Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi convened her Democrat caucus following former Special Counsel Robert
Mueller’s calamitous appearance before the House Judiciary and Intelligence
panels. A lengthy, animated discussion about the impeachment process followed.
Pelosi has argued for
months the "slow, methodical approach" employed by House Democrats
was the right way to move forward insisting Democrats need support from
Republicans or a shift in public sentiment before starting an impeachment
inquiry against President Trump.
During the morning
proceedings before the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) asked
Mueller if the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) guidance against indicting a
sitting president was the reason he didn’t indict President Trump. Mueller answered in the affirmative.
However, a short time
later, before the Intelligence Committee, Mueller clarified his comment.
"I want to go back
to one thing that was said this morning by Mr. Lieu who said, and I quote, ‘You
didn't charge the President because of the opinion,'" Mueller said.
"That is not the correct way to say it. As we say in the report and as I
said at the opening, we did not reach a determination as to whether the
president committed a crime."
Mueller cleans up morning exchange with Lieu about OLC policy pic.twitter.com/DgY8v0bmSY— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 24, 2019
The U.S. House has 235
Democrats, 197 Republicans, one independent and two vacant seats. As a result,
the Democrats could impeach Trump with no Republican support.
The U.S. Senate has 53
Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with the
Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would require 67 votes. So,
for President Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the
Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.
The Acme Anvil Company
strikes again.
UPDATE: Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored
News. We are grateful to Doug Ross
for linking to this post.
