Judiciary Committee Is Moving Quickly Toward Impeachment Probe

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said that the House Judiciary Committee is moving quickly toward opening an impeachment investigation into Trump.

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Rep. Pramila Jayapal: House Judiciary Is Moving Toward Trump Impeachment Investigation

Transcript via CNN’s State Of The Union:

TAPPER: Some members of the Democratic caucus want to go forward with impeachment, but Democratic leaders have been saying, slow your roll. Does the fact that Justin Amash, a Republican, is now supporting impeachment, at least theoretically, mean that the people who want to proceed with that now have more wind at their backs?

JAYAPAL: Well, I think it’s a watershed moment. For weeks Speaker Pelosi has saying this needs to be bipartisan if it’s going to move forward just from the practical perspective of impeachment moving forward. And I think Justin Amash coming on board means that there is now bipartisan support for really understanding the seriousness of what is in the Mueller report.

And, you know, he says, and I think he’s right we — most of us actually swing district Democrats and progressives, most of the caucus agrees with most of those conclusions that Justin Amash has around what is in the report. We have read the report. It very carefully laid out a case that really is pushing for the House to take on these issues.

So, I think it’s not about the impeachment vote. It’s about opening an impeachment inquiry and really having the legal — the legal remedies that are stronger when you have an impeachment inquiry. And I think we’re very quickly headed down that path.

Video:

An Impeachment Investigation Is Not An Impeachment Vote

An impeachment investigation is the first step in the process. The Judiciary Committee may need to launch an impeachment investigation because of Trump’s refusal to turn over documents, evidence, and make witnesses available to testify. Rep. Justin Amash’s tweets over the weekend have opened the door for House Democrats to push more.

Speaker Pelosi has stressed that the process of impeachment could be used as an investigative tool.

Impeachment is clearly not going to end in Trump’s removal from office as long as Republicans control the Senate, but the impeachment mechanism can be used to break Trump’s obstruction, and deliver the facts to the American people before they vote in 2020.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association