There is growing daylight between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) over the best strategy for combating a Trump administration that is flouting a flurry of congressional subpoenas at nearly every turn.
The pair of powerful Democrats clashed in recent days over whether to launch impeachment proceedings against President Trump and how soon to hold a contempt vote against Attorney General William Barr.
Nadler, spurred by frustrated Judiciary Committee members, has been privately pushing leadership for both an impeachment inquiry and a contempt vote immediately after lawmakers return from their weeklong Memorial Day recess.
Pelosi is still urging a go-slow approach, concerned that Democrats have not yet swayed public opinion about why such aggressive tactics are necessary. The Speaker is also pointing to a string of court victories over the Trump administration and business entities, bolstering Democrats’ arguments that the law is on their side as they methodically probe the president.
The Judiciary Committee “has to make a stronger public case for moving forward with contempt in a way that would persuade the public, that is disciplined enough to persuade the public, and box in the Republicans and really elevate their level of complicity in the president’s wrongdoing and his campaign of obstruction,” said a senior Democratic source tracking the fight playing out in the 235-member caucus.
“Trump has just given us a gift, and we have to use it to our advantage,” the source said. More public outreach “needs to be done before you take a vote on contempt or impeachment.”
In a closed-door emergency caucus meeting this week, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a Pelosi ally, made a point many saw as pushing back at the pressure from Nadler and others on Judiciary, who are increasingly frustrated by the administration’s stonewalling.
Welch stood up and said that while Democrats may eventually have to move forward with impeachment, they should not do so just because of pique within the Judiciary Committee.
It seems it’s “just the Judiciary Committee that’s getting dissed” by the Trump administration, Welch said, according to a source in the room. Democrats, he added, cannot let that dictate the actions of the entire Congress.
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Pelosi, Nadler clash over whether to launch Trump impeachment proceedings https://t.co/A096GsIIlR pic.twitter.com/bDU3bxz8IZ
— The Hill (@thehill) May 25, 2019
Unfortunately they don’t have the luxury of time.
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