Provoking a war, in this case with Iran, is also that old default position for rallying an insufficiently laudatory country behind you and distracting from uncomfortable domestic criticism.
3
"Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s top Republican, accuses Mr. Cummings and his fellow Democrats of being “much more focused on going after the president than they are with trying to work with Republicans.”"
Man, how rich is this from the party that waged war on President Barack Obama for 8 long years, including stealing a SCOTUS seat?
They should be attacking the breakdown in laws and norms that Donald Trump has driven relentlrssly. That's their job: holding the president in check.
8
The Oversight Committee has become a joke. More the Witch Hunt Committee. They abuse, excuse me, use their power to look for issues to make political hay with, rather than for legislative purposes. Much like the old House Un-American Activities Committee or Joe McCarthy's Senate subcommittee.
No one gave the House authority to oversee anything. Better to have this committee disappear.
4
Mr Cummings is simply lost in the grand scheme of politics in Washington. He offers seemingly worthy expressions and concern that makes the nightly news and there it ends.
Can the useless, trite rhetoric ever end? No it won't and we will be subjected to the same for at least the next generation. What better defense than using old rules to defend against as it the norm?
Amazing the antics thrown at the populace! Pelosi, Schumer and the likes of Booker combine to create a poisonous environment that has dire consequences. From day one the Democrats have undertaken a strategy of contesting and skewing everything and anything that the Trump administration does or proposes to do. They have given extremists like ACA an open door to wreak disaster that can't be controlled by the Dem leadership. That further frustrated them and furthers their opposition tactics thinking that will solidify the party. Just the opposite is evolving and President Trump is more resolute to deny them even the slightest success. Trump should be allowed to make decisions, wrong or right, and ultimately judged by the voting population not just by these insidious, vacuous hate mongers occupying cushy political positions.
2
Why wring hands about some “long game” being played about goading Dems to impeach, and that helping Trump and/or Pence being elected? Congress has tremendous power.
Every administration official who receives and ignores a congressional subpoena is jailed. One by one, week by week, that could be over 70 Trump appointees in jail in 18 months. No impeachment necessary, just subpoena them one by one. The boss has already given them “blocking” directions, so they either defy him, or they go to jail.
So, yes, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. Chairman I say do proceed, without delay.
3
Fine, you just go ahead, Mr. Cummings. Democrats are looking like maniacs spinning out of control with TDS. Even Bob Mueller's team of rabid Democrat partisans couldnt come up with an obstruction charge or any other charge. By comparison, the Starr Report asserted 11 counts of criminal conduct by Bill Clinton, including 5 counts of obstruction, but the Senate let him off. Good luck with your ZERO-charge dossier.
13
@Ted George: Mueller is a life-long Republican.
13
Okay; this is one time where the spoiled brat SHOULD get what he’s demanding. Start proceedings forthwith.
14
Poor Elijah, a president who won't genuflect to his obsessed "justice warriors" fighting to overturn an election by whatever means, and if not that, mitigate the chances of Trump's return.
With his eye on the DNC Politburo corral of candidates, he knows if this doesn't succeed in destroying the Trump presidency, it will be another four years of same.
So sad to be Elijah now.
13
@Alice's Restaurant, Trump is destroying his own presidency with behavior far beyond the parameters of his office and the law. Elijah is not facing disgrace and prison, so don't waste time feeling sad for him.
9
@Diane B
I don't know, pretty disgraceful what he and his DNC Politburo members have been up to since losing the election to Trump--not to include Comey's FBI shenanigans. But the ones "facing prison" right now seem to be Strzok, Page, and McCabe. More will come later, it seems.
2
@Diane B
I am not sad for him. I pray success (whatever that is) for him nightly and wish him strength and Godspeed.
1
Trump is simply defending himself from enemies who are out to destroy him—and not just politically. The Dems are not used to that from the GOP, who usually give up easily, so it makes them irrationally angry. Meanwhile, the racist Dem Governor and the Dem Lt Governor who was twice-accused of sexual assault are still cashing their paychecks. Why? Because they decided to aggressively defend themselves like Trump is doing. But I guess Dem Gov’s and Lt Govs who do such things don’t make the purported champions of women and people of color in the Dem party angry and frustrated.
2
I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking that it seems kind of perfect that two Jews (Nadler & Schiff), a black man (Cummings) and a woman (Pelosi) are so courageously and smartly leading the fight for justice and democracy against trump, his minions (including Barr) and family. Given trump's insecure disdain toward these groups, this seems to me to be almost mythic.
In my opinion Mueller let us down by not investigating trump's businesses and hewing to trump's red line. But maybe "The Fantastic Four" can pull off what he failed to do.
7
Why anyone should take the word of a supposed condoner of adolescent sexual abuse (Jordan when he was the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State) or Chaffetz, who summarily resigned his seat before his term was up without ever giving a reason for his resignation?
Neither of these two have even a scintilla of credibility. And Chaffetz walked away from the House in June, 2017.
Elijah Cunningham, OTOH, is a beacon of honesty and credibility and not just when compared to these two. They don't even deserve to be in the same building as he, much less mentioned in the same article.
3
The cited investigations of the Executive Branch aren't any more inherently partisan than investigating the MLB, unless you consider opposition to corruption and perjury as merely part of one party's platform, opposed by the other. You'd think Republicans would be offended by the implication that tolerance of such actions (such that investigation to determine if they're happening is uncalled for) is an official position of the party. And yet...
I don't think this is actually a backhanded criticism that slipped through the "objective voice" filter, I think it's the NYT using Trump and his supporters' own language about the nature of the investigations. Smh
1
Impeach now or forever hold your piece.
At this point, if there is no effort to impeach Trump given his blatant violation of the law, threat to our constitution and very existence as a nation, this is to condone it and even invite it.
5
It is obvious that with a compliant, obsequious Republican Party and, with only the distinct uncertainty of a courageous Chief Justice, the Supreme Court on board, Trump will win.
In fewer, plainer words: America loses.
1
“We will undermine the morale of the people of America...Once there is confusion and after we have succeeded in undermining the faith of the American people, a new group will take over...and we will help them assume power.”
History is repeating itself in front of our eyes. The foregoing words were spoken by Hitler in 1933. Cummings is right. We must act now.
6
I am grateful for true patriots like Elijah Cummings, Jerrold Nadler, Pelosi, and Schumer. The unbridled shredding of constitutional deference by McConnell, Graham, Cornyn, and many others in favor of serving the criminal proclivities and ambitions of one dishonorable, mendacious, and hopelessly cloddish old man is both depressing and alarming.
8
Ji Jordan is a Trump-enabling, political hack -- just like the rest of the Republicans.
Case Closed.
7
I have no faith in Cummings.
He is a hack who is upheld and voted consistently into office by misguided constituents just like his friend Maxine Waters. When will it end?
1
The time for "at least thinking about it" as Pelosi stated has come and gone. Our nation is under a severe threat of subversion as is indicated by the assault on virtually every institution of our country, the Constitution, freedom, and democracy.
The question of whether Donald Trump is compromised remains unanswered, and the money trail has not been followed to its logical conclusions.
The time has come to put politics aside and focus on our sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States regardless of anything lies undeniably at the feet of the Speaker. There has been and very likely remains a direct attack on our democratic republic, the world, and our nation. We now approach a point of no return in regard to the destructive impact of man-made climate change and all those who value a world in which our grandchildren and their children may enjoy the grandeur of this fragile planet, much less those children who will suffer most in the continents likely to suffer unparalleled drought; need to step up, act with courage and quickly engage the defense of freedom with every fiber of their moral and ethical character and soul to defend democracy through the pursuit of truth and justice.
The path through the courts will fail without impeachment. Between Leonard Leo, Barr's good friend, and head of the Federalist Society, we now have 5 Supreme Court justices from the Federalist Society. They will do as instructed regardless of the Constitution.
7
If impeachment is the last resort to get at the truth, then impeachment it should be. Democrats need to repeat a mantra to keep the course and honour their duties as public servants: "Whatever Trump is hiding from the American people, it is our duty to reveal it, not help him bury it."
9
Elijah Cummings in 2012 regarding Congress holding Eric Holder in contemp:
“You’ve been holding the Attorney General to an impossible standard” and that he solely was “protecting documents he was prohibited by law from producing.”
Hypocritical?
3
Mr. Cummings is doing no favors to either himself of the Democratic Party. He really is no Cicero.
1
Is this news or opinion? Based on what new facts? Or is it because the base remains angry and demands blood? The base remains angry because they were told that Mueller would bring home the cheese but that didn't work out. So it was decided that base needs to remain angry until 2020 so that they would turn up a the ballot box. Since the headline is an opinion piece, let's start telling the telling the truth...The Times continues with its ridiculous quest...
1
Fascism and Dictatorship is at hand, folks. The time to play fire with fire is NOW!
3
This is not a drummed up crisis, but over a hundred thousand illegals at the border is? The Democrats have taken leave of their senses.
It is incumbent on the president to take care that the laws are faithfully executed...it is an imperative without partisan underpinnings at all, but a bedrock principle of our constitution upon which our government rests.
Elijah Cummings clearly feels the weight of the essential need to preserve this principle in light of our president blithely ignoring it.
We need someone with his temperament and resilience to continue to promote reasoned, deliberate inquiry into the questions opened by the Mueller report.
Much unrest will be caused by a more thorough examination of the inconclusive elements of the report, but far greater unrest will be caused by not taking further action.
2
While I’m pretty sure Donald Trump’s personal financial,records are a mess and would make interesting reading, I’m concerned that setting a careless precedent would be damaging to future presidents and citizens.
If there were a way to have the legitimate matters of corrupt dealings or foreign influence looked at by non-politicians and see if the evidence rises to a level of concern, I’d be much more comfortable. Otherwise, we will see endless fishing expeditions by political opponents to find embarrassingly facts about politicians.
I really don’t want to find out whether Mr. Trump is lying about his net worth or how successful he was as a businessman. It may be politically interesting, but it’s not a crime. If there is probable cause to believe that he has made self-dealing, corrupt decisions that benefit himself, his friends and family or foreign entities, then that would cross the threshold. Otherwise, we need to do this through the press and with an election.
2
I kinda think the Dems were being naive.
They should have had Mueller lined up to testify to Congress very, very, soon after the redacted report came out.
Trump knows a bout timing.
The Democrats don't seem to.
3
I teach fifth grade and had a lesson on stealing money and not paying taxes. I asked my kids who comes to mind when I mention stealing money and not paying their fair share of taxes and they all mentioned trump. God bless our future and A's for all of them.
8
James Comey, who has a history of prosecuting gangsters, said Trump acts like a mob boss. He wouldn't have said something that serious if he didn't believe it.
While only a few Republicans who've decided not to run again have the courage to try to stop it. The rest are willing to surrender their party and the country to a criminal organization without a fight.
The Barr summary is a false exoneration prepared by a loyal soldier who was installed to do Trump's bidding. Those who believe otherwise are misinformed and didn't bother to read the Mueller report.
6
To all of the commenters who objected to my comparison of Trump to Muhammad Ail in his ability to take a punch, it's more about the unprecedented bias by the main stream media who unlike politicians are NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE by a similar entity. Consider CNN. When that network began it was focused on straight news reporting. . .and the farce is they still make that claim. Their prime time hosts, especially Don Lemon, whose smug, condescending attitude is blatant: 90% of the time when he and Anderson Cooper bring on a panel, all five or six are anti-Trump whereas even FOX almost always has an opposing view (e. g Tucker Carlson makes it a point to bring on opposing pundits or activists. Juan Williams is a regular on two of their other shows). Donald Trump has taken more biased incoming from the media than our last four presidents combined regardless .and punches back. Easy for commenters here to fire away too but there's a huge difference. You aren't in the arena (and by the way, please read Theodore Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena") and can slip back into anonymity after your rants. Who among you could take the kinds of blows that Trump takes in public and not have either a physical or mental letdown. Take a look at "The Rumble in the Jungle" one of the greatest fights of all time. Ali coined the term "rope-a-dope" and later on even George Foreman had to give him his due. Again, whatever you think of Trump, nobody can take his ability to take a punch away from him.
2
Democrats, listen:
In the end, people care more about their ability to pay for housing, college, and a good standard of living than they care about the Russians.
Nobody ever voted for Trump because of his integrity. They voted because they were angry with the status quo. Stop dreaming about the bombshell that will make him unlikable.
Most Americans that don't work for newspapers are worried about: finances, their family, their retirement, what they are going to eat for dinner tonight.
Maybe they are also thinking if there is a good movie on netflix they could see after the kids go to bed.
Republicans, Trump and the uber rich are playing his "squirrel! squirrel" by making everybody focus on problems distant to the family that budgets what kind of food, books, and extra-curricular lessons they can afford.
The little man and women shrug their shoulders...
Democrats, listen, and focus on the fight of the little man and woman.
Tell them about the solutions you have for the problems they face.
Demonstrate you are on their side by being on their side.
Be the example you want to follow.
(And, NYT, please cover this!)
I never trust anyone who claims to speak for "the people." I'm a person, and I definitely don't like want Russia interfering with our elections.
2
@MS. Please don’t assume that you know what “most Americans” want. I lived for four years in Venezuela during last years of the reign of Hugo Chavez. It’s absolutely frightening how Trump is following Chavez’ script for seizing total power and establishing a dictatorship, including delegitimizing the press, loading the judiciary with his followers, demonizing members of the opposition and creating a cult of personality, complete with “rallies” for his supporters. If you are not concerned that our democracy and form of government are in danger, I can only suggest, sir, that you have not been paying attention.
2
During the Cohen hearings Tlaib and Meadows sparred .. Chair Leader Cummings was caught in the middle -- when Meadows asked Cummings on national TV "Are we not close friends?" and Cummings acknowledged "YES"
This is the problem with Congress- On Camera it is a fierce debate between parties.. Off camera everyone is a "Friend"
It's time to shatter walls... and stop being friends!
In my honest opinion- I seriously doubt Meadows considers Cummings as one of his friends... I don't have any facts to back this assertion- I just know it's true.
2
Don’t go to impeachment. Go to full investigation, censorship and a PROMISE to go to trial AFTER this president is out of office, be it in one term or two. No matter. Just explode the information and use it for the 2020 elections to allow honest citizens to get into office!!
If Trump is given a second term he will make sure that he will not be indicted following his time in office. In fact, if he is given a second term I would not be surprised if he and the Republicans assure that he can remain in office as long as he wants. We are facing a crisis in this country and it will not be solved by waiting.
What's really rich is the Republicans screaming "partisanship!!!!"
5
I am a second grade teacher. I teach young children. I hold the belief that everyone will grow up to be responsible contributing members of our society. I work hard and hope that somehow our society will get back to being more equal and democratic. Our school has been reading A Mindset For Learning, by Kristine Mraz and Christine Hertz. Mindsets for success include empathy, flexibility, persistence, resilience, and optimism. Representative Elijah Cummings checks all the boxes! Thank you for your service.
9
Do you have a box for political grandstanding? You’ll have to check that one for sure.
1
@Edward. That’s rich! A Trump supporter alarmed at “political grandstanding”. That’s all their fearless leader does.
Cummings, Nadler and Pelosi are trying to convince Americans that the constitution empowers them to harass and harangue the president without justification or end and any attempt to restrain their mission constitutes a “constitutional crisis”. Sooner or later they will be forced to concede that it doesn’t because the Mueller report has eliminated any pretense they could use to justify their demands. Of course they already know that but the looming investigation by AG Barr of the inquisitors they depended upon to undo the 2016 election has forced them to adopt their current strategy of deflection, unfounded innuendo and assault on AG Barr. Time is not on heir side and despite the cooperation of fools like Republican senator Burr the Democrats will be exposed as the anti-constitutional insurgents they are.
5
The complete Mueller report hasn’t been released yet, so no, it is not true that, as you say, the “Mueller report has eliminated any pretenses that could be used to justify their demands.” Get your facts straight.
3
@tim k - not an "inquisition" or an attempt to undo 2016 except except in the fevered brains of Trump apologists. He is subverting the government structure and checks and balances the Founders set forth when they crafted the Constitution. What I find interesting is the fact that conservatives are so willing to look the other way about it.
3
We need to read the report itself.
2
It’s always a bluff, or a lie, or some mendacious attack. That is all we have seen. The “blocking” occurs because there is no other option. What is Trump hiding? It’s obviously bad for Trump.
So we turn to our array of processes and standards identified in our Constitution and laws. Only criminals would oppose these. As they block and oppose, what is Trump’s thinking? That he is above the law?
Maybe. It’s worth a shot, considering the alternative.
5
Two Benghazi hearings lasting years costing millions of taxpayer dollars for what? The second mirrored the first. In the second David Patreus refused to testify with house members present. Committee lawyers and his lawyers only. The CIA Director got a pass.
Trump WANTS impeachment. Right now he is vulnerable to a primary challenge from [Romney, Kasich, Cruz or Ryan] and he could have the same kind of disaster in NH that LBJ did.
But if he's impeached the entire party goes shoulder to shoulder, and there will be no challenger. This will sadden me.
Further, the technical crimes of which he's accused (obstruction of a no-crime), while they mean something to lawyers, mean nothing to laymen. For a party that could not vote against a president who committed perjury on live TV, the claim that obstructing a witch-hunt is impeachable will backfire on the Democrats.
So, throw him into the brier patch. He sees re-election there.
5
Yes, I think he's being steered by McConnell or someone else into playing the long game. He gets impeached, Pence becomes prez. Pence is more reelectable than Trump.
“. But with Mr. Trump manning a full-scale blockade of Democrats’ access to documents and witnesses...”
Really? Not according to Business Insider:
“But Justice Department officials most recently offered to allow 12 lawmakers and two staffers for each to view a minimally redacted version of the report. They also said the lawmakers and staffers could keep any notes they took on the document.”
So let’s get real.
4
Elijah Cummings is, hands down, my favorite representative. Remember how he handled Darrel Issa when dems were in the minority? Masterful.
2
Cummings as part of the (Crying Chuck) Schumer/Pelosi campaign is trying to use his Committee chair status to create headlines daily making the President look bad. His search for documents, and the daily publication of the search, is both unnecessary and illegal. Since the Mueller Report is now out and no COLLUSION was found, the campaign is old news.
It is all much ado about nothing, with the NYT together with many others (Wash Post, CNN, CBS, etc.) gleefully joining in. Cummings is just making himself one more small ring act in the Nadler/Schiff daily circus.
5
It’s tiresome to hear the same old weak “fishing expedition “ gem from the republicans or that he’s a fine man but that Pelosi ,is putting on “external pressure” my favourite is that they are more focused on “going after the President “
Then ...wait for it “than working with republicans
If it wasnt so sad it would be a Monty Python skit
6
To "work with Republicans," Mr. Jordan? I haven't seen Republican willingness to work with Democrats for decades, and certainly not at ALL in this administration.
6
Many - highly vocal - Democrats have been calling for Trump's impeachment since inauguration day.
So much for "...Pushing Democrats to the Brink."
They've been there all along.
6
To paraphrase Jim Jordan, the Republicans are much more focused on protecting the president than they are with trying to work with Democrats.
7
The Democratic leadership must remember that the people gave them the blue tsunami they requested for one reason only. That reason was to protect our constitution, uphold the laws and hold the executive branch accountable. We demand they do so despite the political issues that may arise. I urge Mr Cummings and the others to get to it.
8
It's worth noting that none of the democrats campaigned on Russia when home for the midterms. They didn't waste their precious time on an issue that wasn't important to their constituents.
So why are they wasting everyone else's time now? They need to stop trying to "re-do" the investigation and get back to their real jobs. Opposing Trump has been their pre-occupation since he was elected. It's been non-stop "impeach". They are in shambles.
1
I say impeach, and it's not close. First, people act like it's guaranteed that Trump will be defeated in 2020 without impeachment. What happens if he wins? Will it be any easier to impeach after reelection. Second, this is more about the corruption of the Republican Party than any one man. Force them to vote against impeachment. Make these people, after hearing evidence, vote to endorse Trump's rampant criminality. History is not going to be kind to these traitorous people. Third, impeachment can be used to educate the people about what specifically happened. In a normal administration, you could use congressional hearings to do this, but it's clear that Trump will not cooperate in any way with congressional oversight. Finally, this problem is beyond an election solution. Trump and his enablers need to be held accountable for their assault of our system of government.
11
Exactly what he said!
One of the most basic rules of politics is to never wage a war you cannot win. The Democrats need to abandon this idea of impeachment. There is absolutely no way they will get 20 GOP senators to flip. If they attempt impeachment, it will fail as disastrously as Burnside’s direct attack against Lee at Fredericksburg. Like it or not, Trump has the high ground here. Cummings would be very wise to keep his cool. Burnside lost his cool and got angrier as the battle progressed. The angrier a person gets, the more mistake prone the become.
The article says ". . . a reference to the congressional power, last used in the 1930s, to jail uncooperative witnesses."
Wasn't Pete Seeger convicted in 1961 of contempt of Congress and sentenced a year in jail for refusing to testify in front of HUAC in 1955? He won on appeal, but it would certainly seem that Congress 'used' their power more recently than 1930.
Or is the article talking about something else?
https://blog.ecu.edu/sites/cwis/2014/02/pete-seeger-and-huac/
1
Impeachment proceedings are the Republican goal. That's what they've prepared to campaign on in 2020
I agree with a 'slowly, slowly' method that Mr Cummings has always adopted. Otherwise Trump will become the martyr, when the long winded impeachment process is started. He is so out of control that the Caligula in him will eventually become impossible for many of his supporters to tolerate. If everything from China costs 25% more, then his base will feel it in their pocketbooks and wallets. Soon he will have spun enough falsehoods simply to hang himself and no help needed from anyone else. He remains his own worst enemy.
Pushing Dems to the brink? How about this for my being pushed to the brink? (And maybe other voters, as well.)
Can the honest media please stop covering Trump as if he is "funny"? I despair in these days of "constitutional crisis" that some otherwise respectable media outlets continue to cover Trump as if he is clever, funny or imaginative as he runs off his nicknames for the people he wants to deride.
Compounding the issue, the pundits often come back on air and follow up with their own joking around, playing off Trump's lead, as if we're all seeing, "well, at least he's funny, so maybe he's not so dangerous to our Democacy after all."
I see Trump's labeling others as if something is wrong with them (so he may ignore having to discuss substantive differences in policy to get his air time) to be like Nero's fiddling as Rome burned around him. Trump's joke nicknames are another method of his bullying and are spewed forth with no thought of confronting the other person respectfully. The something wrong is with Trump, and news outlets should guide him to a higher road for his air time than permit him simply to pass on because he is belittling others.
He is not clever, funny or imaginative.
6
Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s top Republican, accuses Mr. Cummings and his fellow Democrats of being “much more focused on going after the president than they are with trying to work with Republicans.”
Jordan has it all wrong. Republican are being much more focused on protecting the president than they are with trying to protect the Constitution.
5
Are we talking about the same Elijah Cummings, the 13-term congressman who has increased his own net worth five-fold while in Congress without ever explaining exactly how he did that ?
That, Elijah Cummings ?
1
Nice deflection in implicit defense of the biggest grifter in American political history. Try again.
2
@Nick
So blatant hypocrisy and willful deception are fine and can be ignored as long as they are in the service of progressive leftism.
Thanks for clarifying that for me.
What exactly is/could BE/should BE the "brink" of personal accountability for each harmful word, voiced as well as wriiten, and each action, of each and every elected/selected policymaker, at whatever level locally, regionally, nationally as well as globally?
As I read through the comments, I can’t add much of anything to what had already been said.
Elijah Cummings is an extraordinary public servant and American. We need more people like him in government.
I send him my blessings.
15
Impeaching Trump will mobilize the base. The Democratic base.
16
@Positively Go for it. Maxine Waters has been demanding impeachment since November 2016.
2
We need more people like Mr Cummings. People with integrity and values.
Unlike our President who is so afraid, why would you need to control and deny everything the house is trying to do if you are so innocent?
People of the US do not deserve a “Dictator” in charge of our country.
11
There's a difference between "impeachment" -- the actual vote the House would take to send the matter to the Senate -- versus gradually and systematically building the case for impeachment, and beginning to draft the articles of impeachment, one article at a time -- all over a period of at least a few months. If done effectively, the Dems will be able to build a powerful, multi-faceted case against Trump, one crime at a time, one article of impeachment at a time, until in totality it'll be overwhelming.
And, the beauty of a slow, deliberate and thorough approach like this would be that the Trump-enabling, Constitution-ignoring, democracy-undermining Republicans won't be able to do anything while this is unfolding other than sit on the periphery and keep saying "case closed" and "witch hunt," looking more and more like the traitors they actually are.
So, it's not "impeachment" per se (i.e., the ultimate vote on impeachment) that should be the focus right now, but the approach, path and progress towards it. Let's hope the Dems are savvy, capable and deliberate enough to do this effectively.
14
"The chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform wanted to move slowly on impeachment. He has lost his patience."
As have I, Mr. Cummiongs, as have I.
14
Impeachment isn't the right response. This is why there is a 3rd branch of government, the judiciary.
Take Trump to court and stop with the "Constitutional Crisis" overreaction.
3
I’m not sure I understand your comment. Since Trump is a sitting president, he can’t be prosecuted in court unless Congress impeaches him first. Otherwise, prosecution of Trump would have to wait until after he is out of office.
The administration seems to be prepping distraction conflicts with Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. This is a very dangerous time. Whatever you think can't happen here can very well happen quite soon.
9
The time for "at least thinking about it" as Pelosi stated has come and gone. Our nation is under a severe threat of subversion as is indicated by the assault on virtually every branch of our nation, the Constitution, freedom and democracy.
The fact that question of whether Donald Trump is compromised remains unanswered and the money trail has not been followed to its logical conclusions.
The time has come to put politics aside and focus on our sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States regardless of of anything, any consequence, the least being political. There has been and very likely remains a direct attack on our democratic republic, the world and our nation are approach the point of no return in regard to the destructive impact of man made climate change and all those who value a world in which our grand children and their children may enjoy the grandeur of this fragile planet, much less those children who will suffer most in the continents likely to suffer mass drought, need to stop "at least thinking" and act with courage, speed and every fiber of their moral and ethical character to defend freedom through the pursuit of truth and the commensurate justice.
The path through the courts is a dead end without impeachment. Between Trump, Leonard Leo, the Knight of Malta and head of the Federalist Society, we now have 5 Supreme Court justices from the Federalist Society, who's corporate agenda is identical to Barr's, Trump's and Putin's.
4
42% approval rating...can someone explain this to me.
9
@Coastal
1. Trump's critics have been making the *very same* allegations about him since he was elected, if not before.
2. Americans are tired of democrats' never ending vendetta.
3. Mueller conducted an exhaustive investigation and didn't recommend criminal charges.
4. Most importantly, Trump delivers. He has done many of the things he said he would do.
5. He's better than all the leftwing Democratic candidates combined.
I suggest that Congressmen collect as much evidence as they can of the high crimes and misdemeanors committed by Trump and launch impeachment proceedings the day after the 2020 election, whichever way it goes. If Trump is on the way out, it will create a record to serve as an example to future generations and will not have been done to win a election. If Trump has four more years, it will start the effort to try to preserve our government as a democratic republic.
4
@Gadfly Do you mean like the Mueller Investigation that collected millions of documents and thousands of hours of testimony? And came up with nothing?
I think he is daring the Democrats to impeach him, wrongly thinking it will backfire on them the way it backfired on the republicans when Clinton was impeached. But we are so partisan these days that I don't think the approval/disapproval ratings will move very much at all. and also, you have to look at the fact that there was a republican in the White House right after Clinton, so there may have been a long term negative effect to his impeachment.
It didn't backfire for the Republicans when they impeached Clinton. I remember it well. They went on to win both houses of Congress and the presidency in 2000.
1
This article would’ve benefited from more historical context about the nature of the conflict between the president and the Congress. Instead, it is characterized as a conflict between different personalities, backed up by quotes that are easy enough to gather and put into an article. Shouldn’t the Times be treating such issues with more of a substantive approach?
1
Trump’s popularity is increasing. He is acting like a dictator, but many Americans seem to like it. The Democrats face a Hobson’s choice: Fulfill their duty to protect the constitution and impeach knowing the Senate will acquit, or do nothing and go down in history as the weak opposition that did nothing to protect the republic. I suspect that Trump will be re-elected, and if not, he will not relinquish the office. In the meantime, there are a lot of terrible things happening that do not get coverage. The attempted dismantling of Amtrak, and extreme environmental degradation are two that come to mind. We’ve reached the limits of the effectiveness of 18th century government.
2
The Democrats are manufacturing a crisis....and it will boomerang back on them in 2020. If you live in Middle America who could not care less about all this investigating stuff that Washington is dreaming up. We care about things that have an affect on use, health care, lower taxes, a great economy, low unemployment, plenty of great jobs and rising wages. The stuff Cummings and his angry band are putting out just don't affect us.
2
@Tony J Mann Remember when the dems and the media said Trump manufactured a crisis at the border?
Mr. Cummings' class, courage and quiet patriotism put the selfish, hyperpartisan antics of Trump, McConnell and Jordan to shame.
Stay healthy, Mr. Cummings, and stay the course. American democracy depends on you and your colleagues investigating carefully and thoroughly.
5
With all due respect, all this hyperventilation, and the new Pelosi-Cummings self-impeachment theory, is designed rather transparently to pave the way for the corrupt Democrats to defend what's coming: the 2016 interference by Mr. Obama's administration in the 2016 election designed to not elect, and if elected to unseat, a lawfully elected president Trump. Call it a "coup" for short.
5
Someone in the "First Branch among Three Equals" must take a stand and show that this type of conduct by a president is unacceptable, no matter what the Senate will or will not do. And I no longer worry about a President Pence; if trump is sent packing, Pence will be politically hamstrung.
Corruption in the highest office in government and defiance of the rule of law must be made odious. Impeach now.
4
With all these legal and political issues confronting him, I wonder what Trump does with all the other aspects involved in being president.
Oh that's right. He plays golf.
3
@Ambrose GDP up, unemployment down, employment participation up, wages up, stock market up,
1
@Mike Clarke
But not due to Trump--post hoc ergo propter hoc.
Perhaps comrade Trump would prefer to be impeached before the evidence against him mounts from the numerous criminal investigations ahead of him.
Of course, there’s more than enough evidence to impeach and convict him now, but the greater the body (and severity) of evidence, the greater risk of his Republican enables in the Senate showing cracks.
“If there’s nothing,” he said, “there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Gosh, haven’t we heard lots of so-called conservatives use this phrase?
1
Go for impeachment of the entire Trump Mob. America has everything to gain and nothing to lose.
4
“It sounds like he’s asking us to impeach him,” Mr. Cummings, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and a top lieutenant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said in an interview last week. Ticking off all the ways Mr. Trump is stonewalling Congress, he added, “He puts us in a position where we at least have to look at it.”
The chess player in me says that’s exactly what the administration is doing. Always be cautious when accepting a potential gambit.
5
Your first paragraph includes the phrase "...a full-scale blockade of Democrats’ access." You are falling into the same trap as the Washington Post. This should be corrected to read, "a full-scale blockade of Congress’ access."
20
@Dennis McDonald Congress is able to view a 1.5% redacted Mueller Report. It is against the law to release Grand Jury testimony. Mueller's report didn't have to be made public in the first place. What more do you want?
Trump wants the Democrats to impeach him, it'll be good fodder for his base, it'll galvanize them for 2020. Trump and Barr and any Republican supporting either of them ought to be ashamed of themselves. I rue the day I ever heard of Trump.
8
Trump has realized he won't be removed from office. I hope the dems try though, MAGA 2020!
4
Why not do a referendum on this issue? Democratic countries do that, sometimes....
"Blocking a Supreme Court nominee because there's a presidential election in the future?" You've got to be kidding me.
"Passing a trillion-dollar tax cut for the rich and financing it with federal borrowing?" You've got to be kidding me.
And the list goes on.
11
@jaygee Do you mean the "Biden Rule?"
You would think the Democrats would spend their energy to focus on larger issues than obsessing about all the ways they could impeach Trump? There have been many allegations of POTUS wrongdoing, but unless they have something more than speculation, then Cummings train goes nowhere because Jordan will never get on board. If they really want to be effective then focus on achieving things of "societal interest" like national healthcare, immigration, education, student debt, school shootings, etc. If all you have to show for 2020 is a few subpoenas and frustration then you have already lost.
2
Well, gol-durn, Tex, the thing is, Democrats agreed to deals on immygrants in 2006 and 2013, and passed House bills on education and gun control and health insurance already this year. Voting rights and campaign finance, too.
Meanwhile back in the Senate...
4
More than speculation? Remember what you said...a year from now.
1
After all is said and done the rich and the powerful
will still be rich and powerful.
Trump just writes large what they do to America
every hour of every day.
Meanwhile, I was told my monthly medication
was now $ 650 a month and had to tell the Pharmacist
- can't afford it.
Perhaps Representative Cummins and I will be dead
by the time Congress vs. Trump is resolved
but the high price of life saving medicines...
6
Check with your pharmacy, insurer and the drug comoany about discounts. They very often offer them, without saying much about it. Also check with your doc: see if they can switch you to a generic.
2
@Robert
Thanks,
That was the Generic Price...
I just wish Congress would spend more
energy on Health Care for all and
lower drug prices.
1
Criminals at the helm of our democracy trying to destroy it every single day is a constitutional crisis. We need to support the House and help them do their jobs in protecting this country.
12
We have been waiting for Elijah to come. Open the door, open the door, and let Elijah in. We need someone to get the process started; getting the Russians out of one of our two parties will not happen by itself.
7
@Chip You're right. heaven forbid one of the parties sell 20% of our uranium rights to the Russians, or after the next election our President could be more "flexible."
1
What a glaring contrast it presents...
Elijah Cummings represents everything we value
most about democracy, he is outstanding human being, who fought all his life for justice and dignity.
He is one of the GREATS, and not too many like him left there. His courage, his conviction, his vision for the country is unparalleled.
He is someone to truly admire!
17
Look if somebody snatches something at 7-11 and runs, we don't even think about it, we arrest that individual and charge them with a crime. Why all the hand-wringing about Trump? It's completely unwarranted.
The simple fact is that Trump could maneuver exactly like Nixon did; resign, and have his vice president pardon him. There is no chance Trump could be impeached and convicted because Pence holds the "trump" card. In fact I fully expect Trump to do exactly this at the end of his term.
So since there's no chance Trump could be impeached or convicted or punished, why worry about it? Just do it & force his hand.
(I'm aware the strategic timing and so forth; but from the layperson perspective, none of that is of any use or value when the other party possesses the "trump" card).
3
What I hope is being underestimated are the number of voters that have been swayed by the Mueller report findings.
Forget Trump's irrational base, most reasonable now believe that the Mueller report concluded Trump and his cronies did something wrong. This includes people who were confused by the allegations, who were waiting for the report, and moderate conservatives who might have felt some moral/religious obligation to support the Republican party, as they have for generations.
For those people, I think the ground has shifted.
3
@maryann What do you think he did wrong? Case closed.
I salute you Representative Elijah Cummings. Thank you for your continued service on behalf of the American people.
God Bless you, Sir!
7
Where would we be without Chairman Cummings? Seriously...where would this country be?
I'm all for throwing in jail people who defy subpoenas; if the president and his minions were Democrats (in these same circumstances) what would Jordan do? That said, every move the Democrats make must be carefully evaluated vis-a-vis what could get Trump re-elected.
1
We need more people like Elijah Cummings in our government. People who have integrity and strong moral leadership. People who work for social justice and put our country before their party. People who are kind, honest and negotiate in good faith.
I can't think of a single Republican who possesses any of these qualities. That's the reason our government is broken.
4
You would think the Democrats would spend their energy to focus on larger issues than obsessing about all the ways they could impeach Trump? There have been many allegations of POTUS wrongdoing, but unless they have something more than speculation, then Cummings train goes nowhere because Jordan will never get on board. If they really want to be effective then focus on achieving things of "societal interest" like national healthcare, immigration, education, student debt, school shootings, etc. If all you have to show for 2020 is a few subpoenas and frustration then you have already lost.
1
When I see Rep. Cummings and he is about to speak, I know i’m About to hear something important to the nation, something intelligent and without malice.
3
There are many things I don't like about Donald Trump. The only entity I hold in worse esteem is the mainstream media whose blatantly biased coverage has turned entire newspapers into editorials from the front page on i. e. with "news analysis" substituting for news reporting); all (including supposedly straight news) severely slanted toward destroying Trump's presidency. I used to thing that Bill Clinton's coverage was worse but that now pales in comparison. Trump has taken and continues to take the worst bashing of the last four presidents combined. In fact, in poll after poll the American public holds the MSM in a far more negative light than Mr. Trump who I sometimes refer to as the white Muhammad Ali: brash, anti-establishment, shockingly outspoken. . .but most important, willing to take on all-comers (and in my opinion as well as many in the sporting community, the greatest boxer of all time). No one else has said this that I know of about Mr. Trump--but whether you like him or not--he's the toughest fighter-back up against the ropes-against an opponent--the media in this case--like George Foreman but with no referee or ringside judges in this case (aka no one for the press to be accountable to). As Howard Cosell used to say: There's one thing about Ali they don't talk about. This man can take a punch!"
2
@Irving Nusbaum The media is not the enemy. Trump via Twitter and all the false, lying things he says is the enemy. This and the fact that he engages in corruption, lining his pockets by rewarding all his pals who can do him favors later. His tax cut? You must be rich if you think that helped you. The rest of us got nothing. Anyone who calls the press "the enemy of the people" and exhorts people to be violent toward journalists deserves all the criticism he is getting and more--he deserves impeachment for obstruction of justice and violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
1
@C For two years, every day, the media swore he colluded with Russia. For obstruction, you need a crime. Where's the crime?
At any other time, in any other country, we would be in a physical civil war. The divide is to deep. To the victor comes the new direction of the country and history written to their liking. What has always been the next step in world history when the political process breaks down ?
That one weak sociopath, who was able to bankrupt a Casino, was able to destroy a 200 year Democracy, tells me that the American Experiment was nothing more than smoke screens and mirrors.
3
Trump is not above the law.
He is 1/3 of the government and not a dictator.
He is attacking our press with lies, he is attacking our Justice system, and our Intelligence Agencies.
The common denominator in all of the problems= Mr. Trump.
5
@Kay Johnson Do you mean the same press that lied everyday for two years swearing up and down that he colluded with Russia?
1
I wonder if Elijah and Pelosi have ever given any thought to whom their successors will be? A true leader is always training their replacement. Funny both have been in Congress office over 25 years and never once thought about leaving or retiring.
This is the sick and twisted cycle of US Congress. Get elected and do whatever you have to to stay in power! Both of them and about 40 others have been there long enough. It's time to start putting term limits on these people and give other people a chance to serve.
I'm tired and embarrassed when I see them speak--- Both look like my confused grandparents trying to find the remote control lodged between the sofa cushions.
4
Here's the elephant in the room. No doubt Donald Trump takes great offense at being asked for anything by Elijah Cummings, who in addition to being an experienced and dignified member of the House, also happens to be African-American.
And if Trump's disdain for Barack Obama and people of color is anything to go by, it's not surprising that he's pulling rank by not complying with the subpoena -- even going so far as suing Mr. Cummings.
This is not only worse than Watergate, it is downright shameful.
5
@N. Smith Could you please give us examples of his disdain for POC.
Here's the elephant in the room. No doubt Donald Trump takes great offense at being asked for anything by Elijah Cummings, who in addition to being an experienced and dignified member of the House, also happens to be African-American.
And if Trump's disdain for Barack Obama and people of color is anything to go by, it's not surprising that he's pulling rank by not complying with the subpoena -- even going so far as suing Mr. Cummings.
This is not only worse than Watergate, it is downright shameful.
1
Mr. Cummings, thank you for your service to this country. I witness you in action in carrying out the hearing in Congress. Your demeanor during the hearing showed sincerity, dignity and respect. The truth is on your side. I wish you will succeed in unraveling the cover up of Mr. Mueller's report.
We cannot expect the world class scientist not seeking the truth or understand the laws of nature, but expect them to discover the phenomenon of black hole and ultimately show it with a picture.
4
Trump is gambling that impeachment will backfire on the Democrats in 2020. But look at his business record: he's always been a lousy gambler. He thinks because he won one long-shot bet in 2016, that every other bet he makes will now follow suit: that's the mark of a very foolish gambler.
22
Okay...
Bored with this issue...focus on Congress doing what New Zealand did a few weeks ago...took the country 26 days to toughen up gun regulation after their mass shooting.
Canya do that? Of course not. Much more appealing to do nothing while the US has more mass shootings than any other country. Why? Congress. That’s why.
So, just whine somewhere else.
7
@CJF: Nothing ever gets resolved where fundraising is the paramount purpose of the whole exercise.
@CJF
No, Congress is not the problem, the problem is us. The people of New Zealand don't like mass shootings and the resulting mass death. Americans like it. The people of New Zealand have ethics and values, Americans do not, they just want to be entertained. Why? Us. That's why.
2
@dlb It's conceivable that we the people may need to take up arms in the near future. Now is not the time for gun control.
1
It is time for Elijah to move onto retirement. I commend his service and civil rights strides but he has been in office way too long. Move over and let some new people in the door.
8
If Trump has the gift of knowing which candidates for public office are bendable before he appoints them, as this paper has observed, he can also spot weakness or a lack of resolve in his political opponents. Impeachment hearings are necessary at this point. Trump's presidency may survive an impeachment in the House, but Democrats definitely won't survive if they do not assert themselves.
10
Cummings seems like a decent man performing his job. Sadly, the direction of our national politics no long assures that decent men and women in government will ultimately prevail under the framework of our Constitution. Gradually, Trump is packing the federal judiciary with lackeys who will protect him much as the Senate, as it is now configured, has done. Without the checks and balances, Trump has an open field. It is time for patriots to step forward to resist this onslaught on our Constitution. In a quiet way, Mr. Cummings is one of them. My concern is that in present-day America, overwhelmed with noise from all directions, the quiet way may not garner the support it needs.
5
“It sounds like he’s asking us to impeach him,” said Mr, Cummings.
Of course that what Trump wants as he thinks he won’t be convicted by the constitution-disregarding Republicans and his base will stay behind him. Similarly, when impeachment hearings began for Nixon, neither the country nor Republicans we behind that approach. In the end, it was the Republicans who recommended he git while the gittin’ is good. The country is in a vastly different place now where Trump’s offensive and destructive behaviors have become somewhat if not largely accepted as the new normal. Unfortunately, there is no expectation that the Republicans in the Senate will regard the Constitution and their position in it as anything other than an interesting historical artifact that had something to do with the foundation of the United States.
I no longer have any hope that the Senate Republicans will actually do the right thing if called upon with real evidence of impeachable acts. Likewise, the Supreme Court’s latest members are untested in constitutional questions but maybe hope exists that the justices, even those appointed by Trump, know the difference between loyalty to the constitution and fealty to Trump.
5
@Medium Rare Sushi: I doubt the loyalty of Republicans to the English Language.
House Democrats and their enablers in the main stream media want the TV impeachment show for the face time and ratings rather than work on real problems that affect everyday Americans like the high costs of prescription drugs and health insurance, the crisis at our border and immigration, big tech and privacy, the federal debt, just to name a few real issues.
Like moths to the flame the do nothing Congress cannot stop obsessing over collusion, conspiracy and mean old Trump who will only be around for another 18 months if you show the Country you can govern Sadly the clown car is full.
8
No matter what the Democrats try to do they will be blocked by the Republican Senate and President. First you have to get rid of the corruption at the top.
3
@Bill Your repetition of a hackneyed talking point has no relevance because the House has to date passed many bills that would be of real help to people only to send them over to that legislative graveyard that is the Republican-led Senate where they are DOA. (The fact that you don't know this undermines your assertion that people are paying attention and will be moved from their entrenched positions). McConnell only wants to rubber stamp the appointment of more partisan judges, which he is proud to say will be his legacy. For the House to take on Big Pharma and the health care industry would be more quixotic than the thing you say is a waste of time. FYI, the issue at hand is obstruction of justice, not your straw man of "collusion."
2
@CallahanStudio
Fine if real issues are exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical (quixotic) lets all obsess about obstruction of whatever justice is. Also, if the House has passed so many bills that would be so good for the country why don't they talk about that instead of Trump. Trump. Trump. No, the Dems are down in the same dirt as Trump.
Trump's behavior does smack of someone who is asking for it. Any president who expect appeasement when the law is being mocked and broken is bringing the nation very close to a civil war and to a coup. Will the military obey the orders of a criminal or will they remove him before he can incite the nation to take up arms against each other? For those of us who remember the good old days of 1968 in Paris, Chicago, and New York, and Kent State in 1970, it was civil war. Trump is doing it to us all over again with his breaking of treaties, racism, and disregard for the rule of law. He accuses the Democrats of being sore losers in 2016. He's the sore loser from the 60s and 70s because while the US lost the war in Vietnam, we won it here, at home with civil rights and that's something Trump can not get over.
3
All I know is that if I was accused of something and a report came along which I thought "totally exonerated" me, I'd not only release the report, I'd try to get it signed for a worldwide publication deal.
10
@ChrisH Are you aware that releasing any grand jury testimony is against the law?
I saw him speak back in 1999 at a rehab. in his district. He is a natural born leader and a true American patriot. We need him now more than ever and I hope and pray he stays with us for a long time.
10
"struggling to come up with a strategy to enforce them"
Instead of ten immediate contingency plans all lined up and in motion, they don't have a clue. Has there ever been greater incompetence?
Can't expect anything from a bunch of slow walking sleepy oldsters. Guess they're entitled to their daily naps.
Get rid of them all.
2
I am a democrat and I feel democrats are shooting themselves in the feet. Instead of worrying about getting the best candidate to run against Trump we have 30 candidates all attacking each other to be that candidate and I feel none is good enough to win.
I do not believe Biden is the best we have. He has lost 4 times. I wanted Bloomberg to run and he would have if we democrats had our act in order.
Why do we spend so much time looking at the competition (Trump) and so little time looking to make sure we have the very best candidate?? Thats a big error.
3
Impeach him if it's what he wants, then he can go back to buying and selling his properties, not paying contractors AND making the big bucks. A win win right?
5
Democrats need to keep their eyes on the prize. Go slow and steady, keep to oversight and promote fairness in legislation. Trump is just trying to jerk our chains, as usual. Keep the House and take back the Senate, that is much more important than defeating Trump in 2020. Let Trump become the enduring symbol of the Republican Party: that's all to the Democrats' advantage.
3
Mr. Cummings, you have it backwards and upside down as usual. You tried to push Donald Trump and his family to the brink hoping they would crack and commit a crime and you lost. SC Mueller and the DOJ combined after 2 years of investigating could not find sufficient evidence that would indicate beyond a reasonable doubt that either President Trump or any of his family committed a crime, notwithstanding the DOJ practice of policy of not indicting a sitting President.
4
@NYChap How many prosecutors have signed that letter stating that trump would be indicted for certain on obstruction if he wasn't squatting in the White House?
I believe it's over 700 at this point. So whatever you're hearing on State TV is not even close to the actuality of what's in the report. I'm reading it. Maybe you should try it too.
3
@gary Wow 700 if it's that many, "former prosecutors." There are over 700 prosecutors in the the NYSD alone.
As a Democrat I have faith in Speaker Pelosi and Representative Cummings. They are principled and knowledgeable, and put the wellbeing of the nation first. By contrast, the present administration and its servile Republicans are doing irreparable damage to our democracy.
For good reason--they are unrepentant liars and hypocrites--I don't believe what the Republicans are saying here--e.g., that Cummings would not be doing this if not for Pelosi. That sounds like good old Republican sexism to me.
18
@Robert. How do you even come up with this stuff? Have you figured out yet that the Dems can’t/won’t govern? Cummings ought to be doing something fir his constituents. And let’s not call everyone liars when you got stuck with Hillary, Comey, and McCabe.
3
@Jackson
Trump never lies and Mississippi is an economic powerhouse. There, feel better?
5
@Jackson- How can the Democrats govern when the Republicans control the Senate and Presidency? They don't have the power right now. If you want to see whether or not a party can govern, look at when they have control over both houses and the presidency. Like Trump and the Republicans did for the last two years. That was the Republicans' "government." Tax cuts for the rich and nothing else.
3
There is a ton of issues to work on without Mueller's report; especially what is otherwise known about Russian interference. Each new set of investigations makes the President look smaller and dirtier.
As well, Trump may be trying to provoke impeachment while hoping the Senate will refuse to impeach.
4
@Eli Xenos A ton? give us a couple of ounces of issues. Yes there was Russian interference during the Obama administration. Our feckless leader just said "cut it out."
@Mike Clarke
OK, here's a couple or twenty stones?
Subpoena each of those who have pleaded guilty about crimes committed working for the Great Self-Impeacher preacher.
Why is Trump refusing to release the Mueller report if it exonerates him?
Why won't Trump release his tax returns if he is as successful of a businessman as he says he is?
Why won't Trump allow people to see his college transcripts to prove he is as intelligent as he tells everyone?
Why does anyone believe Trump when he has lied over 10000 times?
Why is it any wonder Congress has so many questions they're demanding answers to?
It is past time Trump be as transparent with the American people including Congress as he continues to claim he and his administration are...
24
Trump has been vilified by the media for two years because he supposedly was in collusion with Russians. But Mueller could not find evidence of this despite his 17 Democrat assistants looking everywhere for evidence. Maybe Trump was not in collusion as he has often claimed. Maybe he knows that there’s nothing to be found. What a great way to keep the witch hunt going and make those who don’t like him look foolish and vindictive by prolonging the controversy. If you doubt this, please notice how the comments about collusion have plunged since the Mueller report was released. Trump is now keeping Democrats busy attacking him instead of paying attention to what the US needs done. And when nothing is found illegal his critics will look like time wasting fools.
4
Mueller didn’t say there was no collusion. He said that collusion is not a legal concept. Clearly there was Russian interference in our election. Clearly the Russians offered help to the Trump campaign. Clearly people associated with his campaign were eager to accept help, in the form of info disparaging HRC. What Mueller could not establish was that the campaign coordinated with the Russians. Thus no criminal charges were recommended.
The fact that the president was not deemed a felon by Mueller is hardly a ringing endorsement of Trump’s behavior. Mueller punted on obstruction, leaving it to Congress to decide. Congress is merely fulfilling their oversight role. Given that Mueller ‘s investigators stated that Barr’s comments were misleading and his failure to release an unredacted report to Congress, Congress has a duty to hold hearings.
4
@Independent American Trump has offered to release the Mueller report with just 1.5% redaction. It is against the law to release grand jury testimony.
Pelosi is third in line, should she release hers?
Why have both Obama's transcripts been sealed since he became a state senator?
Congress has only a dozen questions, but they want to ask it a thousand different ways.
I believe Mr. Cummings, Mrs. Pelosi, and Democrats in general would do well to not only upbraid Mr. Trump, but the Congressional Republicans in both Houses that are his enablers.
It might be good to remind Trump's quislings, and the American people for that matter, of the oath every elected official has taken. Trump and every single elected Republican are clearly breaking their oaths of office.
4
@Vesuviano: Beware of oaths taken to God. They are directed at a "higher calling" than the public interest.
1
America lost it's patience long ago. It shouldn't take this long to prove the obvious.
10
I believed Trump is a con man, long before he ran for office. Last 3 years of his conduct during the campaign and in office have only reinforced my conviction.
Impeachment process, however, only plays into his strategy of claiming victimization by Democrats because nothing comes out of this with a senate firmly under Mitch McConnell's thumb. "Conscience" was flushed down the toilet long ago Mitch McConnell's reign.
Delivering a crushing defeat to Trump and his lackeys in both houses of congress is the only solution. Democrats should just focus all their energies on winning the election and not fall for these distractions. Rather than get a copy of the report they should use that to tar Trump as hiding his crimes.
Once a democrat moves into the white house i make the report public and begin prosecuting Trump and whoever else.
9
The temper tantrum of Liberals continues.
They have tried everting possible to legitimize President Trump.
They even spied upon him and his campaign - and even then couldn’t find any crimes.
Now they want to force the AG to illegally release the entire Mueller report.
And go bonkers when he insists he will not break the law.
12
@Dr. John
"Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong."
Not a prescient as "So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause." but just as meaningful.
4
@Dr. John: Trump will always be three million votes short of legitimacy and the guts to call for a run-off election to establish it, in my estimation.
6
I am curious: do you have ANYTHING on offer that isn’t some dippy personal attack?
My guess is no.
5
The time has come for a modern-day Daniel Ellsberg to step forward and release the complete unredacted Mueller report to the press.
9
@rlschles
Not to mention a modern day ELLIOT RICHARDSON, too.
3
@rlschles You mean someone to break federal laws against protecting grand jury testimony?
Last night I watched "The Untouchables." Our president sort of reminds me of Al Capone. He went to prison for tax evasion.
4
The first official step on the road to Impeachment isn't a vote on the floor to Impeach.
It's a vote to open an Impeachment Inquiry.
There are a lot of tools available using that route that are not otherwise.
Nixon learned that lesson all to well.....
9
Elijah Cummings’ leadership, courage, decency, brilliance and strength in behalf of the country is a source of hope for millions of Americans who are watching their country slip away.
If we survive as a democratic republic, which is by no means assured, it will be because of amazing human beings like Mr Cummings.
554
@Chickpea Indeed. But why is it that there are millions of Americans that see something entirely different when they peer into the dignified eyes, the compassionate soul, the long furrowed brow of a man that has seen the best and the worst that his country has to offer? We need to return true values to our body politic lest we sink to the depths of oblivion like many a "great" civilization.
26
@Chickpea Thoroughly agree with your assessment of this great public servant. We need more like him, especially at this point in time.
21
@Chickpea. Maybe the hypocrite should remember his reaction when Holder was held in contempt.
5
I admire Chairman Cummings, who has been more than civil when dealing with this historically uncivil, rogue administration.
But clearly Trump and Barr do not admire him, nor do they respect his position. These are men who have shown that they have nothing but contempt for Congress, and do not feel in any way beholden to respond to its requests.
It's time for Mr. Cummings to look at all the tools in his toolbox, including jail. Because if this process continues piecemeal the way it is going now, this administration is laying the foundation to even ignore orders of the court. And then it's going to get really scary.
378
@avrds
That's strange. I don't recall noble Cummings too bent out of shape when Eric Holder stonewalled Congress over its investigation of the disastrous Fast and Furious scheme he oversaw to arm Mexican drug cartels with traceable weapons eventually leading to the murder of a DEA agent with one of those weapons, and which eventually led to Holder being held in contempt of Congress because of his stonewalling. And I'll bet you weren't too bent out of shape on that one either.
1
@JW
I don't recall any Republican being upset over 6 years of investigation into Bill Clinton, eight investigations (2 senate and 6 house) into the Benghazi incident, or in multiple investigations of Hillary using private email. Republicans don't seem at all concerned over Jared and Ivanka using private email to conduct government business.
Investigations and obstruction are the Republican way of conducting business when the Democrats are in power.
Republicans created this method governing, now they cry fowl.
3
@JW
There were valid reasons why information was withheld. I. E. Very sensitive national security issues. Basically they blew it and had to put a blanket over the whole affair to preserve security.
1
Nancy Pelosi's measured approach -- to hear testimony and determine through the release of the full Mueller Report and its supporting evidence the information about the matters the Trump administration wishes to conceal -- is the best course. It worked during the Watergate hearings, when the revelations of Richard Nixon's wrong-doing moved many ambivalent Americans and Republican lawmakers as well to conclude that impeachment was justified. We the people need and deserve to know who our president is and what he and his lieutenants have done. To deny us that is dictatorship, plain and simple.
269
@Mark Hugh Miller
Exactly. Obstruction in plain sight for the world to see.
11
@Mark Hugh Miller Good point about proper order, but that fact is that Trump has signalled that he intends to tie up all efforts in protracted court battles, run out the clock, and leave it to a national referendum in October 2020. However they finesse it, the House needs to hold hearings into the possibility of impeachment soon. As you imply, when the House began the Watergate hearings, popular sentiment was not on their side either.
11
@Mark Hugh Miller It's tough to hold hearings when witnesses like Barr refuse to appear or Trump tries to claim executive privilege to prevent witnesses from appearing. Not unlike gangsters leaning on witnesses to prevent or influence their testimony
7
I understand the Democrats' hesitancy and nervousness about a backlash over impeachment. Republicans never seem to worry about the many ,far more radical , even unconstitutional steps they have taken in recent years and overall they are winning. Their lengthy investigations of Hillary Clinton may have resulted in zero indictments but their base loved it and grew. McConnell and Trump shred The Constitution and their flag waving minions cheer. I don't propose that Dems mimic this behavior but if they stand tall and strong and are seen as fighting for the rule of law, rather than being overly cautious , voters will reward them.
290
@John Fischer
It's a nice thought, but it is important to consider that Democrats don't have the same reality-warping, mind-bending propaganda ministry that the banana Republicans have in Faux News, Limbaugh, et al.
People living in that alternate reality -- approx 40% or more of the population, at least -- will never reward the Democrats for anything now. No matter the facts, no matter the evidence, no matter the damage.
And between the gerrymandering, Russian election interference, outsized rural state influence on the Senate, the electoral college math, and a partisan Supreme Court, I fear that the majority of the population applauding appropriate Congressional action led by the Democrats, is simply not enough to make a difference any more.
30
@Dr J: They fear eternal post mortal punishment for failure to vote for God's Own Party. It is a form of Pascal's wager, which pays off after death.
3
exactly!
1
There is a clear risk that DOJ and WH will destroy evidence obtained by Mueller; allegations that some boxes remain unaccounted for already have been made.
Securing that material ought to be the priority - whatever it takes.
19
Impeachment and conviction is the last-resort means provided to Congress to enforce its Constitutional primacy over both the executive and judiciary branches of the Federal Government.
7
I do not know much about Cummings. He appears to be measured and respectful of his position and our Country. With that in mind, if he is changing his mind about how Congress needs to fight back against Trump’s unusual intransigence, I am in wholehearted support of his suggestions of a path to disable Trump and his attempts to destroy our Constitution.
16
@DENOTE MORDANT
They need to impeach him! They need to spend all their time doing it! It doesn't matter that it won't ever get brought up in the Senate, thereby making it a completely toothless and non criminal punishment. It's definitely not all political theater. Democrats should keep doing what they're doing and releasing bills like the Green New Deal that everyone (except the Democrats that had a chance to vote on it. Seriously, not one.) can support.
Trump believes the republican con that if he is impeached then his approval will skyrocket all the way to his re-election, so he's tempting the democrats to go for it.
What is lost on him is that the cake of opinion is baked. No matter what happens to him, those who love him will continue to love him, while those that loathe him will continue to loathe him no matter what. Poll after poll has born that out.
Which brings us to the stalemate we are now in. The republicans will not stray from their base, and neither will the Democrats. The way out will come in November 2020 when the majority of Americans have their say.
For the good of the country-- vote Democrat and end this insanity.
21
Mr. Cummings, you are far wiser than I so I will make a request. Please please do what you can to save us from a second McConnell/Trump administration. If this means foregoing impeachment in favor of electoral rejection then so be it.
6
@PJM
Nancy already let it slip that the only way Trump doesn't win is if he is impeached. They can't beat him at the ballot box.
1
@No Remorse I guess those 3 million extra votes don't mean much.
1
The House Democratic leaders need to move SMART,FAST and DECISIVE with substantial legal assistance,
11
All this brinksmanship is dangerous. These politicians should stop acting like children, and start acting like responsible adults.
4
@AO TheDemocrats are doing that.
3
How so; by exposing corruption?
1
Of course we need to impeach! It didn't work out well for the republicans when they went after clinton because clinton did nothing wrong. Failed 45 has done real crimes, so we need to fear for a backlash.
9
@band of angry gems
Yup, they should do it. There will be no backlash at all. Everybody agrees. Just do it.
But they won't. It's all just theater for people like you. They'll drag it out as long as they can. I hope he tries to change the constitution to get a third term because of the Russian hoax. Russians, remember them. It's funny that they never get mentioned anymore.
1
"It didn't work out well for the Republicans when they decided to impeach Clinton." I've seen this meme before. Too bad it completely ignores history. The Republicans won both houses of Congress and the presidency in 2000. The impeachment worked out great.
1
@band of angry dems Clinton committed perjury. If you that is okay, well what can I say.
I think we all know that Trump has spent his lifetime messing and damaging other people, for personal gain. He suckled at the teat of Roy Cohn, the meanest and shrewdest our country ever made. Trump is shockingly bad for the morale and spirit of our country, I'm 65 and have never seen the likes of it.
Although he is a force of some kind of nature, he is fighting on so many fronts he will wear himself out and lose. Thankfully, the people voted, Democrats took the House and can fight against Trump for us and with us. I have confidence in Elijah Cummings and other decent people who want to stop Trump messing with the Constitution and the country.
15
@sues: The US legal system is made to be a playground for extortion via litigation.
1
It takes a lot to push Rep. Cummings into anger.
13
If you let Trump nullify Congressional primacy over the other two branches of government, you won't get an opportunity to elect a Democratic president to be dictator.
7
Primacy? I would have thought co-equality.
2
@polymath - I would have thought co-equality.
Article I comes before Article II for a reason.
Coequal is the bar congress is shooting for now after abdicating too much power to the executive.
1
What if Trump is so insane that he is hoping he’ll be impeached because he knows he’ll be acquitted by a cowardly Republican-controlled Senate, thus firing up his base at the perfect time: the 2020 general election. Make no doubt about it: Trump is the definition of an evil genius. Think like a criminal to understand his motivations.
8
@The Pattern What if, Democrats, after 3 years of illegal spying, partisan insiders at the DOJ and FBI violating DOJ guidelines and ethical rules, the power of subpoena, no-knock search warrants by SWAT teams gathering up attorney-client materials, and a Special Counsel that not only couldn't follow the law he was hired under, tried to get the AG to break DOJ guidelines and laws AND COULD FIND NO CRIMES TO IMPEACH FOR, are so insane that...wait - this is supposed to be a "what if" scenario, right?
2
@BBender: I would like to see the chain of custody of Anthony Weiner's computer from the moment it came into FBI possession.
1
@BBender So insane that 750 ex DOJ attorneys said they could prosecute with the evidence Mueller obtained.
Your post is incorrect in so many ways; I will just point out that nowhere in his report does Mueller say there were no impeachable crimes. In fact, he quite clearly states that it is Congress that should be deciding the matter, not the courts.
'we determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes'.
3
It's really sad that people like Trump, Pelosi and Cummings are the best America has to offer as leaders. Looking around the Congress, people that are worthy of respect are far and few between. Most of them, on both sides, are political hacks and just not that bright. They rant and rave and say nothing.
4
@DRS, conflating Trump's behavior with Pelosi and Cummings is deranged, but given our politics, not surprising.
12
@DRS
I beg to differ. Pelosi and Cummings are wonderful leaders, sacrificing many long years of sefless service!
5
@DRS
Well, you have one not too bright hack, that's Trump.
Pelosi and Cummings are the type of people who may be able to save your country.
Try not to confuse the two.
5
What's actually happening in USA is a slow-motion coup d'etat organized by Mr. Trump and part of the Republicans. And Mr. Trump has a slick collaborator in all this and example to follow - Mr. Putin, dictator of Russia. The latter is using Trump to blow up America without use of nuclear military strike. And they both are afraid of losing power which can lead to revelations of their respective crimes.
43
@nooracle
Putin is the mastermind of all this! He wanted more sanctions put on Russia and didn't think Hillary would do it. So he helped elect Trump so he could place massive sanctions on them and sell weapons to the Ukraine. Putin felt it was unfair for the Ukrainians to not have weapons.
1
@No Remorse Plus Putin wanted the rest NATO to pay its fair share and strengthen.
There are many things I don't like about Donald Trump. The only entity I hold in worse esteem is the mainstream media whose blatantly biased coverage has turned entire newspapers into editorials from the front page on i. e. with "news analysis" substituting and for news reporting); all severely slanted toward destroying Trump's presidency. I used to thing that Bill Clinton's coverage was worse but that now pales in comparison). . .but Trump has taken and continues to take the worst bashing of the last four presidents combined. In fact, in poll after poll the American public holds the MSM in a far more negative light than Mr. Trump who I sometimes refer to as the white Muhammad Ali: brash, anti-establishment, shockingly outspoken. . .but most important, willing to take on all-comers when he thinks he's right (and in my opinion as well as many in the sporting community, the greatest boxer of all time). No one else has said this that I know of about Mr. Trump--but whether you like him or not--he's the toughest fighter-up against the ropes-against an opponent--the media in this case--like George Foreman but with no referee or ringside judges in this case (aka no one to be accountable to). As Howard Cosell used to say: There's one thing Ali they don't talk about. This man can take a punch!"
7
@Irving Nusbaum, sorry if the Trump coverage has got you down, but he brought it on himself after all. If he was even halfway to normal, we wouldn't be where we are now. Comparing him to Ali is offensive. Ali stood on principle when he lost his title due to his anti-war stance; DT has no principles to speak of.
16
@Irving Nusbaum
Trump, up against the ropes, is nothing but a sixth grade schoolyard bully. He calls his opposition names so he feels clever and superior. He surrounds himself with wingmen - administration/family/GOP - who lock arms as proof of HIS strength. If his opponent gets lucky enough to land a punch when Donald doesn't duck, Trump points his finger at everyone and blames them for his failures. Don't compare him to Ali, who had ethics and morals. Trump has no conception of either. While I agree about the bias in MSM, it goes both ways. All one needs to do is observe any video clip of Trump speaking, and it reveals the narcissistic, arrogant shell of a person to walk the earth today.
6
@Irving Nusbaum, this is not a boxing match. It is a concerted effort to seize power by the executive branch that according to the Constitution belongs to the Congress.
All the MSM, except Fox, have it right. There's nothing fake about any of it; including the billion lost and somehow replaced by Trump, the reality that his campaign furthered the criminal conspiracy to defraud the US but was so oblivious of it they were not charged; the 750 former DOJ attorneys and lawyers that said they could convict on Mueller's findings; the corruption that has riddled his cabinet; and the only reason why Cohen is in prison.
A unindicted criminal leads the free world. The American people and system put him there; we will get him out.
10
Congressional oversight no matter what! Period.
17
They lost the election,they're going to lose the next one . they have done zero ,none of the American peoples business for two ,now long years. The leadership of the Democrats is in complete disarray .Trump derangement syndrome is real and leading to the complete ruin of Democrats.
4
@Alan Einstoss
Please note that first two years of his election, Mr. Trump and the GOP had been totally in charge of the federal government. In that time, the people's business has consisted of a huge tax break for the rich and corporations, attempts to dismantle environmental regulations designed to safeguard the environment for our children, and lies about pretty much everything else.
28
@Bruce Meyers
Well said!
7
@Alan Einstoss
They won the election, they're going to lose the next one, they have done zero, none of the American peoples business for two, now long years. The leadership of the Republicans is in complete disarray. Trump is deranged and leading to the complete ruin of the Republicans.
The Don rings the bell, the Democrats salivate.
He is running circles around them, making them look like complete fools.
Then come 2020 he can simply quote the Dems, show that in fours years all they did was chase him like a witch hunt, and you get 4 more years of Trump.
Or
The Democrats somehow manage to jail the president, Pence takes over, runs and you get 9+ years of President Pence.
Make Nikki his VP and you will get 17+ years of GOP in charge.
All because the democrats could not stop salivating when the Don rang his bell.
8
Many years of malfeasance plus massive incompetence and violation of laws in the present have nothing to do with "ringing a bell."
7
Trump picks fights because he has no interest or intention of governing. It's not complicated. The question is why so many people put on red hats and cheer for this charade.
31
Seriously? Have any leading Democrats done anything to indicate willingness to engage in a bare-knuckle fight with Mr. Trump, or any other Republican bully? Of course they haven’t, because the Democratic Party leaders are timid liberals and want to find a path to bipartisan bliss. Democratic resistance to Mr. Trump’s excesses have been limited to hand wringing and whining. Perhaps the Democrats will find someone with a spine before Mr. Trump completes his demolition of this government of the people and by the people. Probably not, but the Democrats will certainly perfect showy hand wringing and whining.
2
@Neil Robinsons, you're right, the Dems just "wring their hands" by using the tools of democratic governance, like holding inquiries into DT's malfeasance, but guys like you want them to go for the jugular......hmm, wonder how that will turn out. Remember the Civil War?
6
Nancy Pelosi has resisted and tampered down impeachment talk because she's one of the smartest politicians in DC
Impeachment = Trump second term
4
How can you ask Congress to defend and uphold the constitution while at the same time asking them not to start impeachment procedures against a president that is actively challenging the constitution and the institutions of this country? Maybe I am confused, but that sure doesn't make sense to me. The House has to take action.
10
@Jorge Núñez: ...or forever hold its peace in irrelevance.
1
"“It sounds like he’s asking us to impeach him,” Mr. Cummings, …said in an interview last week. "
Yes, it does sound like donald trump is asking the Democrats to impeach him. But it isn't patience that is preventing them from impeaching trump. So why would trump provoke the Democrats to impeach him? Answer: because trump knows that as long as McConnell has his back, any attempt to remove trump from office will fail. The Democrats need to sway 20 Republican senators in order to remove trump from office. Currently that is not a realistic forecast, especially with trump's job approval at an all-time high of 45%. Simply put, "it ain't gonna happen" - not now, at least.
The upshot of this is that if the Democrats impeach trump, and fail to remove him from office, they will be granting trump the best campaign ammunition trump could hope for. The Republicans are fighting all of the Congressional inquiries by claiming that the Democrats are carrying out these investigations, because they refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election and are seeking to delegitimize the legally elected president. If the Democrats impeach trump and fail to sway the 20 Republican senators needed to remove trump from office, trump and all Republicans will trumpet [no pun intended] that the Democrats tried every trick in the book to reverse the 2016 election, but trump prevailed and beat them all.
So the Democrats are being patient, as they must, until they can pocket 20 more senate votes.
3
@GR
which, alas, will never happen.
1
@GR
I think Trump is already campaigning and using impeachment jargon to his benefit at least temporarily. Partisans appear to enjoying the jockeying and punditry without appreciating the seriousness of the mess we’re in. Perhaps a real impeachment is worth starting so we can move beyond the inter mural skirmishes to the Olympics
1
Impeachment is the proper tool. Even if it "fails," the process shines light where it needs to shine.
The problem with waiting for the 2020 election is that an election is not a trial. Its outcome can be influenced and determined by any number of things, including the economy, campaign tactics, October surprises, the presence of third-party candidates, the interference of Russia, and assassinations, whether of character or the other kind.
We should not gamble with our democratic values and institutions in this way. If we ultimately must do so, the election should be informed by the findings of the impeachment proceedings. Impeachment now!
10
The math just doesn't add up. Trump had maybe 45 percent popular support. That number has to have gone down.
There is no way he wins in 2020.
3
this man is a jedi. i am proud that he is my representative.
9
It is time for another public service announcement. Rather than Iron Eyes Cody tearing up over the polluted landscape George Washington sheds a tear over our political landscape where the ideals he and others fought for are shredded for greed and power with a somewhat modified voice over against images of the lies, the violence, the rallies, and the GOP's blatant disregard for the constitution and our laws:
"Some people have a deep and abiding respect for the natural freedoms and rule of law that was our country. And some people don't. People start tyranny, people can stop it."
Just like the drip, drip, drip of one piece of litter being thrown out at a time until it accumulates into a trashed environment one day we realize that the rules and laws have become meaningless revised landscape of .
And, remember, it was Washington who warned of, and argued against parties and the damage they will inflict. So it is most fitting he be the spokesperson again for our country.
3
"We have to go back to normal," said Cummings, and I agree, but how about starting with Baltimore, which Cummings, despite being the representative from that city for over 26 years, has not been able to bring many parts of that city back to normal. Trump is not pushing the Democrats to the brink as much as these investigations are pushing the Democrats further to left of American politics. Let the people decide about the President's conduct in the 2020 elections.
1
The people voted for Democratic congress to provide oversight of the presidency as required by the United States constitution. If they do not abide by the constitution then we're in very dangerous territory indeed. The people will not tolerate tyranny either by a king ir a political party.
9
I am so tired of hearing people wring their hands over "energizing Trump's base". How about "energizing" the 70 percent of Americans who are NOT his base by standing up for the rule of law?
31
Here's an idea...
Any POTUS who gets in by Electoral College ONLY and not popular vote should have diminished rights and privileges starting with executive privilege and pardoning power. And the more people in this case 2.8 million voters MORE than 1/2 voted against tRump so the amount of popular loss should count detracting from those powers.
4
Many Democrats have been careful and cautious about impeachment of the worst pres in our history. But that worst pres isn't careful or cautious about anything---it's not in his character. He is reckless, impulsive, paranoid, hostile --and dangerous.
Can cautious democrats protect the country against Trump?
Can the adults regulate the child?
Interesting that on CNN last night, Times columnist Frank Bruni said that an impeachment inquiry would aid in Trump's re-election, since GOP voters would see him as a martyr to Dem destruction and support him even more.
But the 2 other CNN commentators disagreed, saying impeachment wouldn't help Trump politically at all.
Nader has said that further hearings will bring out more facts and thus impeachment may get more public support as time goes on.
Meanwhile every day Trump keeps escalating his paranoia, aggression and egotism.
6
How can you ask Congress to defend and uphold the constitution while at the same time asking them not to start impeachment procedures against a president that is actively challenging the constitution and the institutions of this country? Maybe I am confused, but that sure doesn't make sense to me. The House has to take action.
11
The argument that's being made against commencing impeachment proceedings against Trump is that if and when the Senate refuses to impeach him, Trump will declare total victory just prior to the 2020 election. That argument is flimsy, at best. First, even if no impeachment proceedings are commenced, Trump will repeatedly declare total victory through the 2020 election, as he already has been doing, based on his deliberate misrepresentation of the findings of the Mueller investigation. Second, the only voters who are likely to pay any attention to what Trump says are those in his base and trying to convince any of them to vote against Trump is a colossal waste of time and energy. Finally, since when do prosecutors decline to prosecute because they are concerned that the defendant, if acquitted, will declare total victory? Look at O.J. Simpson. Although he was acquitted of criminal charges, most of the public still believes that he killed Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Democrats should not be concerned that the Senate will never vote to impeach Mr. Trump. Instead, along with their attacks on Trump, they should be prepared to attack every Senator who votes against impeachment, as aiding and abetting an enemy of the Constitution and democracy.
12
Cummings may be a fine man but after watching his speeches and questioning of witnesses over the past few years, he strikes me as just another partisan hack. Like many other Democrats and Republicans, you can pretty much predict what they are going to say at any moment. There is no collegiality left in the House and very little in the Senate. It gets worse every year.
3
“It sounds like he’s asking us to impeach him,” Mr. Cummings, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform...said in an interview last week.
And he's exactly right --
Impeaching Trump will only serve to galvanize the Fox News-Alt-Right-Red-State army of Trump supporters - who will mount a vicious campaign to defend and protect "their" president - and believe it - they are very well organized --
Either Trump knows this himself (dubious) - or he's been coached by his advisers (more likely) - to push the Democrats past their breaking point - and then reach out to his minions of "Patriots" - who will rush to defend him --
No amount of liberal media or reader comments will be able to deflect the conservative juggernaut which will stampede if the Democrats bring impeachment charges --
It's absolutely crucial that the Democrats - and their own army of liberal supporters - devise an extremely well-though-out plan to handle the conservative onslaught which will ensue if they decide to impeach --
Trump is "King of the Hill" - and in order to knock him off - you have to get by all those who are ready to defend and protect him --
Move cautiously...
3
@Howard G
The depraved deplorables are already energized and they don't care that Trump is a criminal. The notion that Democrats should hesitate to uphold the Constitution because the liar-in-chief's apologists won't like it is weak. Democrats may need to hold impeachment hearings in order to prevail in court on obtaining witness testimony and access to documents that the criminal-in-chief is trying to block. Hold impeachment hearings to get the evidence and see where it leads. The fact that because Republicans conducted a hypocritical witch hunt against Bill Clinton and it backfired for them doesn't mean that impeaching Trump, who is already proven to have committed several felonies, would be seen in the same light.
4
I am reading these comments and listening to so-called pundits. So many are not seeing the forest through the trees. The House has a constitutional duty to follow up on the very fact that Trump was NOT exonerated from obstruction of justice. This has nothing to do with the 2020 elections. If nothing were to be done re the lawlessness of this administration, we shouldn't even bother to vote. The Democrats will have betrayed our rights in a democracy as much as the Republicans. The House is the other half of the Legislative Branch. Under the Constitution it is EQUAL to the Executive Branch. Our forefathers deliberately made this so to escape monarchical rule. By not standing up to Trump, we are creating something worse than the above. We are allowing the seed of a dictatorship to take root in the decaying soil of the Oval Office. And this is directed to our Senate, too. That means you, Mr. Schumer as well as your devious counterpart, Mitch McConnell.
14
Mr. Cummings is an American treasure.
10
The presumption of the timid is that you cannot walk (campaign on the basis of meaningful reform - healthcare, education, jobs, an end to military involvement, the environment) and chew gum (go after Trump and his ilk) at the same time. Wrong!
This is an instance in which the meek shall not inherit the earth.
4
Trump is betting that impeachment hearings will galvanize his base before the 2020 election. Many will no doubt stick with Trump no matter what, excusing his rhetoric and his hatefulness because the economy, for now, is good.
But Trump is taking a dangerous risk, both for himself and for the country as he swims into these little-charted waters. Most Americans do not want a Constitutional crisis and many think we have one now.
Even the most patient of saints can put with only so much. The trick is to make decisions about impeachment based on the issues, not on Trump's provocations.
110
@Barbara A wise analysis. Nancy Pelosi might want to consult you as she refines her playbook. trump is definitely crystallizing and exacerbating the dilemma that the Democrats face. His defiance of the Constitution and in-your-face criminality, wanton shenanigans make it more and more difficult to avoid impeaching him. But as Barbara implies, behind those overt provocations lie genuine reasons for attempting a formal good-riddance process: from his EPA's assault on the environment, through his destructive tariffs, to his racist and inhumane immigration policies, there is ample reason to explore and then utilize his discoverable high crimes and misdemeanors to wipe him from public life for good.
18
@Barbara
Here's the thing I don't understand: Do you really think Trump's base needs galvanizing?
His popularity numbers are rigidly inflexible. He's right down there in the 40s, same as he always was. I don't see how playing the victim card is convincing anyone. It's not like we expect Trump's turnout to change dramatically one way or the other.
For the sake argument, let's assume Trump does want impeachment. Best case scenario, Republicans rush the process to acquittal before 2020 while denying Democrats the evidence. I still don't see how that wins Trump another term though.
Anyone outside that 40 percent is going to feel the same way about Trump they do now. Trump is a corrupt, immoral, and contemptible man deserving censure. This is true even among conservatives. Unless you're already wearing a MAGA hat, impeachment is not going to negatively impact your view of Democrats.
The only other explanation that seems plausible: Trump wants impeachment because it will tie up the legislature long enough to prevent them from addressing Russian election interference in 2020. That's an ugly thing to say but what else can you say? The man is counting on Putin's assistance.
15
@Barbara
@Barbara
Here's the thing I don't understand: Do you really think Trump's base needs galvanizing?
His popularity numbers are rigidly inflexible. He's right down there in the 40s, same as he always was. I don't see how playing the victim card is convincing anyone. It's not like we expect Trump's turnout to change dramatically one way or the other.
For the sake argument, let's assume Trump does want impeachment. Best case scenario, Republicans rush the process to acquittal before 2020 while denying Democrats the evidence. I still don't see how that wins Trump another term though.
Anyone outside that 40 percent is going to feel the same way about Trump as they do now. Trump is a corrupt, immoral, and contemptible man deserving censure. This is true even among conservatives. Unless you're already wearing a MAGA hat, impeachment is not going to negatively impact your view of Democrats.
The only other explanation that seems plausible: Trump wants impeachment because it will tie up the legislature long enough to prevent them from addressing Russian election interference in 2020. That's an ugly thing to say but what else can you say? The man is counting on Putin's assistance.
4
Or, they could focus on a legislative agenda. If they had one
That is actually the legislative branch primary function.
4
@Joe Yoh - Yes I would like them to repeal the Trump Tax Cut.
11
@Joe Yoh: Mitch McConnell naysays everything that comes down the pike except "Federalist Society" judicial nominations. He's another complete waste of everyone else's time and lives.
7
Since the first of the year, the House has passed bills on voting rights, campaign finance, health insurances, and about fifty other things.
Might be good to pay attention.
Oh, and by the way? Constitution says that a primary House findtion is oversight. Might be good to read up.
8
Impeaching Trump very much plays into his hands. 1) Impeachment will give him a complaint that he can bank on in motivating his base. 2) Impeachment will not result in a successful trial in the Senate, 3) Which means that is merely nothing more than window dressing. 4) In the meantime, impeachment will suck the air of the Democrats presidential campaign. If I were running Trump's reelection bid, aside from needing to bathe often, I'd be hoping and praying the House Democrats lost their cool and went after Trump.
10
@ACT
Why?
You are mistaken if you think citizens of this country will stand by and not hold Trump accountable.
9
@ACT: His base is already motivated. Impeachment won't change his base; they're locked in.We need to invoke the process. Tired of allowing these things to go unchallenged.
8
@ACT. Dems are the only ones who can act to save our democracy even if the attempt seems futile. A defense must be started despite Trump’s rabid base. In 100 years historians may view all this hand-wringing as cowardice.
8
The Democrats are losing it and the country is watching. It is entertaining. Vote for America--Vote Republican.
15
@Jonathan
If it is said by a Republican you know the opposite is true. From describing Democrats to projecting their means and methods on to others.
A vote for Republicans in a vote against freedom and democracy and a vote for tyranny of the oligarchy. It's as basic and as simple as that.
16
@Jonathan My agenda is Borders, Language and Culture. Will Republicans comply?
3
Voting GOP is a vote against the United States. They are divisive and destructive of our way of life, history, and Constitution.
24
Too funny--from Jerry Nadler's tweet from the past.
"Just joined the #walkout of the House chamber to protest the shameful, politically-motivated GOP vote holding AG Holder in contempt"
9
Can we “impeach” Pelosi for not protecting our borders and condoning illegal immigration, I don’t care anymore about impeaching Trump, take care of the illegal immigration problem then we can focus on a replacement for Trump, maybe.
13
@JRS
How do you imagine that Ms. Pelosi is at fault for humanitarian crises on our borders? Congress passes passes laws that a president usually must sign. Trump has refused more than once, prefering to use this issue as fodder to rile up his base.
8
Trump has been trying to uphold the laws, passed by Congress. It is the courts, especially the 9th circuit, which continually thwart the rule of law for partisan purposes. Maybe they will finally realize the crisis that these unelected progressives have created.
2
@Barbara Humanitarian? Barbara how many illegals are you housing, feeding, clothing, educating?
1
I think if the Democrats have the nerve they should try to impeach him. Surely they will eventually find a high crime or misdemeanor. Until now they haven't come close.
2
@Tom T
Well Tom, there were those ten instances of Obstruction of Justice.
Trump wasn't exonerated of any of those.
Anyone with a copy of the criminal code of conduct and a computer with WestLaw could get a conviction.
A high School student as a term project would do nicely.
13
@Tom T
Who was "individual one" in the Cohen indictment?
9
We have been in a constitutional crisis since day one when a corporate investor in 16 foreign nations was allowed in as president. He answers to no one but his multinational business partners and the cult of fundamentalist evangelicals who bless him as their end-time idol. We are so much like Germany under a Reich, and have not come to terms with the fact that we are dealing with an autocrat/demagogue. He represents the lawless corporate power to do as it pleases while enjoying the largest tax breaks in history. Crass materialism and the cry "economy!" supplant all morals, wisdom, ethics and reason - and any concern for climate, planet and life. Rapture insanity religion does not care for life here. It fits perfectly with unbridled corporate power and greed. Until we awaken to this, we will imagine that actions within our system of government still have efficacy. They were trashed on day one when this entity came into power. It is for those of us who do not support this movement - and who are now the enemy - a realization that we are indeed in a situation described by Tod Bolsinger in his book "Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership In Uncharted Territory." Lewis and Clark discover no rivers to the Pacific, but the Rocky Mountains. The way forward is not where we have ever been. Mechanisms of the past no longer propel us forward. This is a time for true leadership to emerge from Congress -and from the people. God speed - Elijah!
36
@1blueheron
Thank you, so clearly and correctly stated, at least to my mind. Our government is not a polka game to be played by the selfish, the corrupt, the devious. Am I saying something new? I think not, but I'm grateful for people with intelligence, balance and who understand the full danger of this moment. I'm grateful to Representative Elijah Cummings and would wish to see more members with his quiet, considered determination.
5
It is so unfortunate that even as once-trusted an outlet as the Times is choosing to portray the conflict as between the President and House Democrats. That makes it sound like a political issue rather than the constitutional crisis it is. The conflict is between the President and CONGRESS.
50
Go forward Chairman Cummings and save this Democracy! In you I see reason and honesty. Saying that I know where you stand and that an angel is by your side. God speed!
28
It will probably be easier for House Democrats to order Coke to reveal its secret formula to the American public, all in the interest of national security, of course.
2
Time for hardball, Democrats. That’s the only kind of game the would-be dictator Trump understands.
With all of the serious threats to our country right now, North Korea and others, can we really afford to keep this clown in office? The world is watching to see if we’re going to self-destruct first.
19
I wouldn't want to be in a limo with these Democratic Party leaders and an obviously drunk driver. Nobody would get out alive after waiting for them to so something other than "show restraint" about stopping the vehicle and grabbing the keys.
3
Bring it on, already!!
The country is being dismantled piece meal for the last 2 years and nothing positive is being built..in fact we are in violation of human rights n the southern birder as removing children from their parents is a crime against humanity and the unnecessary infliction of trauma on innocents.
Bring it!
9
Mr Cummings, you more than anyone else hold the future of this county in your hands. It is obvious that Trump is a criminal and has been for decades. He has combined that with foreign strongman and is attempting to take over the country to protect himself. You will both go down in history, one like Roosevelt and one like Stalin.
14
Here's the problem as I see it; Trump ACTS guilty virtually in plain sight whether he is or isn't. As a result Mueller investigated for two years. He found stuff but not enough. This (and Barr's intervention) allowed Trump to crow to his base that he was guilt free and that the investigation was a waste of time.
Now Trump looks like he has something to hide which might lead congress to impeach him. What if they don't find anything of substance? Again, at least to the his base (and others), the Dems look like jerks.
I'm afraid that Tom Perez is under the impression that he only needs to energize the Democrat base to win in 2020. I think he's wrong. We need every vote we can get. Congressional Dems need to walk carefully. Foget Barr, he's most likely a liar. Forget documents unless they can really justify why they need to see them. Get Mueller in to ask about his conversation and letters to Barr. Get McGhan in to ask about Trump's instructions to lie about obstruction. But they need to see Trump's tax returns to make sure that he , his family, his friends and his businesses are not benefiting from decisions he makes as President.
Again, Tred carefully!
3
He is my congressman and I am very proud to have him.
20
Elijah Cummings should be a revered statesman by both Republicans as well as Democrats.If he is worried about our Constitutional system we should all be.Mr Trump does not care whether or not he is impeached-remember that this is the guy who has had five bankruptcies, has skipped out on so many loans that no American bank will loan to him.and even good lawyers will not work or him because he lies so much and does not even pay his bills.Impeachment would just be another in the long list of his marginal or illegal behavior- he knows no shame.He always blames his bad behavior on someone else- impeachment would elicit the same response.
15
“It sounds like he’s asking us to impeach him,” Mr. Cummings, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform
He is. Because he knows the Republicans in the Senate will never convict him no matter the evidence presented. And by turning his collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice into a show he gets to continue the narrative that Fox and Trump have been pushing, the whole thing is a "coup" to overturn the election.
He wants this because he knows it will bring out his base to the next election
8
@Mike T. Trust me. If Congress didn't utter one more word, his base will be out, in force.
If Trump is guilty for obstruction of justice, then every Republican congressman who backs him without question are by extension guilty themselves.
Rep. Jordan, regarding your feelings that the Democrats don’t want to work with your party, I have just two words: Merrick Garland.
41
I have hitherto been against impeachment (in part because a President Pence could be even more damaging and dangerous than the current Toddler in Chief), but over the past week have changed my mind. If that is the only way to restore the checks and balances needed to make our system of government work. Even if the spineless GOP Senators would vote once it got to them, this is a necessary step to take.
16
No way did the Founding Fathers envision a leader so corrupt and so unprepared for the job, someone who has lost over a billion, avoided taxes and proud of it, and now setting our monetary, fiscal and regulatory policies. Add to these, his connections with Russians and Saudis for financial gain, and manipulating citizens with Twitter posts, campaign rallies, trips to his vacation home and more all on taxpayers' hard earned money.
Shame on citizens who voted for him and a greater shame on Republican leaders for giving him a carte blanche. I am not a constitutional scholar but I ask "If this is not a serious constitutional crisis, what is?
19
What people don't understand is that Trump wants to push them to the brink, This sort of intemperate reply is precisely what makes Trump even stronger.
3
@Michael Livingston
What is Trump, a genie? Control your imagination.
He's just an old blowhard, supported by his accidental success, layers of yes-men and women, and now paddling hard to maintain the illusion of supreme command. Cohen, Comey and many more bricks are falling off his merry little circus wagon. He's only as strong as we allow him to be, so stop quaking in your boots and get a grip. You ain't seen nothin' yet from the prodigious arsenal of Rep. Cummings and Co.
Elijah's comin' - with a pack of much stronger than storybook big, bad wolves right behind him.
4
@Quite Contrary
From your mouth to God's ear!
1
The Democrats seem to be making a strategic error. Instead of pushing their agenda with an eye to 2020, they’re turning off voters with a tedious replay of the Mueller report and threats of a sterile impeachment process. Trump’s provocations, however unlawful they may be, are suckering the Democrats further down this fruitless path. They should move on with the rest of their agenda and use the most damaging parts of the Mueller report later during the campaign.
3
It may come down to an impeachment trial and the winner and loser will be solely up to how the media plays it. One need to look no further than the Kavanaugh hearings to know that impeachment may be a terrible thing for Democrats. To many watching, Kavanaugh, Lindsey Graham, and other Republican Senators came off looking unqualified, shameful, and without decorum or standing to hold their honored positions, but that's not how the media spun it. Kavanaugh's uncontrolled emotional displays and conspiracy theory laced written statement should have disqualified him for a Supreme Court seat but for every negative statement about his performance and legitimacy to sit on the bench, there was another opinion stating the exact opposite. There was a time when the media came out and disqualified actions (like Howard Dean's "Yaww" moment), but that's reserved for Democrat as the Republicans know to raise the specter of bias and mistreatment if used on them. Even Roy Moore nearly becoming a Senator and 10,000 lies as President don't create a uniform statement from the mainstream media to say these things are unacceptable.
What mainstream media fails to understand is that our system is supposed to work on trust - trust of our representatives, trust of news source, trust of our senses. We now live in a world dominated by faith and faith, in the way it has been employed these past decades by Republicans, has no place in our national discourse. Do your job - make us trust you.
12
"Trump is Pushing Democrats to the Brink"?
that's not accurate. trump is pushing the nation to the brink. the democrats are pushing back against trump, who would casually push the nation over the edge. and based on the photo with the story, mr. cummings is not being pushed at all.
16
@unezstreet
'that's not accurate. trump is pushing the nation to the brink.'
No we're doing well.
It's Liberals who are loosing it all over.
1
Mr. Chaffetz is correct, Mr. Cummings has a lot of "external pressure." That pressure is coming from the American people, and it is pressure that Mr. Chaffetz and his party have ignored for too long.
11
Obviously, trump holds the position of the presidency in such low regard, except for the protection it affords him, impeachment is, to him, meaningless. I guess he feels no contempt from 2/3 of the nation and congress, something he has contended with most of his life.
6
I was a Hilary supporter until she veered too far left to win the nomination and didn’t tack back towards the center. I voted Libertarian instead. Now even Cummings is suffering “Trump Derangement Syndrome” by asking for 10 years of tax and financial information on Trump. As much as I dislike Trump, that move is just plain over the top, and clearly personal rather than having genuine legislative intent. Ditto for all of the states passing laws just to get Trump and his cronies after his presidency ends or to stave off his pardons (which he has not issued to date, even to one time loyal fixer). Such actions set a dangerous precedent for weaponizing legislative powers and sound minded people should not stand for it, regardless of how despicable the intended target happens to be. “Good cases make bad law”, and so do foaming at the mouth legislators.
These Trump revengers are setting themselves up to hand over 2020 and put any evil successors or even themselves, being drunk with new powers, even after Trump is gone, to do real harm to this country in the long run.
4
@Tired Independent
Accusing a US Representative who has served 13 consecutive terms of office without going off the rails of a "clearly personal" attack on Trump is ridiculous on the face of it. While consistently defending the rights and well-being of the average Joes he represents, Representative Cummings has devised significant programs for Maryland's homeowners ravaged by the subprime mortgage scams and has represented his constituency and his country in so many other areas of legitimate need extremely well. Compare his record and his character to that of Trump and then tell us why you think he would lower himself to that level. It does not compute. He is trustworthy and has never given in to petty political moves. I don't expect him to, now. At this late stage of his career, neither is he likely to be cowed by adversity, bullying threats or public opinion.
To suggest that his brush with mortality had anything to do with this is insulting and lazy on the part of this reporter - why not examine his record, going back decades, instead? He's formidable and does not back down - for anybody.
5
I am glad we found someone who can force Democrats to do their job. Unfortunately it is Trump and not the Democrats base.
2
The Democrats have been in power in the House for 4 months. The President is stonewalling their requests for documents and witnesses. According to the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump is "self-impeaching".
Elijah Cummings -- the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform -- is becoming impatient. President Trump is asserting executive privilege to avoid handing over the Special Counsel's Report on his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
If Chairman Cummings is correct in his assumption that this Trump inquiry is "far worse than Watergate", we are in a Constitutional Crisis for the soul of our democracy. Mr. Trump's personal lawyer for over 10 years (Michael Cohen) is now serving a 3+ year sentence in federal prison in Otisville, NY. When Mr. Cohen testified before Congress a few weeks ago, he told us that Donald Trump is "a cheat, a con man and a liar". How much longer are we going to have a president who defies the Congress and doesn't represent the best in America?
16
How about this -
"The party of Law and Order, My foot! This is complete lawlessness. If you have nothing to hide you should in no way be interrupting this investigation. Our laws are written explicitly; and the republicans are twisting them in unimaginable ways - making a mockery (nationally and globally) of our democratic systems of checks and balances and our Constitution. A constitution they wwant to adhere to when it suits them and completely ignore and challenge when it does not. Once again - if you have nothing to hide - you should in no way be obstructing these investigations"
9
Pelosi is right. Wait to interview Mueller,then make a case for impeachment that cannot be refuted.
Need to have at least some Republicans who don't want to go down with a sinking ship to flip.
9
Jim Jordan suggests Cummings is not "trying to work with Republicans". What a joke.
Mitch McConnell showed us during the Obama years that Republicans will never work with a duly-elected Democrat. The death of the spirit of bipartisan cooperation toward a better country is on the Republicans.
22
Fortunately, Elijah Cummings and the Dems remember their Oaths of Office; their knee-jerk reaction has not been to impeach, but they will not let this POTUS 'break' the Constitution's functions the same way he has broken his own Executive Branch's functioning.
Part of the 'disruption/breaking' that 'Indvividual-1/No Collusion 45* desires is confrontation and spectacle, so he tries to maneuver circumstances to make it appear he's somehow a victim of Dems by pretending they have no oversight role, when the Constitution specifically requires them to oversee the Executive Branch.
This isn't a Dems vs. GOP'er issue - it's the Executive Branch trying to utterly ignore/erase a branch its own political party doesn't control.
It's all bullying writ large, which happens to lay the groundwork for dictatorship.
20
As but one Independant I am tired of never ending political drama. Yes, yes the president's demeanor can be distressing but unless there is irrefutable evidence of obstruction this nonsense has to stop. Goes for both parties.
2
To say there is no legitimate reason for Congress to continue investigating Trump is ridiculous. Every time someone turns over a rock, something new and slimy crawls out. Why would we stop turning over rocks, when national security could be at stake?
13
"He sees a “constitutional crisis” that even the founding fathers did not envision when they created the system of checks and balances that has kept American democracy intact." I don't think we've ever had a president who cared less about the country. We didn't realize how lucky we've been. It's starting to feel like some other countries we've watched and counted our blessings that we had strong enough checks and balances. Apparently we were wrong: we just never had a president who cared so little for integrity of our country and it's systems.
11
Compare Trump's treatment to the treatment of both Clintons--one for a lie about a personal matter; the other the same kind of email use that Trump and Ivanka have engaged in (in addition to Trump using non secure cell phones, etc.). It makes one wonder why his Republican conspirators/protectors aren't also being impeached. Has there ever been more widespread acts of treason?
31
@DaDa. Pathetic, DaDa. The real collusion was democrats using all the governments powers to investigate and harass a political opponent. And now we've moved on from collusion to obstruction. The treason is on the part of the democrats, looking for anything to take down an opponent. Remember Mr. Schiff fighting tooth and nail to fully redact the FISA warrants? I guess dems are for redaction except when they're against it. Makes me sick, and we can only hope the next democratic leader gets the same treatment.
@DaDa, Calm down, get an ice cream cone, and go for a refreshing walk on Rahm's safe streets. Then relax.
1
There's nothing inconsistent about the House leadership aggressively investigating the President's myriad conflicts of interest and abuses of power, and foreswearing an intent to impeach him. Impeachment is inherently a political process, and the process of throwing this man out of office should be left to the People, not the Senate. The House can do its job by informing the public and building the case for legislative restraints on the abuses we have witnessed. Trump WANTS to be impeached. The last thing the House should do is to give him what he wants.
3
Mr. President, This whole matter is now bigger than the Mueller Report. You had your chance and blew it! It has now morph. The office of the presidency is bigger than any one man or woman. We, responsible Americans, will not allow you or your enablers to trash it, Sir!
We don’t need impeachment. We just need to watch you implode right before our eyes.
Congress is a co-equal Branch of government. A fact you are just now learning, due to lack of oversight by a Republican House Majority. The American people spoke in the midterms.
Onward to 2020! Thank you.
67
@ Jose
No, you didn’t read the finer points of the Mueller Report amigo. We don’t accept the summaries of AG Barr. He lied or misrepresented the facts. Stop and do your own research and critical thinking. Over 700 former professionals of all political parties sign a letter stating if Trump wasn’t POTUS, he would have been indicted for committing crimes. This is not over. Besides, it’s bigger now than the Mueller Report.
Thanks.
5
@Jose Pieste Accept what exactly, the absolute and deliberate lawlessness the Trumpet and his cartel are deliberately engaging in? No sir, no dice. To 'move on' is to be complicit in the Trumpet's efforts to destroy our Democracy's system of checks and balances. Mueller report you say? What report? The House has not had an opportunity to review the facts and summaries from the report because the Trumpet's lap dog Mr. Barr blacked out virtually everything. This is not about politics at all. It is about the rule of law.
4
The president is taking extreme measures to withhold documents and witnesses from Congress. Now the Congress should respond with maximum power to enforce compliance.
67
@Dee Hoover
The only documents (Mueller Report) that are being withheld are those that Mueller's team had participated in there redaction.
1
@clarity007
Nice try, but Don McGahn was not "redacted." Why are they demanding that he withhold his testimony? Because there is something there that they don't want the American people to hear or see.
2
Well, Chair Cummings mentioned "inherent contempt..." so it is on his radar as an option for enforcing a subpoena and compelling compliance.
But he will have to get the Sergeant at Arms to set up a makeshift jail somewhere in the building. They might as well set this up because they will need it.
Sadly, our president only understands raw brute force. There is nothing like the prospect of time in jail to quicken the senses. Maybe the existence of several jail cells, along with financial withholding of White House operational revenue, will force compliance with the demands of the investigations.
21
@Chuck
There is a jail in the basement of the Capitol building for just this scenario
5
Representative Jordan, Please take a step backward and look at the policies you are defending. The Executive branch of the government is being directed by a President who is throwing the constitution under the bus and except for one meeting with Democrats regarding infrastructure (and an as yet-unfulfilled promise of how to finance it) , is not making any attempt whatsoever to work with Democrats but goes out of his way to blame them for everything he thinks is wrong in this country. Please, please explain what you thinks Democrats should do: forget the Constitution and work with a Republican Congress that seems only concerned with not alienating the President or respond to these attacks on the Constitution in an attempt to preserve our system of government? The President stoops to new lows every day with his actions; Democrats have no choice but to fight them with whatever tools are available to them, including impeachment.
44
As a middle school teacher for 8 years I have experience dealing with people like Trump. While it is difficult (in reality, sometimes it's downright impossible!) to not be distracted by his kind of infantile posturing it is vital not to be drawn into a tit-for-tat exchange with a child. Go to the courts and exhaust any and all legal remedies available. But if you go for impeachment you add fuel to the situation. Much like the belligerent 13 or 14 year old, Trump is only "present" to himself when he is arguing. Deny him that. Turn your attention to the courts. Hold Barr in contempt. But do not go for impeachment until there is no other alternative. He and those sad souls who support him have nothing left but their anger and resentment. Challenging him makes the Democrats the target for their resentment. Leave it diffuse (against any or all of the following: blacks, Jews, brown people, the Chinese, gay people, Muslims, etc) that way it stays away from the 2020 election. We've waited this long we can wait 17 more months.
16
Whatever their political beliefs, the difference in caliber between a man like Cummings and someone like Trump is as vast as the universe.
114
@JR I can only imagine that Cummings has seen far worse in his lifetime than the likes of Trump. And far worse, certainly, than Trump has ever seen. Trump can only name call and tweet and threaten. The strategies of a person with a lack of personal strength and integrity.
6
Totally agree with Congressman Cummings.
“We have got to get back to normal!”
He should and could be leading the way.
He’s not.
7
@Park bench
What is it you would have him do? Fight the lawlessness of the Republicans and Trump with lawlessness of his own?
2
We have a family member who's serving as Cummings' chief legal staff member. He has understandably somewhat sequestered himself, so we're not able to inquire behind the scenes what's up. Fingers crossed that wise heads prevail. Our family knows right from wrong.
10
Trump thinks Democrats are afraid of impeachment because of politics, obviously. He may be right, but at this point it should be inevitable, so the faster we get there, the more time we have to normalize the notion for the public and get them to understand why it is necessary before the election. It is time.
15
Every article I read about the audacity of Trump I always think that if the roles were reversed, and the president was a Democrat, the Republican party would be livid and certainly on a head hunting mission.
Never forget McConnell’s open intransigence against President Obama who was simply trying to advance a relatively bland agenda.
Meanwhile, almost all evidence everywhere indicates that Trump is an unrepentant grifter totally lacking a moral compass.
I say release the hounds.
82
Rep. Cummings in the same photo as Jim Jordan? That's a good vs. evil portrayal if ever I've seen one.
15
Rep. Cummings is a strong-willed man. And a strong-willed man, who feels he's living on borrowed time, is no one to mess with.
9
Representative Cummings would do himself a favor if he let go of the fact Obama is not the president any more and Clinton lost to Donald J. Trump. For now Trump is the president, accept it, move on. Concentrate your efforts on defeating him in 2020. To which I say, Good Luck!
8
@Southern Boy. Donald lost the popular vote by over three million. He stole the electoral college victory with the help of a hostile foreign power. These are known facts. We the People are simply trying to get the details before deciding how best to remove this grifter and his family from office.
9
It’s nice to focus on a man with class!
30
I'm a Democrat.
I despise Trump.
He has made the Democrats look weak.
He is winning. :(
8
@strangerq
Oh I disagree. The Democrats don't look weak. They look concerned about the well being of the nation and that's patriotic.
2
Trump, like most Republicans views everything through the lens of winning the next election. He has calculated that this will play well with the base and will keep all his dirty deeds tied up in court until after 2020. My guess is Russia is already working to help him, as he drastically weakens US stature and readiness and helps Russia in its empire building. The Republicans in Congress are a solid block, from Trump to McConnell to the rank and file. They stay together so they can win and corrupt everything.
7
The Russians (KGB) are vey patient. President Trump stayed in the Lenin Suite, of the National Hotel in Moscow, in July of 1987. Fill in yourself the nefarious steps ever since. The Russian leadership's nervous and anxious need to ascend to power again, seems have produced the wrong dish in Trump Putinesca. Foul and indigestible !
7
Actually America is more in a coup crisis than in a constitutional crisis.
9
Sure it is. All the efforts Democrats are making or are considering making against the current administration are well within the established boundaries of our government. No one is attempting to overthrow the government. When Nixon resigned, did you think it was because he was avoiding a coup? The impeachment of Bill Clinton over lying about an extramarital affair a narrowly avoided coup? Congress has the right and even the duty to add a counter balance to the executive branch of government. We don’t have a totalitarian system. Trump doesn’t get to do whatever he wants, unchecked. His willingness to fight back as if those things aren’t true may be a personality flaw, or a symptom of guilt. If Congress is permitted to do their jobs, then we will know.
12
I lay this at the feet of the GOP, not resident Trump.
It's Dr. Frankenstein McConnell et al. who saddled us with the monster. They animated it, empowered it, pulled all the levers. The House did it, the Senate did it, and now SCOTUS has lurched permanently to the right because of it. And when the monster acts like a monster and leaves a trail of destruction, like Shelley's true villain, the Doctor ignores him, thereby condoning and creating more of the behavior. It's out of control now, yet the lever-pullers are blaming the trail of strangled victims.
Shelley's monster only wanted a female companion-that obviously hasn't worked with our real one. All I can hope is that the monster and the Doctor meet their own mutual damnation.
13
I like looking at Chair Cummings--good to be reminded what integrity and service look like. I hope that he will do his utmost to allow the American people to SEE THE FACTS that Mr. Mueller worked so hard to provide us. The only thing this administration has worked hard at is preventing our examination of the information in the Mueller report.
113
I love the picture - strong, dignified, defiant.
Couldn't be more different from the typical false-menacing sneer of the coward in the WH who views his life as a reality TV show.
26
Rep. Raskin gave one of the most honest and inspirational speeches about tRump that I've ever heard yesterday. If his words didn't move one republican to rethink their stance on the president, nothing will.
42
Elijah Cummings declared that this "is a struggle that we cannot afford to lose." If, by "we," Cummings means the entire American community with its Constitution and political tradition intact, he is right on target.
157
Mr Cummings is someone to believe
If he says this investigation is necessary even the Republicans have to agree. So why don’t they? Are they getting into the Obstruction of Justice game too?
28
@Jean
Republicans have been in that game for decades now.
2
America is fortunate to have Mr Cummings st this time of crisis for our democracy. Most Americans do not want to live in a banana republic. The jail cells are in the basement for a reason.
35
People have used government officials to make life difficult for their competitors for a long time. It’s nothing new. If He Who Shall Not Be Named wasn’t being investigated for this, it would be something else. It comes with the job he wanted so bad. Think about that “Lock Her Up” stuff. What goes around comes around.
13
"Trump Is Pushing Democrats to the Brink."
Viewed in the light of recent developments, that's an understatement! It seems that Trump's practically daring or even begging House Democrats to impeach him, quite likely because that would fit well with predilection to play the victim.
Trump may, in fact, view impeachment in the House followed by failure to convict in the Senate as not only his ticket to reelection by appearing 'sympathetic', but also as how he could potentially make his many personal problems go away all once: impeachment without conviction would simultaneously 'deflate' the fervor to hold Trump accountable and enable him to play his favorite card of the wronged innocent victim. The obvious question: is he right or would the impeachment proceedings accomplish the opposite by uncovering and exposing his lawlessness so explicitly that even Republican base would begin to abandon him?
16
Trump IS asking the Democrats to Impeach him, because he still has things to hide on both obstruction of justice, his financial dealings, security clearances, unfitness for office, etc. And more importantly he is being obstructionist on every count because his political calculation is that the Democrats starting impeachment proceedings - even though they would go nowhere in the Senate would fire up his base and give him a better chance to win the 2020 election. Why is it so hard to understand that everything President Buffoon does is to try to improve his political firepower with his base as the only way to win re-election when the majority of voters don’t support him.
13
Trump controls the White House, Senate, and Supreme Court. The war is all but finished and, except for a few skirmishes, Trump and the GOP have won. MAGA, good-bye America, Trump's supporter applause.
4
@David I’m afraid you might be right. I’m very frustrated with the Democratic Party because many of us have been sounding the alarm bell about this moment for decades. And now that it’s probably too late they’re still debating whether or not to use the few remaining powers they have and at least test whether or not they work. We’re doomed.
2
@David That's what they want you to think. They want you hopeless.
But I'm not hopeless. The process is grinding slowly, but it's grinding. Have faith. Keep fighting. Think of the patriots at Valley Forge who faced physical hardships, but stayed together and kept fighting.
All we have to do is vote and encourage our Congresspeople to fight on.
6
trump has been wrong for our country from the day he was elected. The electoral college gave him that - 5 electors for the Democratic voted 1 independent, 3 Repubs, 1 Native American activist and the electors for the Repubs voted for two non-repubs. What was immediately obvious was his boorish behavior during the campaign and his upstart behavior to act as president while we had a seating president. Busines as usual. Then knock our allies. Push for money,money,money. A border wall. His family as his "aides". His businesses. His preference for authoritarians which bothers the congressional repubs not at all. This is where he is leading us. Place this over his head. Call him out. Hit him with fact after fact, day after day, of this campaign. Put up the videos. Show his walk-backs. Peter and Paul in a life raft, Americans. this is our country for which we are fighting. We want our country back towhere it works as a democratic republic and not the empire of trump,
10
When Rep. Cummings said “It sounds like he’s asking us to impeach him” the Congressman got it right. Trump has made a decision that obstructing any Congressional investigation is a win-win. If Dems impeach it’s another “witch-hunt” which will be followed by another “complete exoneration” by the Senate. If they don’t impeach and pursue court actions, it slows the process, maybe through 2020. Knowing what we know about Trump, why wouldn’t he obstruct the process. The key for Dems is not to let Trump goad them into making moves, like a doomed impeachment proceeding, that play into his hands. Dems: Please don’t fall into the trap of letting Trump dictate the agenda. Instead use the system to take legally sound and pragmatic steps to chip away at the obstruction while also pursuing a sound legislative agenda. The mantra should be “Stay calm and keep focused on the only prize that matters — a sweeping victory at the polls in 2020.”
10
Can someone explain this please?
In order to impeach Trump and remove from his office, you need to have x number of votes, correct?
As it stands, Democrats do not have enough votes, correct? (Republicans will never vote to impeach Trump).
So, why do we hear so much noise to impeach Trump?
4
The House of Representative conducts the impeachment procedures. They can impeach him as the Democrats have the majority of votes.
The Senate then is the jury that decides, and with Republicans in control, unless 12 or more of them grow a spine, they will not convict him and expel him from office.
5
@Bogey yogi, in the US, impeachment is simply an investigation of charges enacted by the house of representatives. So one of the effects would be to further illuminate the issues associated with the Muller report. And regardless of what the senate were to do with the findings. impeachment would be a statement of principle. All in all, senators from both parties may now be secretly hoping for the house to do its job here.
5
@Nannie Nanny
Ok, thank you.
3
Steady and thorough, with duty and justice always in the forefront, not engaging in unnecessary drama. This is the way to go and it seems Cummings is up to.
14
We need to hear from Mueller in committee hearing, open to the public, before a move to impeach.
Mueller's testimony would engender solid support for impeachment.
14
Trump used the Mueller investigation to stonewall the extent of his criminal activity. With new investigative power in the House, apparently Democrats went along with this until now, expecting more from the Mueller investigation. The extent of the cooperation, the collusion, the conspiracy to collude with the Russians has still not been resolved. Any of this is Treason. That may be the reason Mueller decided to turn this over to the House at this time.
20
@loveman0
The Mueller was not a report to Congress: it was a report to the Attorney General.
Details matter when throwing around terms such as "treason".
3
@loveman0
Re "expecting more from the Mueller report" implies that there was nothing to see in the Mueller report. This echoes the narrative that Republicans are shoving down our throats. But congress still hasn't seen the un-redacted report. We have no clue what Mueller intended because of the lack of transparency on Barr's part. The coordinated stonewalling by the DOJ and WH doesn't inspire confidence. It reeks of a cover-up. And Republicans in congress sit on their hands and pretend that they aren't complicit in all of this. This situation has to break at some point.
10
@JEA A lot to see, and yes a cover up added to the stonewalling/obstruction. One worrisome part here is that the Russians, with Trump's help, have been successful in covering up the extent of their espionage.
I wish that the "pundits", supposedly knowledgeable commentators on the Washington scene, would pause and wash their mouths out with soap every time they feel the urge to say the word "impeachment". They seem to have forgotten that there is an election in 2020, and a campaign on-going since January 2017. They seem to have forgotten that Nixon was literally forced to resign as a result of Congressional INVESTIGATION and judicial refusal to accept Presidential stonewalling, not impeachment. They seem to have forgotten that the impeachment of Bill Clinton exponentially increased partisan division in your country and inflicted damage on the GOP that still has not been repaired. They seem only too willing to overlook the absolute certainty that the tame and spineless acolytes in the Senate will not convict Trump. The prime directive for the Democrats is not to impeach Trump, not to remove him from office before his first term is up but to ABSOLUTELY ENSURE that he does not get a second term; ensure it by piling up the dirt, crime, criminal obstruction, corruption, and plain old fashioned executive incompetence of the President so deeply that even the rock solid 35% that is his irreducible base will question the wisdom of stepping into the booth and pulling THAT lever.
23
Andy, re-read your history! The House Judiciary Committee passed three resolutions of impeachment against President Nixon. Impeachment was happening and Nixon knew he would be both impeached and convicted. He resigned instead...
The utter contempt of the Constitution and disregard of the rule of law is so egregious, so widespread, and so much worse than anything Nixon did, that Trump must be impeached.
A footnote to that. The 3rd article passed against Nixon was for his refusal to honor Congressional subpoenas — sound familiar?!
There were more articles of impeachment that would have been passed, too.
We cannot let some future political consideration deter us; the crisis is now; the lawlessness must be checked. We can investigate, legislate, impeach, and campaign on a progressive platform for all people in the U.S. and do so all at the same time!
31
Nixon was forced to resign because he committed crimes. If President Ford hadn’t pardoned him, he would have gone to jail.
10
@Marsha Pembroke You do know that passing resolutions in committee is not implementing the resolutions, yes? That Nixon was NOT impeached, because the resolutions, which were based o the HEARINGS, never came before the full house?
You also know, yes, that there is a discretionary principle in prosecution that one does not proceed with a "high value, high risk" prosecution unless one believes that on the balance of probabilities one is likely to secure a conviction? Remember that Clinton was impeached in the House, acquitted in the Senate and served his two full terms. It would be a Pyrrhic victory of calamitous proportions for a partisan vote to impeach to succeed in the House, only to be followed by a re-election of Trump to a FULL, bullet-proof second term. Impeachemnt is POLICITAL,not criminal, and election is POLITICAL, not legal so boldly "some future political consideration" is far more germane than some emotional urge to haste.
Thank you, Mr. Cummings, for your integrity, your deep concern for our country, and the pain you have endured to make us a better nation and one that adheres to the rule of law. You exemplify in abundance everything your counterpart on the committee lacks.
115
Of course the president wants the Democrats to impeach him. It would be putting a trough full of red meat out for his rabid followers and continue his slight-of-hand machinations to deflect people's attention away from everything else going on in Washington.
It's too late to drain the swamp - it's now flooded with flotsam and jetsam that used to be called the Republican party. Time for good voter storm surge to clean it out.
26
Trump should have been impeached long ago. The dems need to start immediately going for the throat as soon as the option appears. That is what Trump and the republicans do. They don't worry about how they appear. They only worry about staying in power. Which they will continue to do so until the dems grow a spine. ALWAYS go for the throat when the opportunity presents itself. That is, if you want to actually win.
13
Yes it's not only Democrats that are on the brink, but it's the entire democracy. What we're seeing is Political Theater. At And who is most experienced at theater? Donald Trump. He was a really good con throughout "The Apprentice".
Many of his supporters like the idea his presidency completely tears down many of the norms we've grown up with and expect from our democracy.
We should be grateful to see the scab ripped off the political establishment and because of that, a progressive wave is taking hold. It's been a long time coming...But that does not negate the fact our democracy is in danger by a would-be autocrat. The evidence is so egregious, there is just so much, it's a target-rich environment. but unfortunately there's a price to pay. Energizing the Republican haters which are about a third of our population. They are unfortunately "locked and loaded".
Mr. Cummings. Please Impeach first...Ballot box thereafter.
18
The Democrats are playing on Mr. Trump's terms...a street fight wherein all rules are suspended. If they get pulled in this way they only have themselves to blame. Don't bark back at the chained dog barking at you from the neighbor's lawn. It only incites further barking. Be smarter. The President wants chaos and conflagration. Please don't help him burn it down.
111
He's already burning it down! We have to stop him before he pours more kerosene on the fire. You're counseling to just walk on by because fighting the fire and trying to put it out might cause a few burns or some commotion.
We've got the save the house, not walk by; save the house of democracy. If we don't, authoritarianism, hatred,and lawlessness will become the norm.
82
@Flyover Country
When your neighbor has an uncontrollable, dangerous dog
that is not consistently chained or controlled, the responsible thing to do is bring in Animal Control.
This dog has had plenty of opportunity to behave and has refused. Call the white truck!
97
@Flyover Country
It's not a matter of "lying down with dogs and getting up with fleas." The president is trying to void the constitution. This is a constitutional crisis. It will be disastrous if he's successful and makes compliance with the constitution optional.
54
Thank you, Mr. Cummings, for your continued grace under pressure. You have been conservative and circumspect in your approach, but the time has come for action. I am certain you will continue to lead with integrity.
219
Be true to yourself, Representative Cummings. Proceed "with all deliberate speed." Don't let Trump rush you.
95
With each mounting crisis, impeachment is becoming more and more probable. There comes a point where we will have to go down that road.
If a police officer, who is known to have racist tendencies, arrests a black person while robbing a store, the officer can't let the politics of his reputation prevent him from making the arrest. Nor can the prosecutor refuse to prosecute when the perpetrator was caught in the act. So long as everything was done by the book and according to the rule of law, the case must be prosecuted.
The Republicans are doing the complete opposite by bringing up Peter Strzok everytime Trump is accused of anything. So long as all procedures and investigations were done by the book, they are valid, regardless of personal animosities.
This is where we are in the House. Trump has a lock on his 40%. Democrats are fearful of a backlash. But Trump only has 40%, less than a majority, and more to the point, the rule of law is more important than any election.
Just as the hateful cop has to do his job, Nancy Pelosi has to do hers. She is playing it well by waiting for conditions to deteriorate to the point that we have no choice. After this week, it looks like we are there.
58
Bruce, Pelosi is no racist!
As to your “analogy”, if the cop is a known racist, he should be pulled off the force. If he arrests someone for *allegedly* robbing a store, and that person is a minority, we'd have to be suspicious that it was a false arrest.
You're counseling letting him continue to arrest people even if he's a known racist.
The analogy breaks down further because Pelosi and the Democrats are trying to protect the democracy; they are not anti-Trump because they are biased or prejudiced. They are anti-Trump because of what he is doing to the country, how he is flouting the rule of law, profiting off the government.
5
Yes, Please.
It's time to rise to the crisis at hand, and for House Democrats to use every tool available to reign in this administration's assault on our country before it's too late.
There is exactly nothing to be gained by holding back or "waiting to see what happens" anymore, and everything to lose. Assume that at every turn the GOP will do the worst possible thing for our country and act accordingly.
435
@Doug
Exactly! I would add that in addition to assuming the GOP will do the worst thing possible, also assume whatever Trump and his enablers say on any subject is a lie.
32
Trump wants impeachment because he knows the Senate will not vote to remove him from office. Then he can declare total victory right before the election.
I think that impeachment proceedings should begin. Then the House should drag out the proceedings and not take a vote or send the matter to the Senate until after the 2020 election.
Live impeachment hearings on TV every day for over a year. What could bash Trump worse than that?
206
@Gary Waldman
For those of us old enough to remember the Congressional proceedings against Nixon, we know how quickly public opinion changes after Republicans tried the same stunt of obstruction that they are now. With the litany of "high crimes and misdemeanors" much deeper here (including ones not addressed by Mueller such as financial fraud, emoluments, aiding and abetting, perjury and suborning perjury, illegal campaign contributions via money laundering, unindicted co-conspiracy on so many things, and raw abuse of power), the assumption of the Senate defending all this is wrong. The Senate GOP will have to really squirm, at least enough to finally endanger their complicity to their so-called "base".
35
@Loquitur
Agreed. But in this environment (far more tribally partisan than in 1974 and bolstered by a news channel that spews Trump propaganda 24/7) nothing is guaranteed.
If many in the GOP begin to stray from Trump as the proceedings go on then they can consider tossing it to the Senate for trial. But if the status quo remains, they can still have hearings up through the election and damage him publicly. They don't have to give him a chance at a win in the Senate before the election.
13
@Gary Waldman
Wondering if the House members who are running for President in 2020 (currently three of them) would have to recuse themselves if a vote to impeach came to the House floor?
Also wondering, if the House does vote by simple majority to impeach, then would the Senate members who are running for President in 2020 (currently 6, out of 100 senators) would have to recuse themselves. A vote to remove President Trump, after impeachment in the House, would require a super majority in the Senate. Would the 6 candidates not be allowed to join in the debate, as well as recused from voting? Would Chief Justice Roberts, who would be required by the Constitution to preside in the Senate (NOT McConnell when the removal of a President or Vice President is being considered), be allowed to cast the deciding vote if the count for a supermajority "decision" was under by just one?
4
Rep. Cummings we support you and your civilized efforts to save The Republic while it still stands.
It's time to get ahead of tRump's overly worn tactics.
Expedite the courts, move faster than ever and systematically begin to jail the stonewallers. Make his head spin for a change.
At some point no one will be around but that odious man at 1600.
Toxic to the core, he, like Nixon, left unloved, all alone. Losing his mind, talking to paintings while wandering the halls in the middle of the night
Rip off the band-aid.
Expose for all to see that he is a poseur, a pauper and loser.
He will resign.
End this madness.
90
Elijah Cummings is one of those people I admire and respect unreservedly. But I would make one suggestion to him: instead of framing this whole confrontation in the us-against-them way it is currently he might argue that this is the only way he can clear Mr. Trump ... as if such a thing were even possible.
And indeed, the tragedy that is the Trump Presidency is playing out, and when it is over the Trump legacy will be tarnished, no, in the gutter; all the decades of image building and favor-currying will crash, the reputation shot, wealth, real and illusory gone, and possibly even freedom lost. This result is now completely inevitable. It will play out.
But it is not too late to save the Republic. And that is what the Congress and Senate have to see to now. Our job is to try to help them with letters and votes, phone calls and demonstrations.
40
It's so simple, really. Executive, legislative, and judicial branches of our government are separate and equal, with the duty of the house to have oversight of the president. That's the rule, no exception.
25
Don’t take the bait. Impeachment will end with Senate acquittal and a clear path toward his re-election. Anyone willing to lose one billion dollars and laugh it off couldn’t care less about the constitution he swore to preserve, protect and defend.
155
I'm sure you're right. But I wonder if Romney would vote to acquit. Jus' askin'
9
@Vivien Hessel
Romney isn't reliable about anything. He periodically says something glib to remind us that he has morals whereas Trump does not. But IMO, he isn't one to make difficult choices or revolt against his party.
22
@JEA
I'm not sure that breaking the constitution to avoid people finding out how impoverished he is (and possibly how vulnerable to extortion by some truly malevolent figures) should quite be called "laughing it off."
18
When the president willfully refuses to comply with the lawful demands of Congress in its constitutional duties, that is an impeachable offense.
211
As an "ordinarily careful Democrat," like Rep. Cummings, I have been a fan of moving slowly on the issue of impeachment. Until now.
Like Cummings, I believe the president is practically asking for impeachment. That, of course, would not be enough reason to follow through with the process. The biggest reason is the constitutional crisis that Trump's roadblocks throw the country into.
If Trump is not guilty of anything, why refuse to allow Barr to speak? If Trump is not guilty of anything, why refuse to allow Mueller to speak?
162
Cummings has not lost his patience. He and most Americans fear for this country being taken over by criminals who want to turn this democracy into dictatorship. Do not confuse a sense of urgency with losing patience!
610
@Surya
At the contempt hearing one after another the Republicans spoke like zombies culminating in Jim Jordan who was animated enough to be counted among the undead.
In case there was any doubt, Trump has eaten their souls, as Comey wrote, and they are now merely crazed power-obsessed defenders of their lawless leader. The stark reality has been revealed. I just hope it’s not too late for our beloved country.
37
@ Surya in CA
Congress and POTUS and both parties prefer to get lost in the weeds over whatever red herring they can find. The elephant in the middle of the room is mass shootings. Washington could choose to do what New Zealand did after their recent mass shooting....took them 26 days to toughen up gun regulation. How many DECADES has it been since the U of Texas mass shooting? Nothing has been done! Why...just look at how Washington, BOTH parties, focus on side issues.
Politicians never have a loved one murdered in a mass shooting. They purchase insulation with their privilege. Obama’s 3 daughters and Barron Trump will never have to deal with this. Nor will Cummings loved ones.
Privilege.
2
@CJF
"BOTH parties, focus on side issues."
An Assault Weapons Ban passed with a Democratic President (Clinton) and Democratic Congress,
but it was allowed to expire under a Republican President (Bush)and so mass shootings began to happen more and more often as AR-15s were allowed by the Republicans to spread through the country (and to Central America, driving desperate families to our borders)
After Sandy Hook, the Democrats voted for, and Obama would have signed, universal background checks, but Republicans in the Senate blocked it
Democrats in the House just passed HR-8 for sensible gun protections; NRA funded McConnell said it is Dead on Arrival at the Senate
This is NOT both sides, it is the Republicans, who are protecting those who profit by enabling mass murder
7
Mr. Cummings said the committee has every right to the records to investigate “various conflicts of interest” and whether Mr. Trump has used the presidency to advance his business interests.
“If there’s nothing,” he said, “there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Exactly.
433
Thank you, Rep. Cummings; you have had the wisdom to hold fire until fire was necessary. It is now vitally necessary. I support you wholeheartedly and wish you good health and a long and continually productive life.
452
Thank you, Mr. Cummings. Yes, this is a battle the country cannot afford to lose. God speed with your investigations.
256