Momentum for impeachment seemed to slow somewhat during the august recess. Yes, several lawmakers endorsed initiating proceedings. Morethan 130 House Democrats have publicly called for opening an official impeachment inquiry, despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s position that going this route – when Senate Republicans will never remove Trump from office – could help the president get reelected. But opening an impeachment inquiry could help democrats break logjams in several court cases, where Trump’s lawyers are fighting tooth and nail to block discovery and otherwise slow compliance with subpoenas.
House Democrats plan to make Trump’s alleged involvement in a2016 scheme to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with him a major investigative focus this fall, picking up where federal prosecutors left off ina case that legal experts say could have led to additional indictments. The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to hold hearings and call witnesses involved in hush-money payments to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult-film star Stormy Daniels as soon as October.
Democrats believe there is already enough evidence to name Trump as a co-conspirator in the episode that resulted in his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to two campaign finance charges, Cohen, is presently serving a three-year prison sentence for those counts and other crimes. Cohen testified under oath that Trump directed the payments that helped land him behind bars. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also described Trump’s alleged role in the scheme, referring to him in court papers as ‘Individual-1.’ But they concluded their investigation this summer without bringing any additional charges. As part of the probe, Democrats plan to explore whether the investigation was impeded or obstructed.”
In addition to the hush-money inquiry, the committee plans to continue exploring five of the 10 episodes of potential obstruction of justice by the president that were outlined in former special counsel Bob Mueller’sreport this spring. Democrats say Trump would have been charged with obstruction in those five instances were he not the sitting president. These five episodes, plus the hush money, could be used as the grounds to draft articles of impeachment.
The continued irresponsibility of the Republican law-makers can not be over-estimated. For example, the most recent mass shooting can be directly connected to the misfeasance of the GOP members of Congress. The El Paso shooter, who was killed by police, had been fired from his job earlier that day. He and his employer both called police after his termination, but state troopers who pulled him over for a traffic violation were unaware of this. The murderer, Seth Aaron Ator, 36, opened fire on the troopers with an AR-15, military-style rifle, striking and injuring one of them while firing through the rear window of his car before fleeing the scene. This type of gun was banned under the assault weapons ban that was in effect from 1994until Republicans allowed it to expire in 2004. “Texas Gov. Greg Abbott(R) tweeted Monday that Ator did not go through a background check when obtaining the gun used in the attacks, which were spread across at least 15crime scenes. Firearms and Explosives Agent John Wester, of the Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco, stated that Ator had failed to pass a check with theNational Instant Criminal Background Check System while trying to buy a gun. A public records search revealed that years earlier, Ator had been charged with criminal trespass and evading arrest.
Whether or not the Democrats can rely on the Republicans in theSenate to impeach the lawless, criminal 45th President of the UnitedStates of America is an ancillary concern that cannot rest upon the potential negative political impact for the Democrats in the 2020 Elections. It is far more important for the Democrats in the House of Representatives to do their sworn duty to uphold the constitution right now. It is universally known, as evidenced in the Muller Report, that Donald Trump violated his Constitutional duty to uphold and adhere to the constitution, and in fact, committed acts that would warrant his indictment if he were not the President of the United States of America, and for that…heneeds to face impeachment. The impeachment process is the only venue where all of the evidence can be laid bare for all the country to see. All of the President’s Attorneys can not hinder the impeachment process as they are now presently doing in the courts with great success.
Maybe, just maybe, when all of the evidence is laid out via the impeachment process, the Republicans in the Senate will be embarrassed and ashamed into doing what is right, just as they were in 1972, with Richard Nixon, whose wrong-doing pales in comparison to Donald Trump. If the Democrats in the House cannot act to impeach the vilest President in American history, then there will never be a right time for Impeachment! Then, the end result will forever lie at the feet of the House of Representatives Speaker, NancyPelosi. By putting politics ahead of enforcing the law of the land, The Speaker will have utterly failed to exercise her Constitutional duty This failure will only result in the 2020Presidential Election in Trump able to boast, “I never did anything wrong. That’s why I was never impeached.” If political ramifications are the Speaker of the House should reflect on the ramifications that that reality will most certainly incur.