House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler has long been obsessed with overturning the results of the 2016 U.S. elections at any cost, trying to find any way to push the commander-chief out since less than a year after he took office January 2017.
This week, Nadler officially took over as the chief impeachment inquisitor from Adm Schiff (D-CA). Schiff leads the House Intelligence Committee hearing together with the House panels on Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs, sidelining the Judiciary panel, which usually takes charge.
One of the top Democrats who expressed an unwavering interest in impeaching and removing Trump made his position in favor of pushing out the U.S. President before the American leader had a real chance to rule.
“The effect of impeachment is to overturn the popular will of the voters,” Nadler said on the House floor during the 1998 Clinton impeachment hearings, according to Fox News.
Adam Schiff from California, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was initially more cautious about moving on with impeachment, taking a cue from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Schiff won his seat by going after a Republican who targeted President Clinton hard during his impeachment proceedings.
After running against impeachment, Schiff is now a die hard advocate of removing Trump. Schiff’s impeachment inquiry report primarily focused on Trump’s obstruction of justice during the investigation.
In an apparent effort to revive the Mueller report – that did not give the Democrats what they were expecting and hoping for – Democrats want to expand articles of impeachment to Trump’s alleged obstruction of the Russia collusion investigations under Robert Mueller, who largely cleared Trump of any wrongdoing.
Democrats are trying to ensure the impeachment inquiry expands beyond the quid pro quo allegation that sparked the probe into matters that have nothing to do with the original accusation. It appears the July 25 call was just a hook to investigate any possible reason to impeach Trump.
A CIA officer “whistleblower” complaint accused Trump of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate the U.S. president’s political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The Bidens deny any wrongdoing. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also dispute the allegedly partisan “whistleblower” complaint.
Some news reports accuse Schiff and his staff of talking with the “whistleblower” to set in motion the investigation of the president. The “whistleblower” likely broke the law by going to Schiff before the Intelligence Community inspector general, as mandated by law.
On December 18, 2017, before Pelosi hesitantly approved the impeachment probe in late September in 2019, Nadler quickly propelled himself as the “strongest” lawmaker “to lead a potential impeachment” without any facts of any impeachable offense were out.
At the time, there was no talk of any wrongdoing in the interaction during the July 25 call between Trump and Zelensky that ultimately triggered the impeachment probe.
Nadler indicated to the New York Times the Democrats were interested in impeaching Trump. It appears the Democrats’ desires played well into the mainstream media’s disdain for Trump. The media were willing to play along.
In December 2017, the Times reported:
Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York has a bold pitch to take over the top Democratic spot on the House Judiciary Committee — that he is best positioned to lead impeachment proceedings against President Trump. ‘As our constitutional expert, and with his demonstrated leadership on impeachment in the 90s, Nadler is our strongest member to lead a potential impeachment,’ Mr. Nadler wrote on a pocket-size leaflet outlining his record.
In the report, House Democrats already declared Trump guilty of impeachable offenses based on a semi-secret inquiry process, before the Judiciary panel begins to decide what the impeachable offenses are. Meanwhile, the GOP largely declares Trump innocent of any wrongdoing.
Although it is unlikely the Senate will convict Trump, lawmakers in the House have set aside all other issues to deal with impeachment.
Two-thirds (16 members) of the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of Rep. Al Green’s (D-TX) July 17 resolution to file articles of impeachment.
Although they had initially expressed a desire to pursue bribery and extortion, the new Democrat impeachment report does not list the two crimes against Trump.
According to Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, impeachment shall be for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
In their impeachment report, Schiff’s panel appears to be moving away from Ukraine and the associated quid pro quo, a practice that some legal experts say is not illegal.
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