A
good view as to why Impeachment is unlikely at this time.
Especially as the situation is becoming a bit clearer. It was the Attorney General who advised Trump to fire Comey. That same Attorney General who has appointed a special investigator into the Trump/Russia situation.
As for the "gave away critical intelligence to Russia"? It remains, today, nothing more than a press allegation which has been denied by every senior person with knowledge of the event. To the point that Putin himself will authorise the release of a transcript of the meeting to the public...
I note two things from the Huffington post article.
The ongoing case against Clinton also backfired, with Democrats picking up seats in the 1998 midterm election when they had been expected to lose many.
Remember to impeach you need two votes. One in the house to start it and one in the senate to action it. At present the Republicans have majorities in both houses.
“You are empowering Trump surrogates if you first go to impeachment,” said a senior Democratic aide who requested anonymity to discuss congressional reasoning. “That’s all they have been trying to harp on over and over again ― ‘Democrats are sore losers, they want to nullify the results of the election, they want to impeach this president.’ That’s what they are using to motivate their base.”
And, the aide said, starting an impeachment drumbeat now undercuts the arguments for getting full, fair investigations from an independent counsel and a 9/11-style commission.
“Republicans are not going to support these things if all we’re talking about is impeachment. It is damaging to the effort to secure these independent investigations,” the aide said.
Indeed. Given that there will be all the house seats up for election in November 2019 and 1/3 of the Senate seats up for election at the same time, getting this badly wrong could be catastrophic for the Democrats and give Trump the majority he needs to make really major changes in his second half.
Impeachment of a President is not just something that a few people shout about then it happens. I remember the whole Clinton debacle as I took an interest and also I was in Europe living in hotels where the most common news channels were US. It takes years and it rips the whole nation apart.
The Democrats will have to prove that Trumps actions significantly put Trump in a position to be unable to continue in the office of the President. Poor judgement on a single issue or a press allegation which is unproven is simply not going to fly.