With every testimony and every report, the numbers increase. The slowness of the movement may be frustrating. So is the continued mythology that allowing Mitch McConnell to give Donald Trump a pseudo-not-guilty is somehow worse than giving Trump the blessing of Democrats by never bothering to begin impeachment in the first place—something that Julián Castro ably pointed out in Wednesday night’s debate. But the number of Democrats in the House who have announced their support for beginning an impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump has finally moved past the halfway mark.
As The Washington Post reports, some of the growing pressure for impeachment is coming because clips of Robert Mueller’s testimony are generating calls to congressional offices. That testimony, which pundits seemed to find so unimpressive, turns out to be exactly what many Democrats said it would be—eye-opening for those who had not actually read the special counsel’s report.
Political enthusiasts and those who followed the Russian investigation closely may have known better, but for many Americans, the only “truth” they knew was from the three-page not-a-summary prepared by Attorney General William Barr, and the constant tweets and repeats from Trump and other Republicans claiming that the report had found Trump squeaky clean. For those Americans, seeing Mueller say, as he did in just the first minutes of the House Judiciary Committee hearing, that the report did not exonerate Trump, that Trump interfered with witnesses and withheld evidence, that Trump attempted to halt the investigation, and that Trump’s actions may have affected the ability to issue charges of conspiracy … all of that is a revelation.
The added pressure has finally pushed the numbers to the point where a majority of Democratic House members, plus now-former Republican Justin Amash, stand in support of impeachment. And, as Politico reports, that number makes it increasingly difficult for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take no action.
The pressure on Pelosi is heightened because the most recent Democrats signing on to an inquiry include a trio of those freshmen Democrats who flipped Republican seats—the ones that Pelosi claims to be championing by not beginning impeachment. Also joining the list: a member of Pelosi’s leadership team.
Among the most recent group to sign on are freshmen Democratic Reps. Mike Levin, Jennifer Wexton, and Jason Crow. Last Friday, Rep. Katherine Clark also spoke out for impeachment. In total, 118 of 235 Democratic voting members have now announced their support for beginning proceedings.
The argument has long been that those pushing for impeachment were Democrats from solid-blue districts who could go after Trump safely, and that the Democrats who really “won back the House” would be hurt by an inquiry. The addition of Levin, Wexton, and Crow to the list makes that case much more difficult to make.
Unless Pelosi claims she is protecting them from themselves.