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I swear this is a sincere question: What did Pelosi mean today when she said that "their advocacy for impeachment only gives me leverage." What leverage? Over whom? To do what? I'm not being snotty, I'm just not understanding the comment.
From reading folks' replies, I'm leaning toward thinking she meant leverage in negotiations with the WH over cooperation with Congressional subpoenas, etc, and/or leverage over the WH in court battles over similar issues.
Not 100% certain, but this would fit pretty well with stuff she's said in the past about wanting to exhaust other tactics before jumping to impeachment.
Impeachment strengthens her hand when fighting the administration in the courts, so gives the admin reason to negotiate with her, is the idea—because they'd rather compromise with her than lose the court battles outright. It's a plausible reading, I think.
If the House says "we want to see Document X," the admin can say "you have no right to it," and maybe the courts will buy that. But if the House says "we need Document X for our impeachment investigation," the admin may be less likely to win the argument in court.
And if the admin thinks there's a decent chance they'll lose and have to give up X, Y, and Z, maybe Pelosi can negotiate and get them to give up X and Y—they win by not having to give up Z, and she wins by getting X and Y quicker and for certain.
I'm not certain that's what she meant, but I think it's a plausible reading, and one that fits with what I understand of her strategy so far this year.
Okay, I gotta go get some work done. Apologies for not responding further to replies, and thanks for all the insight.
