Democrats expect Nancy Pelosi to move on impeachment as soon as the Democrats take over the House in January.
And Pelosi has a plan.
But Pelosi’s shocking plan stunned Donald Trump because it was the last thing anyone expected her to try.
Pelosi is caught in a tight spot.
She needs to secure the votes of her radical caucus – the vast majority of which were elected by Democrat voters demanding Trump’s impeachment – but she also can’t pursue a suicide pact on impeachment and ruin the party.
So Pelosi pleaded for patience and begged her caucus to wait for Robert Mueller to release his report.
“We must wait to see the entire picture and then engage the American people about how we go forward as a nation,” Pelosi said in a statement that was released to Politico. “We must protect the integrity of the Mueller investigation, so that the American people can get the full truth.”
Democrat Representative Pramila Jayapal, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee where any impeachment efforts will originate, explained why she bought into Pelosi’s scheme to wait for the Mueller reports.
“It becomes harder and harder to make the case that this president hasn’t committed impeachable offenses. However, that information still has to get out to the American people,” Congresswoman Jayapal stated.
Jayapal – who is one of the most radical left members of the House – told Politico that Democrats needed to make the case against Trump first.
“You really stand to lose something if you try to move impeachment before you have everything on the table,” Jayapal added. “We don’t have everything on the table yet.”
David Cicilline, another House Judiciary Committee member, also stressed patience.
“My hope is that we would be very careful not to take any action which would interfere or disrupt in any way the ongoing investigation of the special counsel,” Cicilline stated. “It’s been reported that he’s nearing conclusions. I do think it’s important for us to await that report and not do anything that would slow that down or impede it in any way.”
Democrats are emphasizing a measured approach on impeachment, but they aren’t telling the whole story.
Pelosi is slow-playing impeachment because deep down in her heart of hearts she knows impeachment talk will actually help Donald Trump heading into his 2020 re-election campaign.
In 2016, skeptical Republicans came home during the final weeks of the campaign because they realized it was a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
If Democrats move on a party line vote to impeach the President, then the Republican voters who may not love everything about Trump will return home to the GOP once again and harden their partisan leanings because they’ll see that the Democrats have turned the issue into a “shirts vs skins” competition between the two parties.
Pelosi knows that impeaching Donald Trump does not weaken his political hand.
To the contrary, it strengthens his position among Republicans because it gives a reason for wavering voters to judge the Democrats as treating Trump unfairly.
Additionally, there’s a good chance Mueller’s probe will ultimately vindicate Trump.
Despite Mueller’s best efforts to force individuals to present false testimony against Trump, he’s produced no evidence of collusion with Russia.
Democrats have no clue that Pelosi is setting them up for a massive disappointment.
They are going to be furious when they find out she stalled for time on impeachment even though she knew Mueller would turn up empty handed.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
