Donny Deutch (on MJ): Drop the term Impeachment; call it a "Trump Criminal Investigation"

[brooklynite]

[FBaggins]

1. Congress doesn't do criminal investigations

That’s the job of the DOJ.

[dem4decades]

4. Didn't Mueller just state that there's a different circumstance when it comes to the President?

It's Congress that must hold the President responsible.

[FBaggins]

8. He did... and it's called impeachment.

Congress can’t do criminal investigations.

[brooklynite]

3. What extra powers does it provide?

The House already has Subpoena power. And if your argument is that they're only valid in an Impeachment process, you just took away any effort to get his Tax Returns.

[dem4decades]

6. Deutsch is correct. Begin the Impeachment process but brand it a criminal investigation.

After Trump's criminality becomes exposed as part of the investigation then support for impeachment will grow, then use the impeachment word.

[StarfishSaver]

10. What extra powers does impeachment provide

FYI - the possibility that a court might give a higher priority or more weight to or move more quickly to respond to a congressional request isn't an "extra power," so please don't cite that, as many people keep doing when asked this question.

What specific powers can Congress exercise in an impeachment inquiry that it does not otherwise have outside of the impeachment process?

[coti]

5. No, the extra attention is needed and the whole point of using the word "impeachment."

You WANT to up the ante.

[dem4decades]

7. So why is Speaker Pelosi so reluctant to use the word and start the process? She knows it's

a problem. She must keep the majority in the House, that's what controls her actions.

[FBaggins]

9. You just answered your question

She doesn’t currently believe that moving to impeachment will maintain her majority.

[StarfishSaver]

11. She also knows that it will likely "freeze" people into place where they are now

There's a critical mass of people who need to be persuaded that Trump has engaged in criminal conduct and should be impeached but they aren't there yet. Many of these people are Trumpsters or stupid - they're just consumed with life and don't spend their days and nights following and analyzing every word
breathed on MSNBC or consuming large doses of political discussion on the internet. And when they do try to get information, it's overwhelming and it's hard for them to sort out fact from spin. So they tune it out, assuming that politics is just a mess, with both sides blowing smoke and throwing dirt.

If the House starts an impeachment inquiry and calls it an "impeachment inquiry," these folks are just going to hear "impeachment" and likely tune it out as the Democrats going after Trump for political reasons, just as Trump goes after them for political reasons - in other words, to them, more of the same. And they'll tune it out and it will be very difficult to ever get them to listen to what's really going on.

I think Pelosi's approach of continuing investigations OUTSIDE of an impeachment context for awhile longer is intended to do a soft sell to these people, who are more likely to be receptive to what they're hearing about Trump's behavior if it's not wrapped up in an impeachment blanket, which tends to smother the baby.