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pnwmom

(108,980 posts) Wed Nov 7, 2018, 03:36 AM Nov 2018

CNN: Democrats' win in House provides crucial protection for Mueller investigation

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/opinions/2018-election-results-mueller-investigation-honig/index.html

The Democratic Party regained control of the House of Representatives as a result of Tuesday's midterm elections, while the Republicans held firm control of the Senate. While a Democratic-controlled House now has the power to impeach the President, such a precipitous move is politically fraught, and likely will happen only if special counsel Robert Mueller delivers knockout evidence of criminality.

It is more crucial than ever, therefore, that Mueller be permitted to complete his investigation without political interference. Tuesday's seismic shift in power provides crucial -- though imperfect -- protection for Mueller against political forces that might seek to suppress or stifle his ultimate investigative findings.

With Tuesday's election results, the prospect of presidential impeachment just went from "nil" under a Republican House to "unlikely but entirely possible" with the Democrats in control. The Constitution requires only a simple majority in the House -- 218 of the 435 total votes -- to impeach.

While the Democrats now can impeach the President unilaterally, there are practical and political risks to exercising that power. Practically, even if the House votes to impeach, the President can be removed only by a vote of two-thirds of the Senate. After Tuesday's vote, the Democrats do not have a Senate majority and are well shy of the 67 votes required to remove the President. Even a successful House vote to impeach could be a mere formality, given the infinitesimal chance of a significant number of Republican Senators turning on their own political leader.

SNIP