The White House is set to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Friday afternoon calling her bluff on impeachment.
Colleague John Roberts confirms WH will send a letter to Pelosi saying administration doesn't have to comply with any demands from Congress unless Hse votes to launch an impeachment inquiry.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 3, 2019
Last week, to much fanfare, Pelosi announced the House was conducting an "impeachment inquiry" into President Trump. She said a number of committees have been tasked with gathering "facts" and "evidence" in order to build a case. She did not announce a vote on articles of impeachment, which would be taken by the full House on the floor.
Now, the White House is refusing to comply with witness or document requests until a full House vote is taken and impeachment is officially underway, blunting the impeachment-light tactic being used by Democrats as a tool to satisfy the left wing of their party.
Over in The Hill, former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy explains why Pelosi's current impeachment gamble, which has given the Trump campaign an extra $15 million in just a few days, isn't impeachment at all.
The House has not voted as a body to authorize an impeachment inquiry. What we have are partisan theatrics, proceeding under the ipse dixit of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). It raises the profile, but not the legitimacy, of the same “impeachment inquiry” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) previously tried to abracadabra into being without a committee vote.
Moreover, there are no subpoenas. As Secretary Pompeo observed in his fittingly tart response on Tuesday, what the committee chairmen issued was merely a letter. Its huffing and puffing notwithstanding, the letter is nothing more than an informal request for voluntary cooperation. Legally, it has no compulsive power. If anything, it is rife with legal deficiencies.
The Democrats, of course, hope you don’t notice that the House is not conducting a formal impeachment inquiry. They are using the guise of frenetic activity by several standing committees — Intelligence, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, Financial Services, and Ways and Means — whose normal oversight functions are being gussied up to look like serious impeachment business.
He also discussed the the issue on Fox News Friday morning.
