It looks like Pelosi’s caucus is starting to show signs of breaking on impeachment, with a small group of 10-12 Democrats calling for censure instead of impeachment:
NEW: Around 10-12 moderate Democrats are floating censure instead of impeachment, @sarahnferris scoops.https://t.co/HYZplBjjUz
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 10, 2019
Here’s more from the Daily Caller:
A group of about 10 Democratic members of Congress, including New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader, New York Rep. Anthony Brindisi, and Utah Rep. Ben McAdams, are all reportedly open to a censure resolution of Trump instead of moving forward with impeachment, according to Politico.
“I think it’s certainly appropriate and might be a little more bipartisan, who knows,” Schrader told Politico on Tuesday when asked about a possible censure, adding “Time’s slipping by.”
“Right now, there’s no other options. This is another option,” another Democratic member of Congress told Politico.
Pelosi reportedly has around 228 Democrats who are with her own impeachment. She also has Justin Amash if I’m not mistaken. A drop of 10-12 Democrats isn’t enough yet to give Republicans the number they need to defeat impeachment in the House, and that’s assuming that these so-called moderate Democrats would vote against it.
But I hope this is only the beginning. The basis for impeachment is already on extremely shaky ground for Democrats, and it’s continued to take hits today with Time’s reporting on the Ukrainian advisor to Zelensky contradicting Sondland’s testimony. With any luck more Democrats will break away and House impeachment will no longer be viable for Pelosi to bring to the floor. What an embarrassment that would be.