Democrats are in an impeachment bind.
For the first time, they’re receiving a gusher of evidence to support charges that President Donald Trump abused his power for political and personal gain, pressuring Ukraine’s fledgling government to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.
But as more witnesses come forward to spill more secrets, the more Democrats are nervously eyeing the dwindling congressional calendar and wondering: When should we be satisfied with what we have and bring articles of impeachment to the floor?
“There are two competing pressures here,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Oversight Committee, one of three panels leading the impeachment process. “One is that the president is a one-man crime wave who has generated virtually limitless impeachable offenses and misconduct. On the other hand, we need to develop a process that will close within a period of time that makes sense for the legislative calendar.”
But Raskin said lawmakers are not yet discussing how to make that determination.
“We’re just not there yet,” he said. “We really are still in the throes of the fact investigation.”
Some Democrats say the investigation should continue until the evidence is so overwhelming it pries loose a few Republican votes, delivering a symbolic victory as Democrats hold out hope that impeachment isn't a purely party-line issue. Others believe Democrats should exhaust the list of willing witnesses before drafting formal articles.
And still others say the House already has enough evidence to move forward with impeachment immediately — from Trump's own admission that he wants Ukraine and China to investigate Biden, to the summary of his phone call with Ukraine's president to the text messages of senior ambassadors worried that Trump was withholding military aid and a White House visit to bend Ukraine's leaders to his will.
“What I think you have in the public domain already is more than sufficient for an article of impeachment," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), an Oversight Committee member.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top allies say they’re still firmly in fact-finding mode and have promised a deliberate approach to the House’s Ukraine investigation with no ironclad time limit. Senior Democrats say they’re eyeing the end of the year as an unofficial outer limit for the House to craft and pass articles of impeachment, but the unpredictable investigation has produced so many leads it's hard to solidify a deadline.
