John Bolton claimed he resigned over ideological differences.
Statements made after the release of funds reflect that Congressional Republicans may have been entirely in the dark about what was really happening behind the scenes, too. On Sept. 12, Republican senators on the Senate Appropriations Committee told the press that the funding was held up so that Trump could determine whether the new Ukrainian president was pro-Russian or pro-Western. Another explanation given by the Senate G.O.P., was that Sen. Durbin was forcing the White House’s hand by threatening to halt $5 billion in funding for the Pentagon next year unless the money was given to Ukraine. One senior administration official even tried to sell a statement from Trump yesterday that the decision to hold back the funds was based on concerns about “a lot of corruption in Ukraine.” That official also claimed the funds were ultimately released when they were because the fiscal year was about to close on Sept. 30.
It’s not complicated to see what was truly transpiring as all of the pieces are now coming to light. If the facts disclosed to the press can be authenticated by the details of the whistleblower complaint, Trump has indeed broken the law. Moreover, by refusing to comply with Congressional demands to turn over the complaint, acting D.N.I. Maguire may be complicit in illegal behavior as well. There are also ramifications for Rudy Giuliani, who has been caught in several lies to the press this week over his possible involvement in assisting Trump in all of this.
Since the release of the most recent revelations on Trump’s impropretiy, House Democrats have been changing their positions on impeachment with lightning speed. Last night, seven freshmen Democrats published an Op Ed to explain that moving forward on impeachment now was critical to defending national security while emphasizing their lifetime commitment “to the service and security of [their] country.” It was reported that Nancy Pelosi was actually reading the article on a flight last night and that she had advance notice of the intent to publish a statement by the members involved. In response to how she felt about the seven newly elected Congresspeople issuing the statement in support of impeachment, Pelosi said, “It’s good. We have to make the case to the American people.”
Several other hold-outs in Trump-supporting Districts have also recently announced their intention to support impeachment moving forward. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), who is considered to be a close ally of Nancy Pelosi and maintains similar views including reluctance about how the process could backfire from an optics perspective, issued a statement on Monday in favor of impeachment.
“President Trump is continuing to test the bounds of our laws and our Constitution…This represents a new chapter in Trump’s egregious conduct, one that is based on actively interfering with the 2020 election rather than his past misconduct around the 2016 election. If these findings are true, they are a reckless abuse of power that put his own interests ahead of those of the American people…This is a matter of grave urgency…As with many of my colleagues, I have been reluctant to call for an impeachment inquiry because it would further divide the country, be perceived as overturning the 2016 election, and go to the United States Senate where Republicans would acquit President Trump regardless of the evidence. But these actions regarding the 2020 election are a turning point…Congress must meet this pivotal moment in our nation’s history with decisive action.”
The above statement by DeLauro might be the biggest indicator we have at this point for where Speaker Pelosi stands on the issue of impeachment. Another tell is the burgeoning support from House Democrats who were previously reluctant to add their support due to their conservative districts and the ramifications of backing impeachment when it comes time to defend their seats in an election. At the very least, it serves to send a message to the remainder of hold-out Democrats that this could be the tipping point and that leadership is open to moving on impeachment if the numbers are solid.
Centrist Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), who had previously urged Democrats to focus on appealing to Trump voters rather than risk the 2020 election with bad optics, has formally announced her support for impeachment saying, “we must follow the facts and hold the President accountable.”
Rep. John Larson (D-CT) is also in a conservative district, but pledged impeachment support on Monday, calling this “a defining moment” and making a point to emphasize that “no one is above or beneath the law, and everyone must be held accountable.” Both Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Angie Craig (D-MN) also announced on Monday that if further investigations reveal Trump coordinated with Ukraine to harm a political rival, they would be willing to move forward on impeachment.
Additional Democrats who have stated they are willing to move forward with impeachment include Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY). Additionally, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) has threatened to join those with impeachment if the whistleblower report is not given to Congress in compliance with the law. This means that 15 new House Democrats now support impeachment with one additional vote if the complaint is not turned over.
A majority vote is required to impeach Trump in the House of Representatives, which means they need 218 votes in favor. There are currently 235 Democrats in office in the House of Representatives, one Independent, and 199 Republicans. The current count before this new information surfaced was reported by Politico at 146 in favor of impeachment on Sept. 10. With the addition of the latest 15 House Democrats since Monday, the number now sits at 161 (possibly 162), still 59 votes shy of a majority vote.
Pelosi will be meeting this afternoon with the six committee chairs who are currently conducting investigations into the allegations against Trump, to get a sense of where everyone stands on impeachment. There will also be a caucus meeting for House Democrats at 4 p.m. today to discuss the path forward on impeachment. It is expected that Speaker Pelosi will address the press after this afternoon’s meetings have concluded to update the public on where things stand. I will be updating this article as things unfold throughout the day, so stay tuned, but for now, I’ll just leave you with this little tidbit from Washington Post reporter, Laura Bassett:
UPDATE: As of 1:32 p.m. ET on 9/24/19, eight more members of Congress have issued statements that they are now in support of impeachment including, Rep. Marc Veasey (D-TX), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV), Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA), and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA). This brings the new total to 23 new House Democrats announcing they want to proceed with impeachment, giving us a new total of 169 in favor and 51 votes shy.
Additionally, there has been a report that a credible source in leadership is confirming that Speaker Pelosi will announce that Dems plan to move forward with a formal impeachment inquiry this afternoon when she speaks to the press.
SECOND UPDATE: Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) both confirm they are on board with impeachment.
New total: total of 171 in favor and 49 votes shy.
UPDATE as of 6:07 p.m. ET: You can add these names to the list of House members who now want to move forward on impeachment: , Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL).
UPDATE as of 9/25/19 at 5:00 a.m. ET: Approximately 60 new House members have lended their support to impeachment publicly. The New York Times has the count in favor at 204, while Politico reports that 207 members are in favor of impeachment at this point. The exact accuracy of this number is not terribly important at this point since Nancy Pelosi has announced the formal plan to move forward with an impeachment inquiry. The next count focus will be on those who support voting to impeach once the full inquiry is concluded in the House of Representatives. We can unequivocally say now that the allegations contained in the whistleblower complaint were the tipping point for the Democrats.
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Amee Vanderpool writes the “Shero” Newsletter and is an attorney, contributor to Playboy Magazine, analyst for BBC radio and Director of The Inanna Project. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
1) There is no doubt in my mind that the Orange Asscactus has committed (and will continue to commit) impeachable acts;
2) There is equally no doubt in my mind that even if the House voted to impeach him, the Senate Republicans would never vote to remove him from office. There could be video of him handing the nuclear launch codes over to Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mitch and his cronies still wouldn't care because the federal court system is being packed with far right judges, and that's all that matters to them (well, that and destroying the country's environmental regulations).
Let's hope that last tweet is prescient and a harbinger of things to come.