# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 58
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1141 "2019-09-29T16:56:08Z")
> [@Annoyed](#): > > You can get on the Pelosi bandwagon if you like. > > Her move puts herself right in line with the fringe of her party, you know, the one she was just a few weeks ago trying to distance herself from, for political purposes. > > And now, a year prior to the next election, during prime time campaigning for the left, she’s gonna “strike” with an “inquiry” for completely objective and honest political reasons. > > If Trump wasn’t a threat to them they wouldn’t be wasting all this political capital on him. I see that this is the exact spin that Fox News and others is trotting out today. I would guess that this is the new “talking point of the day”, only this one did not get sent to the Democrats in Congress by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1142 "2019-09-29T17:16:15Z")
Personal prediction. If trump is removed from office, Pence will not be the nominee in 2020. He will be so poisoned by association that he will either not run or lose in the (hastily restored) primaries. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1143 "2019-09-29T17:32:46Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Personal prediction. If trump is removed from office, Pence will not be the nominee in 2020. He will be so poisoned by association that he will either not run or lose in the (hastily restored) primaries. It won’t be Pence, because nobody likes him, not because any Republicans have regrets about Trump. My guess would be Pompeo. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1144 "2019-09-29T18:05:57Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > My guess would be Pompeo. Or, Ms. Ivanka! ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1145 "2019-09-29T18:15:57Z")
It’s the weekend. The Hunter Biden nothingburger is the only thing on the menu, and the GOP is screaming it’s the most important dish ever served. This may play for a day or two, but I suspect as the inquiry continues this week, the real issues will take over the headlines. It’d be reassuring to see Dems get out in front of an issue for once. They could have anticipated and preempted this GOP ploy. They didn’t, so let’s hope they regain their footing. It’d also be helpful if they kept the political grandstanding in the inquiry to a minimum. A tone of gravitas might help dissuade a few people that the inquiry is politically motivated and help focus them on the very serious matters at hand. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1146 "2019-09-29T18:29:44Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > A tone of gravitas might help dissuade a few people that the inquiry is politically motivated and help focus them on the very serious matters at hand. Absolutely. Schiff will now be the face of the investigation and his focus will be narrow - the troubling issues regarding Trump and The Ukraine. From [WAPO](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pelosi-turns-to-schiff-to-lead-house-democrats-impeachment-inquiry-of-trump/2019/09/28/ed6c4608-e149-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html): > [@](#): > > The confluence of two otherwise coincidental events — the embarrassing Lewandowski hearing followed in quick succession by the explosion of the Ukraine story — handed Pelosi an opening to sideline Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) in favor of the more widely trusted head of the Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), as Democrats launch the formal impeachment inquiry. And Pelosi has made clear that the investigation will focus narrowly on the Ukraine matter, a scandal she believes could be easily understood by the public. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1147 "2019-09-29T18:50:34Z")
Jim Jordan went on CNN this morning screaming about allegations against the Bidens, and Jake Tapper said, “As somebody who’s had a few allegations thrown his way, you shouldn’t be throwing allegations at other people.” (Paraphrased) ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1148 "2019-09-29T18:53:39Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Yeah, it’s interesting. I think McConnell blocking a trial could actually be a very good result for Democrats. > [@Ludovic](#): > > He claims that he would hold a trial. But I wouldn’t trust that utterance one way or another. **[How Mitch McConnell could give impeachment the Merrick Garland treatment](https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/28/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment-007689)** > [@](#): > > It’s on track to be the trial of the century: President Donald Trump fighting to keep his job before a jury of 100 senators. > > It also could never happen. > > That’s because of a Constitution that designates the Senate with the “sole power to try” an impeachment that comes from the House. But nowhere in America’s founding document is the trial said to be a mandatory act. > > Sure, it would be an unprecedented move in U.S. history for Republican leader Mitch McConnell to table Trump impeachment proceedings without allowing any significant debate or a vote to convict a president from his own party, thereby removing him from office. But it’d be well within his power. > > Conventional wisdom still says there has to be a Trump trial. McConnell, after all, said in March that the Senate would have “no choice” but to hold one if the House voted for impeachment. > > But political conditions can change quickly in the Trump era. And lawmakers from both parties say they wouldn’t be surprised if the Kentucky Republican ultimately made the same calculation he did in 2016 when President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court– > … ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1149 "2019-09-29T19:00:02Z")
Hannity guests Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing say George Soros is funding the whistleblower. Funding him to do what? He/she needs money to blow a whistle? > **[Hannity Panel: George Soros' NGOs Sponsored Whistleblower Report](https://www.newsweek.com/hannity-guests-claim-george-soros-dirty-money-backed-ukraine-whistleblower-report-this-was-1461715)** > > Jewish philanthropist Soros has long been a favored bogeyman and target of anti-Semitism for the hard right. DiGenova and Toensing Teamed Up With Giuliani to Dig Up Ukraine Dirt on Biden > **[Frequent Fox Guests diGenova and Toensing Reportedly Teamed Up With Giuliani...](https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-digenova-and-victoria-toensing-worked-with-rudy-giuliani-to-dig-up-ukraine-dirt-on-joe-biden-report)** > > Fox News cited a U.S. official who said all three were working off the books apart from the administration, and the only person who knew “what they were doing is President Trump.” * * * Rudy says he won’t cooperate with the House investigation until Adam Schiff resigns his chairmanship. (Contempt of Congress charges coming in 3, 2, 1 …) [Rudy Giuliani Says He Won't Cooperate WIth Adam Schiff-Led Ukraine Investigation](https://www.newsweek.com/rudy-giuliani-says-he-wont-cooperate-adam-schiff-led-ukraine-investigation-1461955)? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1150 "2019-09-29T19:06:45Z")
What was the “embarrassing Lewandowski hearing” mentioned in the WaPo story quoted? Sorry, i must have missed hearing about it, this being a slow news week and all. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1151 "2019-09-29T19:09:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Rudy says he won’t cooperate with the House investigation until Adam Schiff resigns his chairmanship. (Contempt of Congress charges coming in 3, 2, 1 …) > [Rudy Giuliani Says He Won't Cooperate WIth Adam Schiff-Led Ukraine Investigation](https://www.newsweek.com/rudy-giuliani-says-he-wont-cooperate-adam-schiff-led-ukraine-investigation-1461955)? Well that’s just st standard practice, right? The person under investigation gets to choose who will do the investigation. I’m sure that’s how Rudy ran his office when he was prosecuting mobsters. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1152 "2019-09-29T19:12:51Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > **[How Mitch McConnell could give impeachment the Merrick Garland treatment](https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/28/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment-007689)** Do you think it would work again, really? I just don’t see how it will. The Republicans are trotting out the same tired tactics as they used in 2016 – and again in 2018. They worked once. I see no reason to believe they will work in 2020, since they failed so miserably in 2018. It’s like listening to a really sad Golden Oldies soundtrack. One of the biggest contributors to the failure of the 2016 election was complacency among Democrats. 2018 showed that’s no longer a factor. If McConnell tries another Merrick Garland move, the only thing that will happen is even more Democrats and moderate independents will show up in 2020 to run these people out on a rail, don’t you think? Moscow Mitch pays attention to polls. He pays attention to an electorate disgruntled enough to rally and protest. I don’t think folks are going to sit on the sidelines again. Put it this way: If he pulls such a stunt and gets away with it, well, this country was already a lost cause. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1153 "2019-09-29T19:17:37Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > What was the “embarrassing Lewandowski hearing” mentioned in the WaPo story quoted? > > Sorry, i must have missed hearing about it, this being a slow news week and all. 😉 Well, he did admit that he lies to the media because it isn’t his responsibility to make sure that they get true information. He also refused to answer practically any question, saying he had been ordered by the Administration to not answer anything. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1154 "2019-09-29T19:19:51Z")
But why does that mean Pelosi wants Schiff to handle the investigations? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1155 "2019-09-29T19:21:54Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > What was the “embarrassing Lewandowski hearing” mentioned in the WaPo story quoted? > > Sorry, i must have missed hearing about it, this being a slow news week and all. 😉 I lose track after a day! [Here is a link](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/09/lewandowski-congress-judiciary-hearing-trump-impeachment/598228/) to one a number of representative articles on ‘the fiasco’. Lewandowski was contemptuous throughout and made it clear that the House reps were very much not in charge of the agenda. And, until the last minutes of the hearing, they let him get away with it unchallenged. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1156 "2019-09-29T19:26:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But why does that mean Pelosi wants Schiff to handle the investigations? Because he is a prosecutor who will take charge of things, direct an unstoppable agenda, and not let a witness grandstand or deflect. Being younger and less rumpled than Nadler, he is also likely to be a much more credible and persuasive public face for the Dems (plus he is a player in the intelligence community with intelligence concerns being THE issue, sorta like Nancy in “her wheelhouse”). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1157 "2019-09-29T20:11:33Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > **[How Mitch McConnell could give impeachment the Merrick Garland treatment](https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/28/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment-007689)** From what I read elsewhere it really isn’t clear who actually has the authority to call the trial to order. It could be that McConnell could try to pocket the process and Chief Justice Roberts could declare that the it is actually his job to open the trial (with the Senates’s job to be the ones who try the charges). That said GAWD I hope that is what McConnell does!!! That leave the story as told in the House impeachment process as THE word in the public’s mind and their vote (which would even have some GOP-critters in moderate districts looking to their future coming on board) being the decision made … instead of the Senate voting to acquit in a trial designed to make the best case to do so and to spin it Trumpward as best as possible. The rallying cry would be that we are left with - “let the American people decide the direction” of this country at the ballot box would be the best chance this country has to firmly reject Trumpism. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1158 "2019-09-29T20:25:29Z")
A related question for Dopers to make predictive WAGs at: what will be the lowest Trump hits on approval? I’m betting no lower than 33%. Note he is current at 42.8, has been below 37 before and that Carter got down under 29 and Nixon under 25%. But I’m thinking that this turd’s third won’t move no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1159 "2019-09-29T20:45:04Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I’m betting no lower than 33%. Make that 33⅓. After all, they are long playing. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/1160 "2019-09-29T20:53:04Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Do you think it would work again, really? I just don’t see how it will. > > The Republicans are trotting out the same tired tactics as they used in 2016 – and again in 2018. They worked once. I see no reason to believe they will work in 2020, since they failed so miserably in 2018. It’s like listening to a really sad Golden Oldies soundtrack. > > One of the biggest contributors to the failure of the 2016 election was complacency among Democrats. 2018 showed that’s no longer a factor. If McConnell tries another Merrick Garland move, the only thing that will happen is even more Democrats and moderate independents will show up in 2020 to run these people out on a rail, don’t you think? > > Moscow Mitch pays attention to polls. He pays attention to an electorate disgruntled enough to rally and protest. I don’t think folks are going to sit on the sidelines again. > > Put it this way: If he pulls such a stunt and gets away with it, well, this country was already a lost cause. ☹ > [@DSeid](#): > > From what I read elsewhere it really isn’t clear who actually has the authority to call the trial to order. It could be that McConnell could try to pocket the process and Chief Justice Roberts could declare that the it is actually his job to open the trial (with the Senates’s job to be the ones who try the charges). > > That said GAWD I hope that is what McConnell does!!! > > That leave the story as told in the House impeachment process as THE word in the public’s mind and their vote (which would even have some GOP-critters in moderate districts looking to their future coming on board) being the decision made … instead of the Senate voting to acquit in a trial designed to make the best case to do so and to spin it Trumpward as best as possible. The rallying cry would be that we are left with - “let the American people decide the direction” of this country at the ballot box would be the best chance this country has to firmly reject Trumpism. I’m heartened by y’all’s belief that the public at large would give a rat’s ass if Moscow Mitch did refuse to hold a vote in the Senate. The Dems would make some impotent noise, but who’s gonna stop him? **Aspenglow** , I fear the country already IS a lost cause. I hope I’m wrong. Keep being optimistic-- I need it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=59)