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Laurence Tribe explains why Congress should aim to work at three speeds. On this week’s Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick spoke to Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard, about some of the legal questions the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s behavior has brought up. A portion of that conversation, which has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity, is below. Dahlia Lithwick: We’ve had quite anxious listener mail this week saying, what does Congress do? What teeth can Congress put into a system where essentially the nihilist argument has been made—“I spit on your system, your system does not...

Schiff says committees will make impeachment inquiry transcripts public when it would not 'jeopardize investigative equities' House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a letter Wednesday that interview transcripts from closed-door impeachment inquiry depositions will be made public when they do not "jeopardize investigative equities." The Dear Colleague letter is designed to counter arguments from Republicans in both the White House and Congress that Democrats are conducting an invalid investigation, since their witness interviews are being held behind closed doors, outside the eyes of the public and lawmakers who don't sit on the three committees leading the investigations....

Has anyone found the internals from the Gallup Poll that says the support for Impeachment is standing at 52%? I looked and cannot find them.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff expressed confidence in Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry and efforts to obtain records and testimony from the Trump administration in court, while defending their inquiry from Republican criticism. Pelosi defended their timeline, without providing any new updates on Tuesday, and dismissed questions about Republican calls for a formal floor vote. "I'm not concerned about anything," she said. Republicans "can't defend the president so they're going to process."

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) on Wednesday told reporters that a whistleblower at the center of the House impeachment inquiry hasn't yet agreed to meet with his Senate panel. Asked if his panel would look into the content of the whistleblower's complaint — which is focused on President Trump's attempts to get the Ukraine government to investigate the Bidens — Burr said he first had to "go through the process of the whistleblower complaint." "I don't know," he added, asked how long that would take. "Tell me when I'm going to get access to a whistleblower who has...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives work through an impeachment inquiry regarding alleged abuses of office by President Donald Trump, approval of Congress is now at 25%. That is up from 18% in September, prior to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing the impeachment inquiry following news of possible wrongdoing by the president in communications with Ukraine. The increase in approval of Congress over the past month is the result of a 15-percentage-point jump among Democrats (from 19% to 34%) as well as a smaller increase among independents (from 19% to 25%). Republicans' rating of Congress...

The White House is launching a new effort to slow the speeding Democratic impeachment push, but its noncooperation strategy is being constantly thwarted by a daily stream of explosive secrets being spilled behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. Current and former officials are painting an ever more damning picture of a wider than originally perceived scheme by President Donald Trump and his crew to pressure Ukraine that they warned could amount to a trampling of US law. Vice President Mike Pence launched a new effort Tuesday to bolster White House hopes of stalling the House inquiry long enough for Trump...

Full title: Gregg Jarrett: Latest Pelosi-Schiff impeachment ‘witch hunt’ is venomous affront to constitutional principlesThe quixotic quest to impeach President Trump is not only anathema to the fundamental principles of due process, but constitutes a full-frontal assault on the procedural protections inherent in the “due process” clause of the Constitution. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her chosen marionette, Rep. Adam Schiff, are operating in the shadows of secrecy. Their authority does not derive from the House of Representatives itself upon a full majority vote. Instead, they have commandeered impeachment power by anointing themselves as the sole determinants. They alone have chosen...

The partisans at The Washington Post pretended in a front-page Sunday "news" article that somehow, President Trump was losing his marbles in rage, going "beyond his often-untethered bounds." Readers were supposed to be highly disturbed about his mental state after learning he held a raucous rally in Minneapolis and said supposedly crazy things like how the Democrats are carrying out "a brazen attempt to overthrow our government." What is this attempt to impeach and remove Trump, if not overthrow him? Democrats might argue that even if Trump were removed, Vice President Pence would remain and, thus, there would be a...

Despite all the headlines and breathless commentary on impeachment from the media, House Democrats have yet to hold a vote that would formally -- constitutionally -- authorize an impeachment inquiry.What is Speaker Nancy Pelosi worried about?Last week, she seem poised to bring the issue of impeachment to the floor of the House for a vote. But yesterday, Pelosi decided to once again delay a vote,The Hill: After back-to-back meetings with party leaders and then the full caucus, Pelosi announced that no such vote would take place. Democratic aides emphasized, however, that the process remains fluid and that Pelosi may reverse course and stage...

If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is anything, she is the poster child for term limits. But because she’s been sucking up taxpayer money in salary and benefits for decades now, she knows how ‘the system’ works. In particular, while most of her Garbage Party caucus goes to sleep at night having dreams about impeaching President Trump, Pelosi (we hope) tosses and turns in angst and anguish because she knows what her voters don’t: There is no way she can get it done. And why? Because even among her own members she doesn’t have the support. She ain’t got the votes.

2020 Democratic White House hopeful and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii broke with 11 other Democrats on the Ohio debate stage Tuesday night, branding President Donald Trump’s impeachment as “divisive.” “If impeachment is driven by these hyper-partisan interests, it will only further divide an already terribly divided country,” Gabbard said. The Hawaii congresswoman made clear her belief that an investigation should move forward, but cautioned Democrats not to rush the process as acquittal in the Senate would allow the president to claim vindication, playing into Trump’s message that House Democrats are out to get him.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) teed off against the House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday, marking his first comments since Congress returned from its two-week break. "House Democrats are finally indulging in their impeachment obsession. Full steam ahead," McConnell said during a speech from the Senate floor, adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had "crumbled" to the "left-wing impeachment caucus." "I don't think many of us were expecting to witness a clinic in terms of fairness or due process. But even by their own partisan standards, House Democrats have already found new ways to lower the bar," McConnell added.

Ben Affleck: Bush Can Be Hung for 'Leaks' in Plamegate By Josh Hart Apr 9, 2006 Actor Ben Affleck suggested this weekend on 'Real Time with Bill Maher' that President Bush “probably leaked” Valerie Plame's name and so “if he did, you can be hung for that! That's treason!” The would be politician and Democrat went through this exchange according to News Busters that gives a brief and rough transcript on how Mr. Affleck came to this conclusion. *** The panel guests were Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) who was quite humorous as he let loose with some funny four-quotes. Bill...

Actor Ben Affleck has made it very clear where his sympathies lie in the Leakgate affair -- and it isn't with the White House. Appearing on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," Affleck charged that President Bush "probably also leaked” CIA agent Valerie Plame's name and so "if he did, you can be hung for that! That's treason!” He continued: "You could be killed. That's not a joking around Tom DeLay 'I'll do a year, I bribed the state officials with corporate money.' That's like they shoot you in the battlefield for doing that.” Affleck also called DeLay a "criminal."

If you had any questions about how antiwar liberals were going to respond when the Democrats didn't withdraw American troops from Iraq like they promised during the 2006 campaign, you got your answers last night on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." When the host moved the discussion to what the panel thought of "the Democrats, you know, caving in on this Iraq spending bill," actor Ben Affleck went on a tirade about these "f***ing people," saying that the "Democrats live in fear of basically, you know, being called cowards" and of "looking like p***ies." Affleck concluded his attack on his...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to stand firm Tuesday, insisting she will not stage a vote on the House floor to officially launch an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Trump and his Republican allies have been pressuring Pelosi to hold a formal vote to begin the investigation — a move they believe would grant them more power and influence in the process, including the ability to call and subpoena their own witnesses. Last month, Pelosi formally launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump after months of resisting calls from her caucus to do so, but she has faced pressure to hold an...

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will make public Tuesday evening her party's plans on whether the House will take a formal vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump that she announced last month. When asked at a news conference Tuesday if she will hold a full House floor vote on authorizing the inquiry -- as Republicans have called on her to do -- Pelosi told reporters, "I'll be talking about that later today after I meet with my colleagues."

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said House Intel Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) wants to impeach President Donald Trump behind closed doors in an interview Monday with FOX Business Network's Maria Bartiromo on 'Mornings With Maria.' "Well, this is part of Adam Schiff's -- it's like a kangaroo court he set up, but they've got this shroud of secrecy, where they want to drip out things that they want to allude to, they make false accusations to try to," Scalise said. "And so, why Adam Schiff continues to hide in secret the Volker testimony, he was already starting to...

EAGAN, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig has become a target of President Trump and his administration after flipping a GOP seat last year. After Minneapolis hosted the President and Vice President in Minneapolis last week, and the Vice President hosted an event in her district, Craig used a town hall meeting to respond. Back on Sept. 24, Craig joined other House Democrats in calling on Congress to open an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Monday night, however, she told the room that the inquiry is only a small percent of what she is focusing on when...