Trump is sending a letter to Nancy Pelosi telling her he doesn’t have to comply with her impeachment inquiry unless the House votes on impeachment and makes it official:
Colleague John Roberts confirms WH will send a letter to Pelosi saying administration doesn’t have to comply with any demands from Congress unless Hse votes to launch an impeachment inquiry.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 3, 2019
According to Axios, Trump is daring Pelosi to hold a vote:
The White House is planning to send Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter as soon as Friday arguing that President Trump and his team can ignore lawmakers’ demands until she holds a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry, 2 sources familiar with the letter tell Axios.
By putting in writing the case that Trump and his supporters have been making verbally for days, the White House is preparing for a court fight and arguing to the public that its resistance to Congress’ requests is justified.
- Trump wants to force House Democrats in vulnerable races to be on the record if they favor pursuing impeachment, these sources tell us.
- Republicans also say the minority party can exert more influence over hearings and other aspects of an inquiry once it is formalized with a vote.
- By calling this an inquiry without holding a vote, Pelosi and the Democratic committee chairmen are having it both ways, one official said. “They want to be a little bit pregnant.”
Trump is calling Pelosi’s bluff, so to speak, on this impeachment inquiry and I love it. What a great idea.
As we had said beforehand, nothing really changed with Pelosi’s announcement. She’s basically just formalized the fishing expedition that was already happening under the new name of “impeachment inquiry”. But without a vote in the House, there really is no formal impeachment investigation.
And we all know why she won’t hold a vote. Pelosi is trying to protect her red state Democrats and Trump is telling her that if she’s going to do this, she needs to put it ALL on the table and risk her majority. I guess we’ll find out…
Via TRS
