Jeffries faces impeachment dilemma if Dems win back the House

Photo illustration of a collage featuring Hakeem Jeffries, over a smaller holding an image of Donald Trump on the left, and an image of the US Capitol on the right. — Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images and Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With just 10 weeks left until the midterms, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) gave CNN's Wolf Blitzer a preview yesterday of what to expect should Democrats regain control of the House:

"Hold every single member of the Trump cartel accountable."
"Make sure that we've got people in government focused on doing the things necessary to address the affordability crisis."
On impeachment, "we haven't ruled anything in and we haven't ruled anything out", with any move guided by "moments of accountability."

That aligns with the priorities Jeffries has been pushing on the stump:

Lower the cost of living.
Make health care affordable.
Take the Trump administration to task.

But his careful line on impeachment underscores how he could become Speaker with one wing of his caucus pushing to aggressively confront President Trump while the other is desperate to avoid another impeachment fight.

The most pro-impeachment Democrats from Trump's first term have fallen in recent primaries, but that doesn't mean there isn't any momentum behind trying again, lawmakers stressed.
"There are plenty of good reasons that Trump should be impeached based on his actions," one senior House Democrat told Axios.

The real question is political. Some Democrats aren't convinced it's worth pursuing again when two prior impeachments failed to stop Trump's return to the White House.

"I believe that we will not do impeachment again. It's a major time suck — and will do nothing to forward our agenda," a second senior House Democrat said.
That lawmaker added that it "depends if we win the Senate," though Democrats won't get anywhere close to the 67 seats that would be needed to convict Trump in a party-line vote.

Go deeper: Inside the backlash over the Jeffries-Kushner meeting

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Jeffries faces impeachment dilemma if Dems win back the House

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