More Than Half the House Democrats Officially Back an Impeachment Push

By Rafi Schwartz  |  August 1, 2019 | 1:15pm
Congress

More than half of the House Democratic caucus now support opening an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, with Florida Rep. Ted Deutch officially backing the push in an opinion piece published by the Sun Sentinel on Thursday.

Deutch, the 118th Democrat to publicly endorse an impeachment inquiry, pushed back on the narrative that Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony was a dud, explaining that the House Judiciary Committee—of which he is a member—has essentially begun the process to recommend articles of impeachment to the full House, writing that “the Judiciary Committee officially started its investigation into the abuse of power by President Trump on March 4, 2019.”

“In every meaningful way, our investigation is an impeachment inquiry,” he continued.

Among those joining Deutch in pushing to hold the president accountable for his many, many impeachable offenses was Rep. Nita Lowey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who beat Deutch to the punch by a matter of hours, releasing a statement Wednesday evening calling for the Judiciary Committee to “move forward with an impeachment inquiry.”

To date, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stubbornly refused to throw her weight behind any coordinated Democratic impeachment effort—to the consternation of many in her party—arguing that impeaching the president would simply play into Trump’s 13-dimensional chess game.

But with more than half of House Democrats now publicly backing impeachment proceedings, Pelosi’s efforts to stem the tide of a full-fledged revolt against her “wait and see” approach look more imperiled than ever.

 
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