Politics

Pelosi Blows Off Impeachment Critics, Says It’s ‘Weak,’ ‘Dangerous’ To Let Election Decide

REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doubled down on impeachment Monday, telling her Democratic colleagues in a memo that it was “weak” and “dangerous” to back off and let the American people decide in 2020.

“The weak response to these hearings has been, ‘Let the election decide.’ That dangerous position only adds to the urgency of our action, because POTUS is jeopardizing the integrity of the 2020 elections,” Pelosi explained.

Pelosi also asserted that the facts of the case were “uncontested,” saying that President Donald Trump “has abused his power for his own personal, political benefit, at the expense of our national security interests.” (RELATED: Democratic Rep: Some Democrats ‘Quietly’ Concerned About Impeachment, ‘Want To Move On’)

Pelosi responded to Republicans who have argued that president’s decision to withhold the aid is a non-starter because the aid was eventually released. “The aid was only released after the whistleblower exposed the truth of the President’s extortion and bribery, and the House launched a formal investigation,” she said.

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul took that particular argument a step further, arguing that the Trump administration had every right to withhold aid if they had any concerns about corruption within the Ukrainian government.

“I think we’ve gotten lost in this whole idea of quid pro quo. If you’re not allowed to give aid to people who are corrupt, there’s always contingencies on aid,” Paul said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last weekend. “Presidents since the beginning of time have resisted Congress and there’s been this sort of back and forth jockeying over what is sent … if it’s corruption and he believes there to be corruption, he has every right to withhold aid.”

House Democrats, led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, have scheduled the next public impeachment hearings to take place in the week prior to members of Congress leaving for the Thanksgiving recess.