When Nancy Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry of Trump last Tuesday, CEPR’s Revolving Door Project (RDP) was already ahead of the news. RDP’s director, Jeff Hauser answered when reporters asked if Democrats would seek impeachment after the whistleblower allegations. Last year, he warned of then-Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh’s proven willingness to rule “that the president is unreachable by the law while in office.”
Again, more recently, Hauser warned, “House Democrats must signal to Trump that they are up to the task of being the last line of defense against a federal government being organized as a partisan tool.”
When the impeachment inquiry was finally announced last Tuesday, RDP had the advantage. RDP’s Eleanor Eagan immediately called on House Democrats, “to prove their commitment to their campaign trail ideals by investigating every Trump official who has, through their maliciousness or negligence, put regular people at risk.”
The next day, RDP was among several groups demanding that Democrats, “cancel an upcoming two-week recess in order to expedite impeachment proceedings.”
RDP’s collection of analysis is a recipe for how to do impeachment and oversight right. Can Democrats chew gum (conduct impeachment inquiry) and walk (conduct other investigations) at the same time? RDP shows the way. Is the Ukraine story the only grounds for impeachment? RDP leaves no whistleblower behind.
Dean Baker tells MarketPlace radio, “It is likely to pose a problem for the economy…a fall off of investment from uncertainty – that’s likely to get worse in this impeachment environment.”