Pelosi rules out a censure of Trump: 'If the goods are there, you must impeach'

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday ruled out a congressional censure of President Trump, a move some lawmakers have suggested as a less divisive alternative to launching impeachment proceedings.

“No. I think censure is just a way out,” Pelosi told reporters. “If you’re going to go, you’ve got to go. In other words, if the goods are there, you must impeach, and censure is nice, but it is not commensurate with the violations of the Constitution, should we decide that’s the way to go.”

She added that a censure of Trump would be “a day at the beach for the president, or at his golf club, or wherever he goes.”

Pelosi, speaking at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, continued to counsel a deliberate approach to building a case that Trump attempted to obstruct the investigation of Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. She has been resisting calls from 70 House members — all Democrats but one — to launch impeachment proceedings.

-snip-

By Mike DeBonis and John Wagner June 19 at 10:18 AM


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/pelosi-rules-out-a-censure-of-trump-saying-if-the-goods-are-there-you-just-impeach/2019/06/19/6ddf2192-9295-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html

[CTyankee]

1. Like everyone else here, I am so furious about Trump and so helpless to get him!

But we all know the Senate won't convict and then what? What does any one of us here know that Nancy doesn't?

[Brainfodder]

2. orange can't be re-elected at this point is perhaps her strategy?

There is so much corruption here and Senators apparently have too much power in just the ability to block even voting and use it when they shouldn't.

Nancy and her staff have something up their sleeve, besides orange looks weaker more and more with even Fox News having to get some truth out.

The unhinged blabber will continue to add fuel to the growing inferno?

Perhaps time is on our side when his newly enacted laws will start to grow their rotten fruit?

That coughing clip in the oval, what an ignorant slut?

[yaesu]

4. tRump is only campaigning to his base, his base love him no matter what, his base loves his

message, he has a good chance of getting reelected unless we can turn out the vote to stop him. Censures are really nothing burgers, a waste of time, but impeachment needs to happen asap.

[Brainfodder]

7. Yup, every time he speaks in public I feel the RW filter being applied.

At the ready to be edited for the propaganda machine and friends.

[Bradical79]

12. Hope you're right, though I personally have zero faith in Pelosi -nt

[Wuddles440]

18. Agree!

The overall response, or lack thereof, by our "leadership" has been discouraging, disheartening, embarrassing, and downright disgusting. While I expected some stumbles and disorganization along the way (they are Dems after all), I never anticipated the never-ending diet of appeasement and concessions. Pathetic! Hell, a lot of the time it seems like the CONS still control the House! Beyond frustrating!

[Skittles]

22. I agree

Dems look foolish at this point

[shanny]

5. Personally I think many of us here know better.

No, we can't remove him from office, given the complicit Senate.
But: we can expose his multiple and multi-faceted crimes and misdemeanors on teevee, in sight of everyone (please no more off-camera testimony!), weaken him and drive him nuts at the same time.

I'd rather go into fall 2020 with a year's worth of exposure under our belts--culminating with an impeachment referral, so that we can more easily deny him a second term AND hang him around the neck of Republicans like an anchor.

[CrispyQ]

8. Agreed! I want to anchor him to the GOP.

"Even the House dems don't think I'm guilty." He will campaign on that if they don't.

If this president's actions don't meet the standard for impeachment, whose the hell would?

[shanny]

9. Exactly. nt

[Bradical79]

14. And it's performing their Constitutional duty

Not going forward with impeachment proceedings just undermines the entire Mueller investigation, and plays into Trump's "witch hunt" narritive. Mueller lays out a pretty clear path for obstruction charges. Pelosi's public messaging has been horrendous. "I don't want him impeached, I want him in jail" was just fucking stupid. The former does not determine the later.

There's also the fact that the GOP is gearing up to give us a Clinton Emails 3.0 event for election year.

I say start the impeachment inquiry, lay out the case, force the Senate to look like partisan hacks in a very public manner.

[shanny]

15. Exactly.

If not tRump, then who? If not now, when?

[Magoo48]

16. Yup. We don't impeach because it's expedient but because it's right.

Last edited Wed Jun 19, 2019, 11:36 PM - Edit history (1)

[shanny]

17. +1

[JudyM]

19. Same here. I'm hoping against hope that our Dems are planning a big, well-orchestrated mic drop.

[lagomorph777]

20. Hearings, hearings, hearings. Expose all of Trumputin's crimes for 16 months.

Then vote on impeachment the last day of the term. Don't give Turtle a chance to weigh in.

[shanny]

3. "if"

smdh

[FakeNoose]

21. She knows the goods ARE there

That's why she's saying it.

[BeyondGeography]

6. The goods are there

Solved.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Could move forward on impeachment & then hold referral until conditions change (Tribe 3rd option).nt

[Lonestarblue]

11. I think McConnell said something about Democrats being too timid to impeach Trump.

Is ge right? We all know that Republicans would have impeached a Democratic president for doing what Trump has done ten times over, with public hearings and constant blather about what a corrupt, evil person he or she was. The Benghazi hearings were about one thing only—to damage Hillary Clinton’s chance of winning the presidency, as were their hearings on her emails.

Democrats have a legitimate charge from Mueller to pursue impeachment hearings. Yet Mueller has not been subpoenaed to testify. Why not? Professional courtesy is good, but the limit has been surpassed.

Open impeachment hearings so you have the power of the court behind subpoenas instead of letting Trump get away with continuing to obstruct justice. I’m afraid that Democrats will be perceived as all talk and no action when it comes to fighting not only for what’s right but also for the things that this country needs., like cybersecurity, infrastructure, and fair taxes and wages.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. It looks that way.

[Luka Boyd]

23. I think its a timing thing

I think they are timing the impeachment inquiry and subsequent proceedings carefully so that its in the news during the election cycle. If they pull the trigger too early and the senate doesn't convict, it will be be basically all over and forgotten by election night. If the trials are ongoing during the election cycle, even if they don't get the conviction it will implant doubts just like the carefully timed Comey release did to Hillary. Think about this, do we want undecided voters going to the polls thinking "Trumps okay, they didnt find anything" or "Am I really going to vote for a guy who is being impeached right now"?

[Brainfodder]

24. Agreed!

The stories, the changes in them, over and over, and stonewall after stonewall, how the hell can you NOT smell something funky?