After reading the redacted Mueller report, I don’t know how anyone cannot be for starting impeachment proceedings. The Mueller Report is crying out for it.
Read the report! It is the exact opposite what Barr has said. It lays out clearly that the reason an indictment wasn’t done against Trump is because the OLC guidelines says he cannot. The report clearly states that since an indictment cannot be done that it must instead lay out the elements of the crime of obstruction and then go point by point to show how the evidence that has been gathered against Trump meets every single one of those elements!
Basically, it says, “Here’s your evidence that proves all the elements of the crime, I cannot indict him, but here’s the ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ for impeaching him and by the way once he’s out of office he can be charged”.
It is clear as day. Barr lied his ass off. Congress must fulfill its constitutional duty of oversight of the executive and impeach this president. We are beyond party politics.
If Democrats don’t impeach due to politics, then they are putting party over country/Constitution. I realize folks are worried about impeachment hurting the 2020 election chances for the Democratic candidate but years of experience has taught me time and time again that when you don’t do the right and required thing because you are worried about the perceived consequences, things never turn out the way you planned.
Politics is so fickle and dynamic that predicting the impact of an impeachment process is really not possible. If political pundits were so smart, Trump would not be President and he’d already have been impeached several times over from all the political norms he’s broken. The truth is that as political savvy as Nancy Pelosi is she isn’t some political fortune teller who knows the future. One could argue that not doing the impeachment could actually be worse politically for Democrats as it feeds the narrative that they are weak and cower to Trump. It feeds the Barr narrative that Trump did nothing illegal.
Do the right thing. Impeach Trump for his crimes. The redacted Mueller Report lays out the evidence and lists the ways that it proves each element of the crime. Obstruction of an investigation into his actions where he was lying to the public and working with (some might say colluding) with the Russians to defeat Hillary is most definitely something that should get a President removed from office.
Any Congress member not voting for impeachment and conviction is putting Trump above the law. It further weakens the Congress and takes our nation further down the path towards a dictatorship over a country ruled by a Constitution and laws.