Somewhere along the Northeast Corridor, on a southbound Acela hurtling from New York City to Washington, D.C., the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee explained what he plans to do once Democrats take control of congressional oversight machinery: maximize political fallout, mostly, by impeaching President Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
For whatever reason, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., felt comfortable doing this aloud and over the phone. Unfortunately for him, a reporter sat a couple rows back.
In a piece over at The Federalist, Mollie Hemingway reports how Nadler is ready to go “all-in” on those impeachment plans. It’s pretty straightforward: At least according to Nadler, Democrats will exercise their oversight authority, making overtures to accountability and good government all the while, to win points ahead of 2020.
Nadler still thinks the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, telling the other side of his phone call the Judiciary Committee would launch a new investigation. Impeachment will be on the table, Hemingway reports. But Nadler said it would be packaged more broadly as part of an effort to keep Trump “accountable.”
Nadler also has his sights on history. If impeached, Kavanaugh would become just the second Supreme Court justice impeached in U.S. history. Nadler wants another investigation first, and Nadler thinks the justice may have perjured himself under oath. According to the overheard conversation, everything is about how the oversight looks publicly, not necessarily if Kavanaugh is actually guilty.
“The worst-case scenario — or best case depending on your point of view — you prove he committed perjury, about a terrible subject and the Judicial Conference recommends you impeach him,” Nadler said. “So the president appoints someone just as bad.”
Anyone who has spent time reporting on Capitol Hill knows that politicians can often be as overconfident as they are oblivious. While the story is a remarkable piece of reporting by Hemingway, the findings aren’t necessarily surprising. Everyone expected Democrats would act on ulterior motives (not unlike Republicans).
What is interesting here is how they say one thing in public and another in the premium seats in a not-so-quiet car on a train. Compare Nadler in private to presumptive Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in public.
On impeaching the president, Pelosi said she will only move to remove Trump if Republicans are on board and the findings of the Mueller investigation are conclusive. Otherwise, she said Tuesday on the PBS NewsHour, it wouldn’t be “unifying.”
On impeaching Kavanaugh, Pelosi said she isn’t interested. “That would not be my plan,” Pelosi told reporters all the way back in October, before adding that Democrats are “not about dividing the country. We’re about ‘E Pluribus Unum.’”
Either Pelosi and Nadler don’t see eye-to-eye on how to use their majority, or Pelosi and Nadler need to have a long conversation about loose lips sinking political ships. It seems more likely that the oblivious Nadler just gave an extended preview of Democrat plans on the train.
