Recently House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) has caved to pressure from the House Freedom Caucus, President Trump, and others to hold an official vote for the impeachment that she and House Intel Chair Adam Schiff (D) have been pushing for. The vote is scheduled for this Thursday.
Many Republican House Reps have been very vocal in pushing back against the impeachment for what they believe to be an unfair and non-transparent process that is tantamount to a soft coup against President Trump. Jim Jordan (R) from Ohio recently sounded off on Fox News stating that he doesn’t believe any house members will vote for Pelosi’s bill and it appears none have signed on as of yet.
WATCH JIM JORDAN IN VIDEO BELOW:
As for the Democrats in the House, likely many will support Pelosi’s move that is fueled by rhetoric from Adam Schiff and the radical wing of the House Democrats like AOC. But based on the situation this puts some Dem Reps in, who are from districts that President Trump won in 2016, it’s not so clear if Pelosi will hold all the votes. In fact, one New Jersey Rep has actually signaled that he might break ranks already.
As reported by Breitbart, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D) says he is likely to vote against Pelosi’s resolution to formalize the opaque inquiry into impeaching President Trump. “I would imagine I’m not voting for it,” he said to an NBC News reporter. His district is one of the ones that President Trump swung over to his side, despite losing the state of New Jersey, and clearly Van Drew is playing it safe. Alex Moe of NBC News tweeted out earlier today:
“NEW: “I would imagine that I’m not voting for it,” Dem @CongressmanJVD says about the impeachment process resolution the House will take up Thursday saying he hasn’t been supportive of impeachment all along.”
SEE TWEET FROM @AlexNBCNews BELOW:
NEW: “I would imagine that I’m not voting for it,” Dem @CongressmanJVD says about the impeachment process resolution the House will take up Thursday saying he hasn’t been supportive of impeachment all along.
— Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) October 29, 2019
Breitbart reported:
Pelosi wrote in a letter Monday that the resolution was not legally necessary but the House decided to take the vote “to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.”
“For weeks the president, his counsel in the White House and his allies in Congress have made the baseless claim that the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry ‘lacks the necessary authorization for a valise impeachment proceeding.’ They argue that, because the House has not taken a vote, they may simply pretend the impeachment inquiry does not exist,” the speaker wrote.
Schiff, Pelosi, and the rest of the House Dems on the impeachment warpath are likely caught by surprise after strong pushback from House Republicans, a quicker than expected release of the Trump-Ukraine phone call transcript that prompted the inquiry, and now this. It is unclear if the process at this point will hold any real water towards an impeachment that could lead to President Trump’s removal from office or if it is a ploy to scratch up his support ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. This come in the midst of a crowded 2020 Democratic presidential candidate field that has yet to show a clear front runner, although Biden is clinging to the top spot for now. Elizabeth Warren is on his tail, and rumors of other potential Democrats to join the race have been tossed around.
On Fox News’ Sean Hannity tonight, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R) spoke and said that “the backlash is going to be wide and deep” in reference to Trump supporters showing up to vote in 2020 as a result of the impeachment inquiry push.
