Impeachment Inquiry Persists
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We ran the numbers: There are 4129 news articles covering this topic. 52% (2155) are left leaning, 33% (1378) center, 14% (596) right leaning.
Since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House will be pursuing an impeachment inquiry against President Trump earlier this week, the impeachment fight has only gained momentum. On Friday, House Democrats issued their first subpoena in the impeachment process, demanding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo produce documents and witnesses that could shed light on President Trump’s involvement with Ukraine. The Democrats will issue more subpoenas and perhaps even schedule their first formal impeachment hearing as early as next week. The House Intelligence Committee announced on Friday that they would be working through the upcoming two-week congressional recess. The committee will also be taking depositions during that time from five State Department officials with knowledge of the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine.
A centrist article from NPR focuses on the fact that the House is making a concerted effort to keep up the momentum on the impeachment efforts during the two-week recess. The article quotes Congressman Jim Himes, a Democrat and a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, as saying that “The speaker has made it very clear that we are not to let momentum drop in this two weeks.” The article also notes that Democrats have responded to Republican concerns that the impeachment inquiry will slow down other business in the House; the article notes that Representative Alexandira Ocasio-Cortez said that the House has sent many bills to the Senate recently.
By contrast, a right-leaning article from Fox News expressed that very fear, running the headline “Impeachment fight threatens to grind legislative work to halt.” The article quotes the president as saying that Democrats have concocted a “manufactured crisis” that threatens potential deals on gun control and trade with Mexico and Canada. The article describes the impeachment process as an all-consuming undertaking that would prevent progress on other issues, with an opening line reading “The escalating, all-consuming fight on Capitol Hill over the House Democrat-led impeachment inquiry against President Trump is threatening to derail legislative deals once seen as within reach as lawmakers left Washington Friday for a two-week recess.”
A left-leaning New York Times article on the impeachment process focuses on the House Democrats issuing a subpoena to Pompeo, noting that they are moving quickly to escalate the impeachment inquiry. The article also expounds on Democrats’ strategy for pursuing impeachment, noting “With Congress now in a two-week recess and lawmakers headed home to their districts, Democrats were working on two tracks, meticulously outlining a rapid-fire set of investigative steps while they honed their messaging for what promises to be a divisive and politically charged process.” The article also notes that the House Intelligence Committee is attempting to negotiate a secure meeting with the whistleblower whose complaint began this process.
From the left
House Democrats plan hearing as early as next week in impeachment inquiry
New York Times