Despite the increasingly difficult position that politicians in Washington have found themselves in, Democrats in the House of Representatives appear to be pushing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to peruse impeachment despite some calls for caution.
In his interview with the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery,” Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, said that despite “a little bit of tension” this week, he believes that there are about 40 Democrats who support impeachment of the president in the House of Representatives.
Cohen said that during his meeting with Pelosi, he accused the president of “raping the country” and said that his actions warranted impeachment.
“Speaking truth to power is one of the things that a good congressperson should do,” Cohen said.
While Cohen’s estimate of how many supporters the impeachment cause has is far from a majority, he’s determined that there if Pelosi can be fully won over, there is a version of the resolution that could go through.
“I guess she’s persuadable,” Cohen said about Pelosi. “You know, she’s a smart woman and … I just disagree with her perspective.”
The disagreement between Democrats such as Cohen and Pelosi have only increased as the president has frustrated more of the party with his immovable stances on social issues, as well as the ongoing congressional Russia probe.
Cohen, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, which is one of the committees investigating the president, believes that they will be able to discover more information that could be damaging to the administration.
“People who get on the judiciary committees care passionately about the Constitution,” Cohen said. “Not to say that others don’t, but not as passionately as we do to make it our first choice. And we are charged with the responsibility of defending the Constitution. It probably is about 90 percent [of Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee] in favor of impeachment.”
But Cohen said that political calculus could change if the House as the 2020 elections get closer, especially if the House Judiciary Committee could hold televised hearings to educate the country about the contents of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. That could turn up the heat on several GOP senators who are up for reelection next year and are considered vulnerable.
“You’ve got Corey Gardner [of Colorado,] and you’ve got [Martha] McSally [of Arizona,] and you’ve got [Susan] Collins [of Maine,] and you’ve got a couple of others that could get beat because of this,” he said. “And that’s not the reason to bring [impeachment,] but it’s reality. Instead of saying, ‘Well, the Senate’s not going to convict him,’ let the senators do what they do and let them deal with it at the polls.
He continued: “And I think the American public, after seeing the proof, … we’ll see that this is the most corrupt administration ever, and that they will not support a senator who didn’t support convicting him or impeaching him.”
