I’d be lying if I said I saw this coming, but now Auntie Maxine herself says not to hold your breath waiting for an impeachment of alleged president Donald Trump.
“[Impeachment has] never been discussed as a strategy for this caucus. It’s only a few of us,” she told Politico. “I think we do nothing now but concentrate on getting the information, getting that report.”
The report in question would be the infamous Mueller Report—which offered a glimmer of hope to American citizens dispirited by Trump’s kleptocratic reign, until all we got out of it was a deliberately opaque book report courtesy of his prized pupil, Attorney General William Barr.
Even I Am Legend didn’t end this poorly.
“Whatever the bet was last week that the president wouldn’t finish out his term, that bet is not as good this week,” Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, who’s twice filed articles of impeachment against Trump, told Politico. “Our best single source of game-changing revelations was the Mueller report, and according to Barr, there aren’t any game-changing revelations in it.”
So with impeachment probably off the table for good, Democrats intend to ignore Mueller’s findings until the release of the full report.
Democrats said the calculations could again change once they’ve seen the full Mueller report, which they’ve demanded access to within one week.
The leaders of the six House committees set that timeline on Monday night, giving the Department of Justice until April 2 to publicly release the full extent of Mueller’s findings.
Privately, top Democrats said they were relieved that, at least for now, lawmakers insisting on Trump’s removal from office were likely to be much less vocal, allowing the caucus to potentially turn the focus to its legislative agenda, something they’ve struggled with since taking over the House in January.
At a leadership meeting Monday night, Democratic leaders emphasized the need for lawmakers to highlight their loaded legislative schedule this week — from voting on a gender-pay bill to introducing sweeping health care legislation — and demonstrate that Democrats aren’t consumed with the Mueller report.
So yeah.
Goodbye impeachment. We hardly knew ye.