Game Changer: Trump Gives Pelosi An Ultimatum On Impeachment

By
Jordan Riddle
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OPINION | This article contains opinion. This site is licensed to publish this content.

President Trump no longer wants to run circles with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over a potential impeachment and, instead, will soon be offering her an ultimatum.

Pelosi, since she first announced the House would be pursuing an impeachment inquiry into Trump, has been demanding Trump administration officials comply with House subpoenas for witness testimony and scores of documents.

These officials are not complying with the requests as Trump claims the House never officially launched an impeachment inquiry—which requires a formal House vote.

If she wants the documents then she needs to hold a vote, President Trump told a group of reporters.

From Axios:

The White House is planning to send Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter as soon as Friday arguing that President Trump and his team can ignore lawmakers’ demands until she holds a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry, 2 sources familiar with the letter tell Axios.

Why it matters: By putting in writing the case that Trump and his supporters have been making verbally for days, the White House is preparing for a court fight and arguing to the public that its resistance to Congress’ requests is justified.

  • Trump wants to force House Democrats in vulnerable races to be on the record if they favor pursuing impeachment, these sources tell us.

  • Republicans also say the minority party can exert more influence over hearings and other aspects of an inquiry once it is formalized with a vote.

  • By calling this an inquiry without holding a vote, Pelosi and the Democratic committee chairmen are having it both ways, one official said.

The Western Journal reports the ultimatum amounts to calling the Democrats’ bluff on impeachment: “This demand would force Democrats to go on the record either for or against the inquiry — a dangerous and difficult choice for anyone on the left as the party struggles to decide what the impeachment inquiry should cover.”

Regarding the current impeachment inquiry, NPR reports Trump told a group of reporters on Thursday that his “lawyers think they’ve never seen anything so unfair.”

He continued: “They’ve never seen anything so unjust. I’ve been president now for almost three years, and I’ve been going through this for almost three years. It’s almost become, like, a part of my day.”

As for Pelosi, she did not specify whether or not she would oblige Trump’s request.

“We may decide to do it, but it has nothing to do with the president saying what he’s saying,” Pelosi told reporters per the report.

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