Several moderate Democratic House representatives are balking at impeaching President Trump as they worry doing so will have severe political consequences.
One anonymous member said he is “struggling” to see the case for impeachment and expressed concern that all of the information being used to draft articles of impeachment is “secondhand,” according to CNN.
The anonymous admissions from Democratic lawmakers comes nearly two weeks after Democratic Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Michigan told a local radio host she favors censure over impeachment. Lawrence walked back that statement after it hit national news, and she pledged to support impeachment.
“I would say, ‘Look, I am concerned about not knowing what the articles will have in them. I am concerned about the timeline of this whole impeachment process,'” one Democratic lawmaker said. “For me, right now, I am struggling to see how the evidence supports impeachment at this point.”
Another moderate Democrat expressed frustration that leadership did not seem to take seriously the political consequences of impeachment for Democrats holding competitive seats.
“The fact of the matter is, this does have political consequences, and the people who will suffer significant political consequences are our moderate members. In fact, there are on-year amounts of money being spent in districts all across our moderates,” the member said. “For our leadership not to engage with moderates at all to either talk about how they are going to message or what they are going to put in it seems to be a giant oversight.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to begin drafting articles of impeachment on Thursday. The articles are expected to contain allegations that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to secure investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden’s conduct and gain an advantage in the 2020 presidential election.
