DEFEATED: Pelosi Announces NO Impeachment Vote

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

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not be pursuing a vote to formalize an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, leading some political pundits to believe she does not have enough House Democrats who want to go on record to defend impeachment.

Pelosi first announced that she and her House colleagues would be launching a formal impeachment inquiry on September 24 and have since issued a number of subpoenas for testimonies from Trump administration officials and documents relating to impeaching Trump.

As these officials continue to resist the subpoenas—most notably Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who claims there must be a formal vote held before the subpoena power can be enacted—Pelosi has called off a potential vote.

Politico reports Pelosi told a group of reporters on Tuesday evening “At this time, we will not have a vote.”

“We’re not here to call bluffs. We’re here to find the truth, to uphold the Constitution of the United States,” the House Speaker continued. “This is not a game for us, this is deadly serious.”

Politico adds:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leaders will hold off on a full House vote authorizing an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, according to multiple lawmakers and aides.

Democratic leadership sources caution, however, that the decision could be “reassessed at some point.”

The move came amid opposition from key chairmen and members of leadership, as well as a number of centrist Democrats facing tough reelection bids.

Trump, White House officials and Republicans on Capitol Hill have seized on the absence of such a vote as an unacceptable break with House precedent and have vowed to resist what they describe as an illegitimate probe.

According to Politico, even Democratic House leaders had disagreements over whether or not to formalize the impeachment inquiry:

Pelosi and other top Democrats couldn’t come to an agreement among themselves during internal discussions on Tuesday over whether to move forward with the vote, which would mark an escalation of their impeachment battle with Trump. Vulnerable House Democrats from swing districts were also largely opposed, with some lawmakers fearing that the American public would confuse a vote authorizing an impeachment inquiry as actually impeaching Trump.

Inside the leadership, Hoyer and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.). were opposed to the vote, as were Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), two key players in the impeachment drama, said several Democratic aides.

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