Tensions Rise as White House Builds Argument Against Impeachment
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We ran the numbers: There are 1561 news articles covering this topic. 60% (939) are left leaning, 31% (488) center, 9% (134) right leaning.
The impeachment war continues to heat up as the White House refuses to comply with the impeachment inquiry.
A left-leaning article from the New York Times focuses on the White House’s refusal to comply as a political strategy. The article reports that President Trump believes he can ignore Congress because he considers the impeachment inquiry to be “unfair” and views the Democrats responsible for the inquiry as “biased against him.” The article adds that, because Trump is unlikely to stop the Democratic House from impeaching him, the goal of the White House’s argument is to “delegitimize the process” of impeachment in the eyes of the public.
A centrist article from NPR highlights the legal argument from the White House as President Trump refuses to provide documents to the House, nor allow members of his administration to testify. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the White House argues that the impeachment inquiry is “invalid” because it "violates the Constitution, the rule of law, and every past precedent." Additionally, the article reports that the Constitution clearly states that the House has the sole power to determine if sufficient evidence exists for an impeachment trial, which would then take place in the Senate. In short, the House holds the power to launch an impeachment trial if a majority votes to do so, while the Senate is responsible for actually conducting and ruling on the impeachment trial.
A Fox News right-leaning article has two major components. First, the article discusses the impeachment inquiry as a partisan act when, historically, impeachment is meant to be a bipartisan check on power. Second, the article highlights Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) intends to “protect Trump from Democrats’ efforts to remove him” if the House approves articles of impeachment. According to the article, Former Whitewater independent counsel Robert Ray went as far to say that McConnell should attempt to dismiss the charges if impeachment reaches the Senate.