8/22/2018

CONGRESS/DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A string of damaging legal developments rattled Republicans on Tuesday [8-21-18] and further heightened the stakes of the 2018 midterm elections less than three months away. The startling, coast-to-coast rat-a-tat-tat — a conviction in Virginia, a confession in New York and new charges in California — left the GOP off balance and had Democrats, already eyeing a sharper anti-corruption message for the fall, arguing voters should put them in power in Congress to serve as a check on President Donald Trump. If Democrats take over the House in November — and with it, the committee chairmanships and the subpoena power that comes with the gavels — Trump would suddenly be open to a whole new, harsher brand of scrutiny, with investigations sure to dog the administration straight through to the 2020 election. Tuesday’s news also put front and center a thornier issue for Democrats ahead of November and one Republicans believe could energize Trump’s base: impeachment. Party leaders and parts of the liberal base have often found themselves at odds over the prospect of seeking to remove the President, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who has frequently sought to tamp down such talk, telling the Associated Press on Wednesday [8-22-18] that impeachment is still ‘not on the table.'”

Dan Merica and Gregory Krieg, “Impeachment talk still a no-go for Democrats hitting GOP’s ‘culture of corruption’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 22, 2018 8:54 pm