The first vote, 230-197, was to impeach him for abuse of power and was almost entirely on party lines; it was followed quickly by a second 229-198 vote that the president obstructed Congress.
The problem for Dems now is support for impeachment is under water whereas Trump's approval rating has actually gone up since hearings began. With that in mind, the Democrats know they can't allow the articles to founder in the GOP-controlled Senate, so it would appear they're now in panic mode.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said he's approached every member of House leadership about (delaying sending the articles to the Senate) and received responses ranging from interest to outright support. He said Pelosi, in particular, "indicated she was interested and considering it."
"As long as we have the articles of impeachment under our control, we have an opportunity to prevent a travesty," Blumenauer said.
Blumenauer argued that the House could use the delay to continue to build on its evidence for impeachment, and possibly to score additional legal victories that could unlock troves of new evidence and witness testimony that the Trump administration has withheld from Congress. Some of those court cases could be decided within weeks.
"You can continue to build the record, you can get information and you argue for fairness and don't surrender until it's clear that this is in the best interest of the process," Blumenauer said.
I read that as a tacit admission that House Democrats really haven't built a strong case and that they know it. I'm sure last month they felt as though they could use what they gathered as a cudgel to undermine Trump's reelection efforts. However, it now appears to have had the opposite affect.
This is what happens when you let the kook fringe of your party basically bully you into these proceedings. Enjoy 2020, Dems.
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As for "obstruction of Congress" the SCOTUS has just agreed to review the subpoenas Dems say Trump "obstructed" and will probably side with Trump sometime in August, blowing their whole case out of the water on at least that point. On the other, it seems Trump's "abuse of power" consists of the President, who is responsible for conducting foreign policy, conducting foreign policy.
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