Report: Pelosi Is Testing the Waters on Impeachment

Lawmaker says there has been a 'seismic change in mood'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2019 7:41 AM CDT
Report: Pelosi Is Testing the Waters on Impeachment
Nancy Pelosi meets with reporters just after the House Judiciary Committee approved guidelines for impeachment hearings on President Trump, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

After months of resisting calls to impeach President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is warming to the idea and has been sounding out Democratic caucus members, insiders say. One freshman Democratic lawmaker tells Politico that there has been a "seismic change in mood" amid reports that Trump pressured Ukraine's president to investigate Joe Biden and his son. Sources tell the Washington Post that Pelosi has been calling committee leaders and other lawmakers to see whether they feel the allegations are a "tipping point." The caucus is scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting with Pelosi on Tuesday. At least a dozen more Democrats, including numerous moderates, came out in favor of impeachment Monday, bringing the total to 146 of the 235 Democrats in the House, according to the Post.

Pelosi hasn't commented publicly on the Ukraine affair since Sunday, when she warned that administration efforts to block Congress from seeing a whistleblower complaint marked "a grave new chapter of lawlessness." A decisive moment could come Tuesday, when acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is due to testify before the House—and Pelosi's deadline for the State Department to turn over related documents expires. In a Washington Post op-ed Monday night, seven freshman House Democrats with national security experience wrote that if allegations Trump leveraged security assistance funds to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden are true, "we believe these actions represent an impeachable offense." "These allegations are stunning, both in the national security threat they pose and the potential corruption they represent," they wrote. (More impeachment stories.)

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