BREAKING CNN - House WILL vote to hold Barr in Contempt of Congress!

[StarfishSaver]

190. My position is

that, at this point in time, impeachment confers nothing outside of what they can do through the oversight process and, in fact, could actually be less effective if launched right now.

While many of us are already convinced that we have more than enough to impeach, most of the country isn't there yet. Moreover, if impeachment started now, it would essentially "freeze" most of what we have in place and make it very difficult to gather any additional evidence that would sway the public and actually lead to potentially gathering enough votes to remove him. Impeachment inquiries are not investigatory processes that dig out new evidence. The last two impeachment proceedings worked with evidence that had been gathered by other entities and, for the most part, simply considered whether that evidence was sufficient to support impeachment.

Here, people are pushing for impeachment so that Congress can root out and gather evidence. And that's just what Congress is doing. The difference is that people seem to think that an impeachment inquiry makes it easier to gather find that evidence and that it confers upon the Judiciary Committee - which would be the entity responsible - to do so. But that's not the case. Not only do the other pertinent committees have just as much authority - if not moreso - to gather any evidence that the Judiciary Committee could do in an impeachment inquiry, they also have the resources, staff and expertise to do what the Judiciary Committee can't do alone. In fact, some Committees have the exclusive power to do certain things that other committees can't - for example, Ways and Means has the exclusive power to obtain tax returns. The Judiciary Committee has no such power (and neither does any other committee).

So, my position is that, while impeachment is warranted, it has to be done correctly and with the right timing. And now is not the time to launch a formal impeachment inquiry. Instead Congress must conduct the investigations and hearings that would be done as part of an impeachment inquiry AND go far beyond that in order to pull together additional evidence that will be needed to provide a solid foundation for impeachment, which doesn't exist yet, regardless how convinced you and I may be that this man must be impeached.

If impeachment is started right now, pretty much all the Judiciary Committee will have to work with is the Mueller Report (and not even all of that) and a lot of bits and pieces and suspicions and accusations that the public already knows about but haven't been enough to convince them that Trump must go. They can try to get additional information - the unredacted report, the grand jury material, the tax returns, etc. - but the administration will stonewall them exactly as they are now. The fact that these are being fought over in an impeachment process will have no effect on the likelihood that the Trump people will turn them over or whether a court will rule more quickly or in the House's favor. The result will be the same whether this is fought out in an impeachment inquiry or through the other committees.

Nothing is lost by continuing the investigations and hearings and putting the information out every single day to the American public. More evidence can be gathered, the public can be more easily convinced this way than if they're learning about it as part of an impeachment, which they'll more likely see as a craven political fight instead of a meaningful fight to save the country.

This is not a binary choice: impeachment or nothing. Continuing robust investigations doesn't take impeachment off the table. They just make it more likely that impeachment will succeed and that Trump is held accountable for many more of his crimes than if Congress allows themselves to be goaded into jumping the gun and starting proceedings before all of the ducks are in a row.

You and others may differ with my view, but my position is well-thought out and based on years of relevant legal and political experience. And, more important, the people in Congress who are strategizing this very complex situation know what they're doing and shouldn't be attacked and called cowards or clueless because they're not taking the approach that some people want them to take - especially since most of the people attacking them are on the outside looking in and don't have the experience or knowledge to fully understand all of the considerations that must be dealt with in this matter.

I hope this helps you better understand my position on this.