Nancy Pelosi Treads Bipartisanship and Party Loyalty Amidst Impeachment Articles Announcement

A progressive from San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has had to face a politically divided electorate and ideological schisms in her own Democratic party since being re-elected as House Speaker. Still, she has maintained that “you have to govern mainstream,” and she seems to have remained committed to that notion, even throughout the impeachment process.

The House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic majority, led by Pelosi, released articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning. The articles allege that the president abused the power of his office and obstructed Congressional investigation into his conduct with Ukraine.

Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats announce two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 10, 2019. (Scott Applewhite / AP Photo)

On Monday, the House Judiciary Committee reviewed potential evidence collected by impeachment investigators against Pres. Trump for asking a foreign government, the Ukraine, to interfere in U.S. election by investigating Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. “The integrity of our next election is at stake. Nothing could be more urgent,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).

One hour after the 9 a.m. impeachment press conference, Pelosi announced her party’s endorsement of Trump’s North American Trade Deal, a replacement for a former agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada called the North American Free Trade Agreement. After the Republican and Democratic parties worked together to finalize the deal, Pelosi called it “a victory for the American worker.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats announce they have reached a deal with the White House on the USMCA trade deal: “This is a day we’ve all been working to and working for on the path to ‘Yes'” https://t.co/OIDggMqscT pic.twitter.com/MlTTE3XVQW

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 10, 2019

This news shows a more bipartisan side of a woman scrutinized by the Republican Party throughout the grueling impeachment process for being openly partisan on the subject. From the beginning, Republican officials have accused her and the Democratic Party of cherry-picking information to be emphasized in the hearings. “They’re going to give the president a fair an impartial firing squad,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) at the beginning of the hearings.

House Judiciary Committee holds evidentiary hearing on Trump impeachment inquiry on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Reuters / Business Insider)

The two-month investigation into Trump’s potential impeachment started and stayed fairly divided throughout. The process started after an anonymous whistle-blower accused Trump of assigning his attorney Rudy Guiliani to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into finding incriminating information on Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Joe Biden and other Democratic nominees to help Trump’s re-election.

“The integrity of our next election is at stake. Nothing could be more urgent,” said Judiciary Chairman Nadler.

Pelosi announced on Thursday, Dec. 5, that the House of Representatives would begin drafting articles of impeachment, charging the president with high crimes and misdemeanors. After articulating the reasons for impeaching Trump and Monday’s judicial committee meeting to review evidence, the timeline could set the stage for a vote before Christmas.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., joined at right by Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the ranking member, convenes the panel to hear investigative findings in the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill, Dec. 9, 2019.
(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

“His wrongdoing strikes at the very heart of our Constitution,” said Pelosi at the Capitol in announcing her decision to pursue impeachment. “Our democracy is what is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit.”

Impeachment Inquiry

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces a formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/ Andrew Harnik)

On Sept. 24, 2019, Pelosi announced that the House would launch the formal impeachment inquiry.

“This is a very serious event in our country. We wish it could have been avoided,” Pelosi told Democrats at the closed-door meeting, according to one attendee. “He must be held accountable. He is not above the law — no president is — and we have a responsibility to make sure that that is the message, not only for today, but for the ages.”

On Oct. 31, the House of Representatives voted to approve the rules governing the next steps in the impeachment inquiry. Nearly a dozen witnesses appeared before Congress over the next several weeks.

In the first public impeachment hearing, Democrats investigated whether Trump abused his power by withholding $391 million in U.S. security aid to Ukraine unless it cooperated in Democratic political investigations to benefit Trump in his 2020 presidential campaign.

“The questions presented by this impeachment inquiry are whether President Trump sought to exploit that ally’s vulnerability and invite Ukraine’s interference in our elections,” said Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee in his opening statement.

Acting ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, was one of two career diplomats who testified before the House Intelligence Committee that the president had offered a quid pro qua. Taylor said a member of his staff overheard a July 26 phone call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, a former political donor appointed as a senior diplomat, in which Sondland told the president that the Ukrainians were ready to proceed.

George Kent also testified about concerns of pressure by Trump and his team to get Ukraine to investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden. The Trump administration abruptly removed Ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich, from her post after she reportedly failed to cooperate with Rudy Guiliani, the president’s personal lawyer.

Impeachment Explained

Impeachment is not, to be clear, the removal of corrupt presidents or other officials, but simply the adoption of charges by the House, triggering a trial in the Senate. Thus, impeachment is a statement of charges leading to a trial, similar to an indictment in criminal cases. Thus, the president can be impeached, but still remain in office depending on the outcome of the Senate trial.

The House has formally pursued impeachment just three other times in U.S. history. Two presidents — Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton — were eventually impeached but acquitted in Senate trials. The third — Richard Nixon — resigned when it became clear he would be impeached by the House and removed by the Senate.

Under the Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, these are the grounds for impeachment:

• Treason
• Bribery
• Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors

“In short, it’s what Congress says it is,” said Duke Law professor Lisa Kern Griffin, who researches constitutional criminal procedure. The notion of high crimes comes from common law, and usually refers not “to an actual crime, but an abuse of power or an abuse of trust,” she said.

Seven House committees have investigated the president’s conduct. In past presidential impeachments, the House has formally voted to authorize the Judiciary Committee to initiate impeachment proceedings.

To decide on the articles of impeachment, the Judiciary Committee had to debate and vote upon each proposed article of impeachment. They then have to report the approved articles to the full House for debate and a conclusive vote for impeachment.

The House lays out the grounds for impeachment and holds a simple majority vote. If the articles of impeachment are approved by House vote, they’re then presented to the Senate for further action.

The Constitution itself doesn’t say much about Senate impeachment trials of a president, other than requiring a two-thirds vote for removal from office and stipulating that the chief justice of the United States will preside over the trial. Republicans control the Senate and have shown little support for Trump’s removal.

In order for Trump to be removed from office, Pelosi would have to sway at least 15 Republican senators. While she has never lost a vote on the House floor, most believe that neither she nor any of her Democratic colleagues will be able to convince any of the Republican senators to vote in favor of the president’s removal.