They showed that Mr. Trump and his aides and allies linked a sought-after Oval Office meeting for Ukraines new president to the investigations. And they established that the administration had frozen $391 million in military aid to Ukraine an ally under threat from Russia during the same period when Mr. Trump was pushing hardest for the investigations.
The risks now, Democrats asserted, rest with Senate Republicans if they fail to give serious consideration to convicting Mr. Trump.
Im stunned by some of the reactions, from their own mouths, from the leaders of the Senate abandoning their oath, in defiance of their oath, in plain view, said Representative Madeleine Dean, Democrat of Pennsylvania, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. I think of it as malpractice, but its much more serious than that.
Still, the political ramifications for House Democrats were evident, especially with the start of what will certainly be a combative election year just days away.
Led by the president and his allies, Republicans promised to make vulnerable Democrats pay for their impeachment votes and said the partisan split combined with the near certainty that the Senate would ultimately, and perhaps quickly, acquit the president would allow them to make the case that this was strictly a political exercise born out of spite against a duly elected president.
Democrats, on the other hand, needed to satisfy their own core supporters outraged by Mr. Trumps conduct. Many Democratic voters demanded that the House take some steps against him even if it was futile, given the steely control over the Senate by Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, who has made clear he is working in tandem with the White House on impeachment.
Democrats had to respond, said Tom Davis, a former Republican House member from Virginia and a top party strategist during the Republican-driven impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998. I think if they had not done it, they may have faced a greater risk, he said, referring to a possible backlash from the left.
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House Democrats Bet Their Impeachment Votes Are Worth It - The New York Times
