House Democrats are “full steam ahead” on the impeachment train but are unclear about how that train will operate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday afternoon that her party was launching an official impeachment inquiry — something House Judiciary Committee Democrats have been saying for the past few weeks is what they’ve been doing.
So far, Democrats have been describing the approach as a multipronged investigation spearheaded by six committees, all under the umbrella of impeachment.
Several members said that there were no details of how that system would actually function, but House intelligence committee member Rep. Jim Himes told The Washington Times he believes his panel would pass along their work to the Judiciary committee.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the Judiciary committee, said that ultimately there is no change in how the investigations are operating.
“Speaker Pelosi is telling us that we’re full steam ahead and the country will be with us if they aren’t already,” he told reporters. “There is no discussion of any structural changes.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, another Judiciary Democrat, said details on their next steps would come out in the coming days.
Rather than focus on the process, many members, like Mr. Raskin and Ms. Jayapal, say the key difference is that there is a stronger sense of unity within the caucus.
“The days of different points of view about it in the caucus are coming to an end and we have great consensus that we need to move forward aggressively,” he said.
However, there is still a clear divide between members, though they all embrace the speaker’s message.
There are some members who believe the caucus is ready to move forward on impeachment, like Ms. Jayapal, who told reporters she thinks the caucus is headed towards articles of impeachment.
Other members, like Reps. Henry Cuellar and Susan Wild, are reserving judgment until after the investigation.
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