Honorable Speaker Pelosi, is impeachment still off the table?

[Voltaire2]

Because it seems to me we have crossed the Rubicon.

[StarfishSaver]

1. She's never said impeachment's off the table

[lame54]

2. She didn't say it was

[Me.]

3. Please Get It Right

She never said that!

[Voltaire2]

6. Well she did, she stated back in April

that now was not the right time. So my question stands: is the time right now?

[WhiteTara]

9. Stop watching fox and you'll be

better informed. If you don't watch fox, what is your excuse?

[Voltaire2]

15. Wtf?

[WhiteTara]

23. You have been misinformed

somewhere along the line. Since you have such passion, I look forward to your 2020 campaign.

[StarfishSaver]

10. I never heard her say that. Do you have the exact quote?

[Me.]

14. But She Didn't Say It Was Off The Table

She said there needed to be investigations and the public needed to be brought along

[Voltaire2]

16. Ok. So is now the right time?

[Me.]

18. Are The Investigations Finished?

Or are they just starting?

[Voltaire2]

41. At the moment they are at an impasse.

Trump is obstructing all investigations in the House using executive privilege.

[Me.]

51. No They're Not

Keep up

[wryter2000]

31. Wrong

She said it under Bush. Not the right time is not "off the table."

[defacto7]

33. She came very close to saying that back in March.

It's like she gave that impression. I think it got conflated by her statement about Bush. But she was clearly against it and said so. It's in all the main stream sources. So I get your point.

Now to answer your question... I don't know. But she's giving impressions again that it's possible.

[riversedge]

4. Pelosi has not taken it off the table. But she does want

thorough investigations first.

[Voltaire2]

7. Investigation is now blocked.

So now what?

[StarfishSaver]

13. You think impeachment will somehow "unblock" investigations? How?

BTW, the investigations aren't being blocked. Some of the information being sought in the investigations is being withheld, but the investigations are moving forward.

[Voltaire2]

17. Yeah actually it will

[StarfishSaver]

20. How?

[Voltaire2]

42. US v Nixon

The executive cannot obstruct an impeachment investigation using executive privilege.

[StarfishSaver]

52. That wasn't the ruling in US v. Nixon

Last edited Thu May 9, 2019, 04:29 PM - Edit history (1)

The ruling held that Nixon could not use executive privilege to avoid turning over tapes to the U.S. District Court for an in camera review of whether they contained evidence that was relevant to a criminal case brought by the Special Prosecutor. That criminal case predated and was completely separate from the impeachment and inquiry.

[WhiteTara]

24. Let me know when you are Speaker

and I'll know you have the chops to make those decisions.

[defacto7]

34. It's an opinion.

Most of us know that no one has the chops to decide anything here. We do have opinions. I'm happy to see yours.

[WhiteTara]

36. Opinions based on fact

have more relevance than opinions based on fiction. Pelosi has NEVER said impeachment was off the table. So when we agree on facts, I'll listen to opinions.

[wryter2000]

30. Impeachment will fix everything

It's like abracadabra. Everyone will release everything. Everyone will testify. The Republicans in the Senate will suddenly sprout wings and become Angels.
Impeachment will fix everything tomorrow.

[Voltaire2]

39. Impeachment cannot be obstructed

using executive privilege. US v Nixon.

[wryter2000]

43. US v Nixon

Would apply to all Congressional hearings. It just has to be enforced by the courts.

[Voltaire2]

45. nope. It was specific to an impeachment investigation.

[wryter2000]

46. There never were impeachment hearings with Nixon

He resigned before a single impeachment hearing was held.

Articles of impeachment had been drawn up, but none of the hearings that led to that were impeachment hearings.

[Voltaire2]

49. There was an "ongoing impeachment process".

An impeachment process against Richard Nixon was formally initiated on February 6, 1974, when the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution, H.Res. 803, giving its Judiciary Committee authority to investigate whether sufficient grounds existed to impeach Richard Nixon, the 37th President of the United States[1] of high crimes and misdemeanors, primarily related to the Watergate scandal. This investigation was undertaken one year after the United States Senate established a select committee to investigate the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and the Nixon Administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_process_against_Richard_Nixon

That process is what the courts ruled was immune to executive privilege. They did not rule that any congressi9onal investigation was immune to executive privilege.

If and when the House starts an impeachment investigation, even this court will have a hard time disagreeing with US v Nixon.

[wryter2000]

50. Which is exactly what is ongoing now

I watched the hearings on television

On edit: I read the decision in US v Nixon in Constitutional Law class. The Court ruled that executive privilege could not protect the President from criminal investigation.

[StarfishSaver]

54. The House voted in February 74 to authorize the Judiciary Committee to start an impeachment inquiry

Those proceedings actually began in May with a hearing that was opened to the public for about 20 minutes before the committee closed it and then conducted the rest of its proceedings in private until July.

U.S. v. Nixon was not related to the impeachment inquiry at all. It a rose from a separate criminal case.

You really should try to get your facts straight before you try to instruct people about U.S. v. Nixon and Watergate.

[wryter2000]

55. Wow

You've been here for a while, but let me welcome you, anyway.

[StarfishSaver]

53. That's not true

Did you even READ U.S. v. Nixon? It sounds like you're haven't since no one who actually read it would so badly mischaracterize it.

I suggest you read the opinion before you try to discuss it any further.

[Funtatlaguy]

5. She's edging closer. If Mueller doesn't testify, that's it.

[Voltaire2]

11. Trump will prevent Mueller from testifying

on the same executive privilege grounds.

[Funtatlaguy]

12. He can't stop a private citizen when Mueller resigns.

[Voltaire2]

19. He can't attempt to prevent his testimony

on information he has asserted executive privilege on.

[ismnotwasm]

8. Jesus.

[SidDithers]

21. Oh look, it's this thread again...nt

Sid

[brush]

22. She hasn't said it was off the table, just that we need to proceed with hearings and...

testimony to move the public in favor of impeachment. Makes sense don't you think?

[athena]

25. You should edit your post.

As it is, it implies that Pelosi has said impeachment was off the table. Your post therefore spreads misinformation. If you’re a liberal, why would you want to misinform people? Please demonstrate your honesty by fixing your post.

[LanternWaste]

26. Mis-characterizing her position seems a rather large portion of your own table.

I certainly hope the legs are sturdy enough to support the weight of so many silver-plated whoppers (served cold, too?)

[stillcool]

27. the frigging table again?

has got to be the most annoying, over-used, mis-used, and just false verbiage ever.

[wryter2000]

29. Thank you

Amen, amen,amen!!!!

[wryter2000]

28. She just said it isn't off the table

She probably said that ten years ago. It was during Bush

[Locutusofborg]

32. Impeachment would be the best thing to happen to Trump

That’s why just in the last few days Speaker Pelosi has said that Trump is goading the Dems to impeach him.
Impeachment is a POLITICAL process. Trump knows that there is no way 20 Republicans would vote him guilty in an impeachment trial to get to the required 67 votes. Therefore he would be officially and constitutionally found to be Not Guilty which he would run on in 2020. That’s exactly what he wants, Senate confirmation of his Not Guilty status.

[Locutusofborg]

35. Nancy Pelosi today

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Wednesday that President Donald Trump is building his own case for impeachment by continuing to stonewall lawmakers in their demand for testimony and documents from the White House.

“He’s becoming self-impeachable in terms of some of the things he’s doing,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during a live interview with The Washington Post.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/08/pelosi-trump-self-impeachment-1311038

It looks like the Speaker is in agreement with Voltaire2.

[Voltaire2]

40. You left out some bits.

“The speaker has consistently sought to tamp down talk among the Democratic Caucus of impeaching the president”

[TwilightZone]

58. "tamping down talk"

does not equate to impeachment being off the table. It's pretty obvious that she's trying to keep people from jumping the gun.

[mcar]

37. She never said that

Please stop misrepresenting our Speaker.

[Voltaire2]

44. did she use the words "off the table"? no. Did she repeatedly say that this is not the right time?

Yes.

Is it the right time yet?

[mcar]

47. You said off the table

She didn't say that. Instead of correcting your OP, you moved the goalposts.

[Kaleva]

48. Then you ought to correct the title of your OP.

[Rizen]

38. Trump and his cronies are basically forcing impeachment

By obstructing congressional investigations every step of the way. Dems are left with little choice.

[StarfishSaver]

56. They're trying to goad Pelosi and the Democrats into launching impeachment hearings prematurely

They know that if impeachment starts immediately, the Democrats will have less to work with and that once the Senate acquits, Trump will have more than a year to refocus the argument, do about 400 new outrageous distractions and make his impeachment an irrelevant distant memory come November 2020.

Fortunately, Pelosi knows that, too and isn't falling into his trap and won't let her caucus fall into it, either.

That's one of the many reasons she's The Speaker

[Rizen]

57. It took more than one try to impeach Nixon.

This isn't a one shot deal but rather a lengthy process.