The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee was set to vote on launching an investigation into the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump.
This issue picked up steam when the final report on the Mueller investigation, which lasted nearly two years, was submitted to the Secretary of Justice last March.
The investigation, conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, alleged that Russia was attempting to intervene cyberly to prevent Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton from winning the 2016 presidential elections. Another claim was whether there was a secret agreement between the Republican presidential candidate Trump and Russia.
Trump has labelled the Russian Inquiry from the outset as a “witch hunt” and a deep state conspiracy. The allegations that Trump has made attempts to halt the investigation and obstruct justice have fueled the debate.
"Russia has tried to interfere with our elections, and that should worry all Americans," Mueller said of the investigation. "If we were sure that the President had not explicitly committed a crime, we would have said so. But we didn't determine whether the President committed a crime. While still in office, a President cannot be accused of a federal crime, it goes against the constitution.” This vague statement was a handhold for the Democrats. In fact, Mueller chose to put the ball in Congress's court.
Trump argues that the Russian investigation resulted in a fiasco and completely cleared him.
Although the issue for Republicans is considered to be over and done with, the Democrats will not give up. Democrats tackle the headlines that Mueller left vague. According to the Democrats, investigations on the same issue in various committees of the U.S. Congress paved the way for an investigation into Trump’s impeachment.
Even if the House of Representatives votes on Trump's impeachment, that decision should also get enough votes in the Senate. The Senate has the last word on the charge. Since the Republicans control the Senate, the efforts of the Democrats for Trump’s impeachment do not seem to be effective.
On the grounds that it will not leave the Senate, House majority leader Nancy Pelosi is not looking forward to an investigation into the impeachment of Trump. Pelosi believes that an inconclusive attempt would harm the Democrats in the 2020 election. However, most Democrat lawmakers disagree with her.
The number of Democrat lawmakers who supported the investigation into Trump's impeachment was 80 in June. This number, which was 117 in early August, hit 133 in September. Thus 133 of the 235 Democrats in Congress who support impeachment are forcing Pelosi's hand. Jerrold Nadler, head of the Judiciary Committee, supports the investigation, further strengthening the hand of the “impeachers”.
Sixteen of the 24 Democrats in the Judicial Committee openly support the initiation of an investigation. In order to hold an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives, the Judiciary Committee needs 21 votes. Pelosi is resisting for now, but she may not be able to withstand the demand of the Democrat majority in the House. The decision by the Judiciary Committee to impeach will be an unprecedented step.
Presidential elections will be held in the United States in November 2020. Thirty-six seats in the Senate will also be up for election. If the Democrats win a few extra seats, it could shift the balance in the Senate. Therefore, attempts to dismantle Trump seem to be one of the hot topics of the 2020 elections. In other words, the issue of impeachment is more important as a political initiative than a “legal” one.
