Open thread—Impeachment moves to House Judiciary

Well, wasn't yesterday a year?

We're back on the horse, as Jerrold Nadler leads the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearings today. A bit of what we can expect:

Nadler is taking charge of the impeachment investigation from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the public hearings last month. The Intelligence panel investigation focused on whether Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. A report on its findings was released Tuesday. It is expected to be approved and sent to Judiciary on Tuesday evening.

Once Nadler has the report, Democrats will formally begin weighing whether there’s enough evidence to conclude that Trump committed an impeachable offense. Democrats must also decide whether to focus only on Trump’s actions with regards to Ukraine, or expand the list of potential articles of impeachment to include other matters.

Unlike Schiff, Nadler has a long history with Trump that predates the president’s political rise. The veteran House lawmaker represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn — Trump’s home turf — and has clashed repeatedly with Trump in the past, over real estate projects in New York City.

Nadler has been quoted as saying he's "not going to take any shit," so we can expect that these hearings will be as damning to Donald Trump as the ones chaired by Adam Schiff.

What's interesting is that in the Judiciary Committee, the impeachment drive could be expanded beyond l'affaire Zelenskyy. Reports have surfaced that Democrats are quietly debating whether to do so. Expect such discussions to gather pace, especially since the number three in the Democratic House leadership, Jim Clyburn, has come out publicly for a broadened investigation.

Today's hearing isn't expected to have "pizzazz." Constitutional scholars will lay out the parameters of impeachment and why it's merited in the case of Trump. As the committee holds further hearings, expect more fireworks.

We'll catch up later.