It's almost as if Donald Trump desperately wants to be impeached, even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is loath to launch such an inquiry. But as Trump blocks literally every single investigative effort by House Democrats, Pelosi's caucus is getting more and more anxious to take action to fulfill its constitutional duties.
“I feel very strongly that the president has worked pretty hard to no longer deserve to stay in office," Rep. Val Demings of Florida, a former law enforcement officer, told CNN's Manu Raju Tuesday. Demings has been an outspoken advocate of starting impeachment proceedings, arguing during last week's caucus meeting that Democrats were straining to justify not doing so after the damning information revealed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
On top of the White House's refusal to provide any Trump administration witnesses for congressional hearings or produce even a page of requested documentation, Trump's family and business are now also working strenuously to block inquiries. The Trump Organization, along with Trump and his eldest kids, are suing Deutsche Bank in an effort to stop the financial institution from turning over any records sought by the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees. Additionally, Attorney General William Barr is still threatening to drop out of hearings with the House Judiciary panel Thursday because he doesn't want to be questioned by actual lawyers. Seriously, what kind of legal heavyweight withers at the idea of being questioned by fellow attorneys?
Pelosi and her caucus had been pursuing a strategy of continuing to investigate and hold ongoing hearings in order to build a more visible case against Trump in the public eye. But Trump's all-out assault on congressional oversight is robbing House Democrats of the ability to more publicly and overtly litigate the case for impeachment. At the same time, Trump’s stonewalling is pushing some members of the Democratic caucus closer to viewing impeachment proceedings as not only the right remedy, but perhaps the only remedy.
“The Mueller report and this assault on the legislative branch made Nancy’s call to avoid impeachment much more difficult for rank-and-file members,” House Oversight member, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, told the Washington Post. “We’ve moved from [Trump’s] culpability laid out in the Mueller report to an assault on the institution and constitutional framework that is the legislative branch.”
Pelosi has continued to stress delivering on the Democratic legislative agenda over impeachment. She emerged from an infrastructure meeting Tuesday at the White House with Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer to report that the discussion had been "productive." Asked how Democrats could work with Trump when he's simultaneously tanking their investigative efforts, Pelosi responded, "Obviously, we are here to do something for the American people."
That's the quote Pelosi wanted out of the infrastructure meeting she had requested with Trump. She would undoubtedly love to be passing a viable infrastructure bill to create jobs and increase wages alongside any talk or action on impeachment. But even if Trump ultimately scuttles the deal, Pelosi can now legitimately claim Democrats tried to work with him on infrastructure despite their differences elsewhere. It's part of the insulation Pelosi is working to build for her caucus against future GOP accusations that the only thing Democrats did with their majority was obsess over the Russia investigation.
In the meantime, even as Trump publicly declared last week that he and his administration are uniformly blocking "all the subpoenas," public support for impeachment has decreased slightly in the wake of the redacted Mueller report roll-out. In a Washington Post/ABC poll this week, support for impeachment inched down slightly from last month to 37 percent, with 56 percent remaining opposed to the idea. It's hard to know all of what people are responding to there, but at least part of that input includes Pelosi tamping down expectations for impeachment along with Barr's initial cover-up of Trump's collusion and obstruction efforts.
While Democrats may be in state of quandary, two things about Trump are perfectly clear: 1.) he desperately wants an impeachment fight; and 2.) he's scared to death of what any public release of his financial records might reveal. Those two factors virtually guarantee that Trump will back House Democrats into a corner on impeachment.
One has to wonder if Pelosi has already figured that out and is scrambling to build a little bit of a record beyond the investigations before Democrats are compelled to make some tough choices.
“Trump’s conduct is such that it will force people to consider impeachment, no matter how politically difficult,” Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told the Post. “His conduct is so opprobrious that it's hard for people to eventually not see that he’s trampled on the Constitution."
That's one area where Democrats seem to be in agreement: Trump's obstruction "making the case" for Democratic action, as Pelosi has reportedly put it. That framing was echoed by House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler when he was asked about the prospect that Barr might boycott Thursday's House hearings. “It certainly builds a case that the administration and the president is engaged in wholesale obstruction of Congress," Nadler said.
Frankly, Trump leaving Democrats no other choice seems like as good a justification as any for eventually pulling the trigger.