Pelosi taps House Intel to lead narrow impeachment push over Ukraine scandal

[pnwmom]

Source: CNN

(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tasked the Intelligence Committee to take the lead on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, telling her colleagues that the probe will be focused on allegations that he asked the leader of Ukraine to initiate an investigation that could have benefited his reelection, according to sources involved in the conversations.

Democrats no longer plan to make the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's report into potential obstruction of justice central to their impeachment push, which has been under review by the House Judiciary Committee, though Pelosi has told Democrats that the probe into those and other matters will continue.

The focus, however, will be squarely on the whistleblower allegations of wrongdoing by the President, as Democrats push to rapidly move forward on formal articles of impeachment as soon as this fall.

The decision to make the House Intelligence Committee the lead is a shift from how Pelosi characterized the strategy earlier this week when she said the probe would be done by six committees under the "umbrella" of an impeachment inquiry. The initial description led to some confusion among members about how the investigation would take shape.

Read more: https://cnn.it/2mVF6Y1

[dem4decades]

1. Stronger case, stronger Chair in my opinion. But keep the investigations going.

More straw for the camels back.

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. Again, bad move.

Open the hearings up, and go after him for every crime he has committed. Take months to run a near endless parade of witnesses and mountains of financials. Put Trump in a pressure cooker until he snaps completely.

Also, why ignore Pence, McCarthy, McConnell, Nunnes, Lewandosky, and about a dozen other deserving souls?

If HRC was president, they would have come at her with a torrent of lies every day for her entire presidency.

[empedocles]

4. Single, simple shot. Hard to obscure. Lot of issues, lot of boh sides, lot of smoke and lies get in

[in2herbs]

6. Agree. There's a Maddow tweet posted on DU that raises the question of

Ukraine stopping with its assistance of gathering evidence to help Mueller because of Trump.
Post is titled: "per Maddow, "Per this May 2018 report, this might not be the first time this has happened."

The impeachment inquiry should include an investigation of this -- and everything else Trump has done.

[cstanleytech]

7. They will hopefully be dealt with eventually but for now dealing with Trump

and impeaching him will take alot of time and resources.

[wasupaloopa]

8. It is harder for the Repubs to back trump on this

one obvious dereliction of duty. They can deny everything else but this story is what will get the American people behind impeachment.

[iluvtennis]

12. Respectfully disagree. The impeachment can be done in multiple steps. Knock this 1st one

out of the park, and thne go after a couple of the obstruction of justice items from Mueller Reoprt part 2, then a couple more, etc, etc.

The incremental approach can be much more impactful than doing one big swoop of everything.

BTW, welcome to DU Miguelito Loveless.

[NYC Liberal]

14. No. This is a political process and the charges need to be extremely clear and straightfoward.

If the average person can't understand what exactly he is being impeached for, it's a loser.

Going after dozens of different things is only going to guarantee that the public stops paying attention. Keep it as simple as possible.

[Maxheader]

15. Absolutely...

Wasn't there a house democrat that said the impeachment would have nothing to do with the Ukraine fiasco, but with stumpys ignoring congress requests for documents..etc...and the criminal allegations past buddies of cheetox have leveled against it..?

[GulfCoast66]

16. Respectfully strongly disagree.

Most Americans are busy living their lives. That was why the Mueller thing fizzled. Well, that and Barr. It was just too complicated.

This is easy to understand in 3 sentences and most Americans will find it compelling.

‘Trump attempt to bribe the PM of Ukraine to make him manufactured dirt on Biden. Using money allocated by congress to help fight off the Russians. He admitted it.’

Anything else just create confusion.

And Bribery is mentioned in the constitution as a reason for impeachment.

[Miguelito Loveless]

17. The Mueller report fizzled

because the Dem leadership ran away from it. They let Trump set the narrative, then did not counter it by beginning immediate impeachment hearings for obstruction. Lead and people will follow.

Obstruction of justice is a "high crime". It is what took Nixon down.

[empedocles]

3. Good tactic. Stick to the clear black and white case. Simple to understand. Should win.

That is how Mueller convicted Manafort, despite trump juror, and apparently biased against government judge.

Commentators noted that republicans did not argue the merits of the case during the hearing.

[BootinUp]

5. Schiff's got this. Nt

[ritapria]

9. Why ignore 10 counts of Obstruction of Justice ?

This is crazy …..Trump committed Obstruction of Justice 10 times ….He's the chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Land ….He took an oath of office " to preserve, protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States" …. We're not talking about jaywalking here …...These are serious felonies....

[DeminPennswoods]

10. The correct strategy

An important first point is the House Intell committee is much smaller than regular committees, only 26 total members, 17 D and 9 R. That makes it less likely the Rs can be as disruptive and it includes Will Hurd, an R who actually knows something about the IC.

Second, this is very easy for Americans to understand. Jason Johnson was just on Deadline:WH and said his 18-19 yr old students were saying "Dr Johnson, this is really corrupt!" or words to that effect. Everyone knows what a shakedown is and the kind of language you use trying to effect one.

Third, the facts are uncomplicated. Trump already admitted it in the Memo of Telcon it released.

Fourth, the witnesses should be interesting. Can you imagine Giuliani under questioning from Schiff? Must-see-TV.

Fifth, getting the transcripts already has a 9-0 precident in US vs Nixon (the WH Tapes release).

This is about as much a slam dunk as there is with potential to find out even more as witnesses are brought before the committee.

[Talitha]

11. They zeroed in on Capone's tax evasion - and they nailed him.

Call the shots Nancy, you've got my full support!

[ChiTownDenny]

13. Ah...Very astute.

[NurseJackie]

18. Great move! Too many charges will confuse the public...

Great move! Too many charges will confuse the public... and will make it too easy for Trump to muddy the waters and bring in extraneous nonsense.