House Democrats express greater confidence about impeachment showdown with Trump

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-democrats-express-greater-confidence-about-impeachment-showdown-with-trump/2019/10/14/b48b0a8c-ee90-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html

By
Mike DeBonis and
Rachael Bade
Oct. 14, 2019 at 7:34 p.m. EDT
To many Democrats, it was a puzzling decision: Just days after suddenly embracing an impeachment inquiry of President Trump — a moment of seeming political crisis — House leaders sent lawmakers home for their scheduled two-week recess.

But as Congress returns to work Tuesday, fears of lost momentum, internal dissension and dissipating interest in impeachment have mostly evaporated among House Democrats, who view the past two weeks as among the most damaging to Trump as they dig in for their constitutional showdown with the president.

The committees pursuing the investigation have remained at work — securing a string of lengthy closed-door interviews with current and former diplomats, subpoenaing crucial documents and otherwise showing progress toward elucidating Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son at a time when U.S. military aid was being withheld from the country.

Meanwhile, federal judges handed Democrats multiple victories last week in decisions that lawmakers called the most significant cracks yet in the White House’s stonewalling. And facing constituents at home, many lawmakers said they have gotten more encouragement — or at least less backlash — than they might have anticipated as public opinion polls now show more Americans supporting impeachment.

“Donald Trump has been living in a house of cards, and it’s beginning to fall apart,” said Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.). “There was some anxiety — should we have stayed [in Washington]? .?.?. There was a little uncertainty about that. But I think we come back in a much stronger position.”

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[Mike 03]

1. A good news story to start a turbulent Tuesday

From the article:

Senate Republicans have struggled to answer the basic question of whether the crux of the impeachment allegation against Trump — asking a foreign leader for help to win an election — is acceptable conduct.

Facing local media last week, GOP Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Cory Gardner of Colorado — both up for reelection next year — dodged questions about whether Trump’s conduct was appropriate. Another Republican, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James E. Risch of Idaho, cut short an interview with a public-radio reporter in Boise rather than answer the question.