Summary: After almost two years of investigations, the Mueller Report was released. Many Democrats—both in the House of Representatives and in the streets—are calling for an impeachment proceeding, but the country remains divided on the matter. Nancy Pelosi proposes to continue impeachment investigations under Democratic majority in both the House and its Committees.
Prosecutor Mueller broke his silence last week, putting an end to the Department of Justice’s evasiveness.
After recounting the tens of charges and admissions of guilt of those who are now imprisoned, two things stand out in his laconic but cogent press conference:
(1) There was Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections to exclusively hurt Hillary Clinton’s candidacy.
(2) With respect to the obstruction of justice, the investigation was not either continued or closed because the Department of Justice does not charge a sitting president, despite the existing elements. Along these lines, the most striking: “”If we had had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
In one sentence Mueller said that Trump could have been part of a conspiracy, led by his administration, to obstruct the investigations. However, whether or not to continue with the investigation to charge him would, in the end, depend on an accusation and impeachment of the U.S. Congress.
Obviously, this issue has unleashed pressures among Democratic congress members to proceed with Trump’s impeachment; it even resonated among the public opinion. Almost sixty Democrats in the House of Representatives have publicly pledged (and press daily) to start the impeachment procedure in the House, and vote in favor of the Senate prosecuting Trump to remove him from the Presidency. The number of congress members of the Democratic Party—which controls the majority in the House of Representatives—in favor of impeachment could grow, which is logical, in addition to the potent and just matter. It is difficult for many Democrats elected in districts with a dense population affiliated with the Party to take a different position, given their voters demand it. Additionally, the congress members who do not back the impeachment could be immediately confronted by an opponent in their Party’s primaries, exclusively on the discourse of impeachment to defeat the incumbent representative.
The most recent polls reveal that, even when Trump’s approval rate is low at 42%, the country is equally divided when it comes to the idea of removing the President through an impeachment. Moreover, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnel, has clearly reiterated that they will not even discuss the possibility of impeachment. Yet, 2/3 of the senator votes are needed for an impeachment proceeding to successfully remove the President from the Oval Office. This scenario is beyond far, politically speaking. Furthermore, there is a school of legal thought that warns that if the prosecution procedure in the Senate does not succeed, window of possibility to charge Trump once he reacquires the condition of common citizen for the alleged crimes that have been imputed to him could close.
Nancy Pelosi, master operator in both politics and Congress, has said that it is easier to defeat Trump electorally. Her plan is to keep focusing on advancing a legislative agenda of both political and popular impact, rather than gifting Trump with a political victory (of legal impact) in the Senate, despite his culpability. To achieve this, she has found a brilliant solution: continue with an impeachment investigation instead of an impeachment proceeding.
Pelosi’s proposal is firm. The impeachment investigation will remain in the House and its Committees, where Democrats have control. Based on the contents of the Mueller report, the investigations would take the testimony of dozens of people, to the ultimate consequences. The hearings, which would be either public or open to the press, would have an educational for the entire population. The numbers that today polarize the public opinion could change in the course of a year of investigations; the political impact will undoubtedly be a terrible nightmare for Trump.
In a few words, Pelosi has no intention of putting this matter aside. Instead, she aims to turn it into an electoral nightmare for Trump and the country, leaving beyond reasonable doubt the evidence that crimes were committed. At the very least, that there was obstruction of justice. This leads to the question asked by the President of the House of Representatives: What does Donald Trump hide or protect?