Archives for 2019

“A contingent of Democratic House members from Republican-leaning districts announced one by one Monday that after weeks of extraordinary pressure, they have decided to vote to impeach President Trump, as the House hurtles toward historic action later this week,” the Washington Post reports.

“Monday’s announcements dealt a blow to Trump and his allies, who had been encouraging Democrats to defect to bolster their depiction of impeachment as a crusade by extremist liberals.”

Playbook: “There are a few ways to look at this. If you take these lawmakers at their word, they are so disgusted with Trump’s behavior that they need to vote to remove him from office. It’s their duty. And perhaps so.”

“But Congress is a political institution, where even matters of conscience are judged for their political wisdom. First of all, take note that the announcements all came within hours of each other — a sign of unity among a group of vulnerable politicians. They’re leaping together.”

Washington Post-ABC News poll: “On the eve of the House vote, 49% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 46% say he should not. Those are essentially identical to findings at the end of October, when 49% favored impeachment and removal and 47% opposed. The latest poll also finds that regardless of whether Trump committed an impeachable offense, 49% say he improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son, while 39% say Trump did not do this.”

“Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), a key Trump ally, told the freshman from New Jersey that Trump would like to see him become a Republican,” Politico reports.

“Behind the scenes, former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie spoke to Van Drew about switching parties, said GOP sources. Kellyanne Conway, a top White House adviser who hails from that district, also sought a meeting with the congressman on an unrelated issue, which Van Drew’s aides suspected was a pretense for her to lobby him to switch parties. The meeting never happened, but it was clear the White House was upping the pressure on Van Drew.”

“A group of more than 700 historians, legal scholars and others published an open letter Monday urging the House of Representatives to impeach President Trump, denouncing his conduct as ‘a clear and present danger to the Constitution,'” the Washington Post reports.

A new CNN poll finds support for impeaching President Trump and removing him from office stands at 45% in the new poll, down from 50% in a poll conducted in mid-November.

Opposition to impeachment and removal stands at 47% in the new poll, up from 43% in November.