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(THREAD) I think Nancy Pelosi's views on impeachment make a lot of sense, but are not well understood. I see people claiming she is a coward, while I see no such thing. She contributed to sound bites and headlines that don't really match with what I saw from her on Kimmel.
1/ Kimmell and Pelosi talk about impeachment from 1:30 to 8:25 here.
2/ I'll put my highlights here and in the next tweet. 
4/ The paths she mentions can get a little confusing. I believe that some of the time she is talking about the path toward starting impeachment. That is the path we are on. She is also talking about taking the path that is formal impeachment hearings, which should happen by 2020.
5/ Many people wanted to start impeachment last month, the month before, or much earlier. One advantage of not being in an impeachment phase is that the Democrats in the House have gotten court rulings that they are entitled to get Trump's financial info even without impeaching.
6/ Here is a video from May 16 where Pelosi explained that she wanted the courts to affirm that the legislative branch can gather information for legislative purposes aside from impeachment. Favorable rulings on that are stronger than just for impeachment.
hooktube.com/watch?v=lqn4Fm…
hooktube.com/watch?v=lqn4Fm…
7/ After Pelosi said that Judge Amit Mehta ruled in favor of the House being able to investigate a President without sitting as an impeachment body and rejected Trump's lawyer's claims that they cannot investigate Trump because he isn't an agency.
www-m.cnn.com/2019/05/20/pol…
www-m.cnn.com/2019/05/20/pol…
8/ If Judge Mehta's ruling is upheld on appeal it will strengthen the legislative branch's right to information without impeaching and help rebalance the power of the legislative branch with the executive branch.
9/ Thank you to @Teri_Kanefield for her thread pointing out Pelosi's interview on Kimmel and her points about it. Teri's threads are always great.
10/ The judge (Edgardo Ramos) who ruled for the Democrats about their Deutsche Bank subpoena said something that is important for the House to have aside from impeachment. This could help the House enforce their subpoenas for Barr, McGahn, Hicks, Trump's tax records, etc.
11/ "Without the power to investigate, including of course the authority to compel testimony, either through its own processes or through judicial trial, Congress could be seriously handicapped in its efforts to exercise its constitutional function wisely and effectively."
12/ I just noticed that I messed up the image in 3/ above and cut off Pelosi's answer. She said, "Yea, we will" when Kimmel asked if they would be ready before the year 2020.
14/ I think those who don't want an authoritarian system should be happy that Pelosi is working to strengthen the power of the legislative branch through the courts by asserting their power to investigate without impeachment, before starting impeachment.
15/ One of the things Pelosi's plan seems to be doing is pushing any hand off to McConnell to closer to the election. I highly doubt he wants that given that his side is defending 2/3rds of the open seats this time. Sooner is likely better for him, and not near the primaries.
16/ I don't personally think Trump is going to be President by February of 2021, but the Democrats need to consider that scenario. I am going to play one out. Let's say this happens in the 2020 election:
- Trump is reelected.
- The Ds keep the House.
- The Senate goes 50-50.
- Trump is reelected.
- The Ds keep the House.
- The Senate goes 50-50.
17/ In that scenario the Rs have the tiebreaker in the Senate, but can't lose even a single Republican vote if the Ds hold. So, packing the courts gets a little tougher, but still possible. If that happens I think there is something important for the Ds in the House to ...
18/ ... have. That is, the power to enforce subpoena's for information, whether financial, testimony, or for other things, like documents. Trump and the Rs will use any hole in the law to try to fight oversight, as we have seen. With them packing the courts ....
19/ ... and the Supreme Court being Roberts plus 4 on each side I think now is the time to do the difficult thing and have the fight in the courts over subpoenas. Impeaching to win those cases is the easy way. The hard way is patience and trying to win those without ...
20/ ... impeaching. The payoff for my scenario with Trump still as President is that with the power of the legislature confirmed the Ds should be able to get information, if our system holds. For example, if they want to get information on Kushner. And they wouldn't need to ...
21/ ... start impeachment or have a fight then in the courts to get information. If Pelosi and the Ds take the easy way and use impeachment now to enforce subpoenas then that fight later in the courts could be much more difficult if the Rs have replaced a liberal with a ...
22/ ... conservative on the SC, and packed other courts more.
What is the downside to actually doing the harder thing, which is starting impeachment later (say 2-6 months from now)? Frustration of course is one. I would sure hate to be sitting here in 12-20 months wishing the ...
What is the downside to actually doing the harder thing, which is starting impeachment later (say 2-6 months from now)? Frustration of course is one. I would sure hate to be sitting here in 12-20 months wishing the ...
23/ ... Ds had held hearings without impeachment and fought for their investigative power in the courts without taking the easy way and playing the impeachment card, as the courts moved more conservative with time. I doubt McConnell wants the Ds to do what I just suggested.
24/ Even not considering who is President and the majorities in the House and Senate in 2021, if the Ds impeach now and never confirm their ability to enforce subpoenas without impeachment, then when impeachment is over they go back to Trump's people ignoring their subpoenas.
25/ The more I see the more I am convinced that Pelosi is doing the right thing. The DOJ position yesterday that the House cannot have Trump's taxes, taking the position that the legislature's investigative powers are very limited unless they are impeaching, ...
26/ ... shows how important it is for Pelosi to get the courts to affirm that the DOJ position is wrong about that. Otherwise the executive branch will go back to the, "No we will not comply, because you aren't impeaching" position over and over.
27/ Here is Pelosi using the current situation to go after McConnell.
I think she sees an opportunity to put some real pressure on him and do damage if he continues on his path, which sounds great to me.
I think she sees an opportunity to put some real pressure on him and do damage if he continues on his path, which sounds great to me.
28/ When it comes to protecting America's elections, McConnell sees himself as the Grim Reaper. Except that where the Grim Reaper collects souls, McConnell collects Russian money.
