Democrats thought they were meeting with President Trump about bipartisan deals on infrastructure but he ended the meeting after five minutes, offended that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had accused him of a cover up. Instead, he gave a speech in the Rose Garden about how unfair everyone was to him. As his administration continues to resist investigative efforts, Democrats are debating whether they ought to impeach him, though Pelosi is pushing to hold off for now.
Does Congress have a duty to impeach the president? If Democrats in the House believe they have enough (or more than enough) to begin impeachment, are they obligated to do so? Susan Hennessey of the Brookings Institution says if it’s more convenient to not impeach, whether for political means or to focus on other priorities, that’s not a good enough reason. Should there be a mechanism to require impeachment?
If the purpose of impeachment is removal, an impeachment in this instance would not lead to removal. A party line vote in the Senate would not remove the president — assuming the Republican-held Senate would agree to hold an impeachment trial at all — so does impeachment serve some other purpose?
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