Thread by @julianzelizer

House Democrats are having a difficult debate about impeachment./1
washingtonpost.com/politics/pelos…

There is one argument against voting on impeachment proceedings that doesn’t make sense. That is--because the nation has not experienced its equivalent of the 1973 Watergate Committee, we need more of an "educational process" before Congress can act./2
pbs.org/video/newshour…

But that argument is misleading. For over two years, there has been extensive reporting on the conduct of the president--before, during, and after the Mueller investigation. As @brianstelter argued, most of it was spot on./3
realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/03/…

More important, most of the Mueller Report is available to the public. The findings are substantial, in terms of the Russian intervention in the 2016 campaign, the contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian officials, and @realDonaldTrump's efforts to obstruct./4

@SamWangPhD and I recorded several episodes of Politics & Polls reviewing the findings with @emptywheel, @qjurecic. @marty_lederman./5
soundcloud.com/woodrowwilsons…

In contrast to Mueller, Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski’s findings were sealed until recently./6
washingtonpost.com/local/public-s…

This was at the heart of @justinamash’s point in his twitter thread./7

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1129831615952236546

Furthermore, much of President Trump’s worst behavior has taken place in plain sight, unlike President Nixon who did much his business in the shadows./8

For those hoping Congress will recreate Watergate style hearings, the administration has shown how far they will go to stifle oversight. Nor can our polarized environment host that kind of unified national media moment. @KevinMKruse and I discuss this in #FaultLines./9

Added to that, the AG is on a one-man mission to protect POTUS using his formidable institutional muscle. We have Saturday Night Massacres taking place almost every day./10

And by the way, while the nation is very divided right now--which means that an impeachment inquiry would stir the pot--it is not as if things were rosy in 1973-1974. The nation was reeling from the battles over race relations, Vietnam, and an energy crisis./11

So, the House has more than enough information to take the next step in the impeachment process. The real question is if they have the will to do so./end

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