At a Thursday news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that a constitutional crisis has begun. Yet she repeated the Democratic refrain that the House needs to engage in further investigation rather than impeachment. Pelosi is a sharp and pragmatic woman, and her evident belief that impeachment carries strategic risks for Democrats should be taken seriously. When it comes to holding the Trump administration accountable, contempt votes are a fine first step, but they’re mostly symbolic unless Democrats find a way to enforce them. “People keep saying to me, ‘Well, isn’t that an old law?’ ” he said, but it’s not a law with an expiration date.

Source: New York Times May 09, 2019 23:26 UTC