• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Declares Nation Is in a ‘Constitutional Crisis’

Viewt

Viewt

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,799
Chicago, IL
via NYTimes

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the United States was in a "constitutional crisis" and warned that House Democrats might move to hold more Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress if they continued their refusals to comply with committee subpoenas.

Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Ms. Pelosi said she agreed with Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who said Wednesday that the nation was in a constitutional crisis after his committee recommended the House hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over an unredacted version of the special counsel's report, along with the report's underlying evidence.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Democrats have not settled on a precise date for the vote to hold Mr. Barr in contempt of Congress, though Mr. Nadler said after Wednesday's vote that he wanted it scheduled "rapidly."

Democratic leaders may wait to pair the Judiciary Committee's contempt recommendations with another, most likely from the Intelligence Committee should its conflict with the Justice Department get to that point.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This is heating up and I feel like impeachment becomes more of a talking point by the day. I hope Pelosi and the Dems in the House are prepared to use every tool they have at their disposal to fight this obvious corruption.
 
WedgeX

WedgeX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,162
We've been building to this point for two years.

And, had Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell not been cowards, would've been addressed any time in the past two years.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,909
You can't just ignore Congressional subpoenas. That's brazen.
 
Christian

Christian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,636
Yeah, until you do what the Constitution says you're supposed to do, you're part of the crisis. Republicans aren't going to do your job for you
 
shnurgleton

shnurgleton

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,864
Boston
30jsrk.jpg
 

Deleted member 44129

User requested account closure
Banned
May 29, 2018
7,690
I was thinking that the FBI should leak a bunch of dirt on the GOP, because there are definitely people with hard evidence of criminality and treason... The problem is, the GOP would just spin it, yell LEAKING DEEP STATE, and......aaaaw fuck. I hope one day we get accurate history books about this time in history, because if not.....I dont want to think of the world my kids will live in.
 
Xe4

Xe4

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,295
I mean, it's true.

Congress is a co-equal branch of government. You can't just ignore its supeonas like that and legally get away with it.

This is eventually going to the Supreme Court init? God help us all.
 
higemaru

higemaru

Member
Nov 30, 2017
4,093
User Banned (1 month): Advocating Violence
I know the caning of Sumner was a bad thing, but can we get the caning of McConnell already. who cares if you break a bone, they got great health care.
 
Bakercat

Bakercat

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,153
'merica
So, what you gonna do about it? You can talk tough all day, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't back it up.
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,236
entremet said:
You can't just ignore Congressional subpoenas. That's brazen.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yes you can. Congress very rarely votes to hold anyone in contempt. I was reading about it and I think the last time the House did it was in the early 80's. And even then, it's up to the justice department and US attorney to prosecute, and there's history of them refusing.

Edit: I was just reminded that Eric Holder was infamously held in contempt of Congress by the House, so it's possible the source I read about the early 80's was in regards to prosecuting people held in contempt.

Edit #2: After reading more it looks like I was just flat out wrong about how long it had been since the House held someone in Contempt. My apologies to anyone I misinformed.
 
Last edited:
Netherscourge

Netherscourge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,894
I thought Barr was voted in contempt yesterday?

Was that just a vote to schedule a vote?

Also, WTF kind of system is this?
 
jelly

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
The problem is time, all this crap if they actually do anything will overlap into 2020 and you can bet your bottom dollar they will brush it all under the carpet, bigger things to deal with, all of them ride off into the sunset without their wrists even being slapped. The Dems will worry about reaching across the aisles so won't try to upset the Republicans by continuing to look into the Trump administration etc. and the Republicans will squeal concentrate on the day job etc. which everyone will lap up.
 
Pockets

Pockets

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,298
All these Dems are weak takes are weak takes in themselves.

There's a process and things have been progressing.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,710
United States
Indy in the Fridge said:
And if dem voters are falling for this stuff then we're no less gullible than the sycophants who swallow the GOPs bullshit.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
No kidding. Deeds not words. Talk about what we might do doesn't mean shit to me. It's 2019. Do it or don't. I have zero appetite for this sort of indirect language and warning shots. Announcing plans that you might consider taking action is less inspiring to me than silence.
 
massivekettle

massivekettle

Banned
Aug 7, 2018
678
entremet said:
You can't just ignore Congressional subpoenas. That's brazen.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Issue is Democrats risk alienating voters if they keep persisting about those subpoenas. Most of the non-partisan voters have moved on from the election/Mueller investigation. And you know Trump and the GOP will discredit anything that comes out of those subpoenas if they ever take place (assuming Trump/GOP will be burying them under loads of lawsuits).
 
scare_crow

scare_crow

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,304
Christian said:
But won't you think about the political careers of the democratic politicians that would put their necks on the line to do the right thing?! They have families to feed, too!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's not just about that. There's unfortunately the bigger picture, and impeachment could do wonders to strengthen his base. It would be incredibly messy. The right thing? Probably. The best thing now? Maybe not.
 
Capra

Capra

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,586
Viewt said:
This is heating up and I feel like impeachment becomes more of a talking point by the day. I hope Pelosi and the Dems in the House are prepared to use every tool they have at their disposal to fight this obvious corruption.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah... but what if doing their job only energizes Trump's base?! We have to make sure we carefully consider every aspect of opposing an obvious corrupt wannabe-dictator lest Republicans continue to brazenly oppose the process and overpower Dems through obvious obstruction so that Trump is declared innocent despite overwhelming publically-available evidence to the contrary and moderates decide to vote Trump in 2020 because they feel so bad for him.
 
KingK

KingK

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,826
The Dem messaging on this whole affair is a fucking disorganized mess.

"We're in a constitutional crisis! The president and many of his associates and cabinet officials are criminals!"

"So impeachment..."

"But impeachment is not on the table, don't be absurd. That's only for extreme circumstances."

"... then what are you going to do?"

"A fourth polite letter will surely be sufficient oversight and accountability."

Like fucking seriously. The Dem leadership has been actively working to DECREASE public support for impeachment. It does nothing but reinforce the image of Dems as a party full of weak, spineless, sellout, status quo cowards; who would rather keep their heads down and stay in the minority than actually wield power in any way that challenges the wealthy and powerful. It's like their entire guiding philosophy is "don't rock the boat."
 
BWoog

BWoog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
38,218
A lot of folks saying "We shouldn't impeach" or "let the voters decide" sure are confident that Trump won't see himself as invincible and commit blatant crimes in attempting to win in 2020.
 
Christian

Christian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,636
scare_crow said:
It's not just about that. There's unfortunately the bigger picture, and impeachment could do wonders to strengthen his base. It would be incredibly messy. The right thing? Probably. The best thing now? Maybe not.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Please don't respond to my posts with this garbage. "Strengthen his base". Do you really believe that horseshit? Where, exactly, does his base need strengthening? What part of it is weak?
 

Deleted member 24907

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
5,354
Buckle

Buckle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
40,997
The democrats better not fucking forget this. Ever.

The minute you get enough power back to act on it, nail their asses to the wall. I don't care if its ten or twenty years from now.
 
Christian

Christian

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,636
Eatin' Olives said:
Most people don't even know what impeachment means. There's also little evidence that Pelosi is basing her inaction on the polls.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Exactly, on your first point. We elect these people because we trust that they'll do the right thing for the country. They're supposed to be our best and brightest, and that sometimes means doing things that won't guarantee your reelection. Look at the gun control legislation passed in Australia, and the people that sacrificed their positions to make it a reality. This isn't rocket science. Political appointees are public servants.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.