For over two years, I have written that the Democratic leadership had no intention to impeach Donald Trump. The problem has been that the voters gave the House back to the Democrats in part to pursue impeachment. With the House Judiciary Committee moving forward, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has become more and more direct in reminding them that this is not a real effort. The most strident statements came out of a meeting yesterday with Pelosi not only blasting the Committee (and its Chair Jerry Nadler) but telling attendees “feel free to leak this.”
Pelosi criticized the Committee and made clear that impeachment is a pipe dream. It is a direct and surprising rebuke of Nadler and his allies. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, portrayed Pelosi as just focused on politics rather than principle: “Nadler is talking about law, Pelosi is talking about politics. Nadler is looking at high crimes and misdemeanors, and we are inundated with them in the Judiciary Committee. But Pelosi is looking at the political side of it.”
This is the problem in hyping impeachment to regain the House: some people actually believe you.