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WASHINGTON – Democrats in the House, confronted with some of Robert S. Mueller III's most striking evidence that President Trump would have tried to thwart his investigation, came closer on Thursday to address an issue they had been trying for a long time to avoid: the behavior of the president justifies dismissal.
Although the more than 400-page report released Thursday concluded "with insufficient evidence" to conclude that Mr. Trump had plotted because of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and was talking about Legal and factual constraints preventing Mr. Mueller from prosecuting Mr. Trump for obstructing justice, the special council presented months of overwhelming presidential behavior that, according to the Democrats, left it to Congress to consider.
"The conclusion that Congress can apply the obstruction laws to the president's corrupt exercise of the president's powers is consistent with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no one is above of the law, "Mueller wrote in the report.
House Democrats, in particular, have interpreted this legal analysis as a clear sign that Congress should move to the next stage to make its own judgment, although Republicans disagree with this view.
The question is how the Democrats will proceed.
President Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants are acutely aware of the risks associated with opening an impeachment investigation. They intend not to repeat what they see as the mistakes made by Republicans who imposed a partisan dismissal of President Bill Clinton in the late 90s and failed to get him overthrown by the Senate . Both parties at the time felt that this effort reinforced Clinton's national reputation and hurt Republicans in the elections.
In this case, even if the House were to call for the removal of Mr. Trump, 20 Republicans in the Senate should join all the Democrats to remove Mr. Trump from office.
Given these figures, the president's impending re-election campaign and his strong support within his party, Pelosi has repeatedly tried to throw cold water on the idea of indictment. Better beat Mr. Trump on the merits in 2020, she argued, than risk a failure of the dismissal that energizes its main supporters.
The California representative, Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the intelligence committee and close ally of Ms. Pelosi, echoed some of these points on Thursday. "Many of us think that the president is not fit to hold a position, but if it were not a bipartisan conclusion, an impeachment would be doomed," he told CNN. "I still think that a failure of the impeachment process is not in the national interest and we will see what has been expunged from this report. We will continue to do our own work. "
In this case, Democrats would be able to ask questions about the president's behavior for months, if not more, while keeping a cloud over Mr. Trump as he runs for re-election. Several House committees have already opened extensive investigations into Russian interference in elections, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. These inquiries can easily lead to Mr. Mueller's findings and serve as a release valve for Mr. Trump's removal appeals.
Nevertheless, Ms. Pelosi and her allies are also at risk by not going to destitution. The voices on the left flank of the Democrats appear to have been emboldened by Mueller's report and will remind political party leaders that allowing Trump to be completely released for behavior that they believe would threaten the separation of powers is dangerous. previous for the country.
Representative Maxine Waters, California Democrat and Chief of the Financial Services Committee, broke up Thursday with party leaders, saying Congress would waive its responsibility if it did not attempt to fire Mr. Trump.
"At this point, Congress's failure to impeach is a compliment to the erosion of our democracy and our constitutional standards," said Ms. Waters. "Congress's failure to dismiss would set a dangerous precedent and endanger the nation, as it would give too much power to the executive branch and encourage future leaders to further belittle the US presidency, if that is still the case. possible."
Other Democrats have done their best to avoid any judgment on dismissal Thursday. Instead, they focused on the actions of Attorney General William P. Barr and an immediate struggle to access Mr. Mueller's full conclusions. At least one chair, whose committee would conduct any impeachment proceedings, clearly refused to say that he believed that the actions described by Mr. Mueller warranted the initiation of such an investigation, without excluding the possibility.
"It's too early to talk about this," New York Democrat Representative Jerrold Nadler told reporters, chairing the House Judiciary Committee. "We will have to follow the evidence where it leads. And I do not know exactly where it will lead. "
Mr. Nadler stated that he would issue a subpoena as soon as possible in an attempt to compel Mr. Barr to deliver an unedited version of the special board's report and the underlying evidence, which was he stated, were "written with the intention of providing Congress with a roadmap" for further examination. Mr. Nadler and another Democratic Party president have also officially invited Mr. Mueller to testify before Congress in the coming weeks after they leave for Mr. Barr.
"The special council made it clear that he had not exonerated the president, and now it is up to Congress to hold the president accountable for his actions," he said.
Far from expressing their interest in helping them, the Republicans quickly sought to portray the Democrats as a denial of the real findings of the investigation. Spread across the country for congressional vacations, Republican lawmakers avoided this specific behavior, including repeated efforts by Mr. Trump in 2017 to fire Mr. Mueller, documented by the special council. Rather, they adopted Mr. Barr's statements that Mr. Trump's actions did not constitute an obstacle to justice in the legal sense and that his campaign had been cleared of suspicions of collusion with Russia to overturn the election. of 2016.
"It's time to move on," said California Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican House Leader. "Americans deserve better than this partisan quest to defame a political opponent, and I urge our fellow Democrats in the House to put their emotions and opinions aside and instead use that passion to come to the negotiating table. work on real solutions for all Americans. "
The Republican National Committee distributed discussion points to party associates calling the report "an absolute claim" to Mr. Trump and his campaign, sweeping away misplaced behavior page after page while stating that "the time has come for investigators to be the subject of an investigation ".
The disparate conclusions on Capitol Hill were fueled by the gap between Mr. Barr's public statements having clarified the Chair and the conclusions of Mr. Mueller's report.
The Democrats seized on this loophole by hitting Mr. Barr, who "deliberately distorted important parts" of the report, which in their view has skewed the public's understanding of what has happened.
"Special Advocate Mueller's report alarmingly describes a president who has woven a web of deception, lies, and misconduct, acting as if the law were not applicable to him," Pelosi said. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, Leader of the Democratic Senate. "But if you had not read the report and listened only to Mr. Barr, you would not know, because Mr. Barr was so misleading."
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