Major Update: House Votes to Move Officially Forward on Trump Impeachment Inquiry

GOP House Now in Full Panic Mode

(Lock step behind Trump)

Update (NY Times) on the following story: House votes on resolution to move offically forward on impeachment. They passed (H. Res 660) D yes: 232 and GOP No: 196 along with 2 DEMS. Four did not vote (1 DEM/3 GOP). Apparently the no votes stand with Trump and NOT the country.
==================================================
Original story: From The Hill: House Democrats are setting up a vote this week on their impeachment inquiry as they move closer to a public phase of the investigation.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, said he will introduce a resolution this week (Tuesday Oct 29) to “Ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward in the impeachment inquiry.” 

His committee markup will be the very next day.

Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA.) said in a letter to lawmakers said the legislation would receive a vote this week. A Democratic aide told The Hill it would be subject to a full vote by the House on Thursday (Oct 30).

This would be the first formal vote on the new impeachment process by the House since Pelosi threw her support behind an inquiry in September.

So, after this passes (and it will) what will the GOP screech and blow hot air about – stay tuned.

Original Post:

The following is in answer to this GOP persistence question about the move to impeach Trump and Speaker Pelosi’s process:

Is it constitutionally acceptable for the House speaker to initiate an impeachment “by means of nothing more than saying a press conference?”

The short answer is: Yes.

Extract and legal opinion from Law Fare here:

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asking her to: “Suspend the impeachment inquiry until transparent and equitable rules and procedures could be put in place and a floor vote authorizing an impeachment inquiry could be taken.”

Pelosi responded that no vote was necessary.

Then White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote to Pelosi informing her that the administration will not cooperate with the constitutionally invalid impeachment inquiry, in part saying: “The House had not voted to authorize such a dramatic constitutional step, or has provided the president with due process protections.”

The constitutional text on this issue is spare. The Constitution simply says that the House has the sole power of impeachment. Thus, if the House wants to impeach someone, it needs to muster a simple majority (218 House votes) in support of articles of impeachment that can be presented to the Senate for the “trial” and removal (67 or a 2/3 majority vote).

How the House gets to that point is entirely up to the chamber itself to determine. 

There is no constitutional requirement that the House take two successful votes on impeachment that the GOP demands: (1) one to authorize some kind of inquiry, and (2) one to ratify whatever emerges from that inquiry.

Two key two points:

(1) An impeachment inquiry is not “invalid” because there has been no vote to formally launch it.

(2) Likewise, an eventual impeachment would not be “invalid” because the process that led to it did not feature a floor vote authorizing a specific inquiry.

My 2 cents: A fast-moving issue that clearly shows that this GOP is way off base and shooting blanks as it were in their effort to deflect and distract everything away from Trump in this DEM historical moment to impeach and have Trump removed from office.

Hopefully, the Articles of Impeachment (I suspect a minimum of 3 and possibly 5 or 6 – my hunch).

They closer we get with solid evidence of high crimes by Trump the more GOPers are likely to sign on and possibly pull a Nixon (tell him to resign) that after reading the Articles he is likely not to survive a vote to remove. We shall see.

Thanks for stopping by.