VERY LONG ARTICLE - MOST IMPORTANT P (followed by key points, including their keywords in messaging): Aiming to streamline the investigation and minimize internal friction, Pelosi and her leadership group told the caucus a few days after announcing her support for the inquiry that Schiff’s committee would take charge of looking into the president’s actions regarding Ukraine, the Foreign Affairs Committee would look at the State Department and Rudy Giuliani’s involvement, and the Oversight Committee would probe how the White House handled Trump’s calls with foreign leaders. Judiciary would still bring the ultimate articles of impeachment. But under this new plan, the behind-the-scenes diggers and trusted messengers would handle phase one. The aggressive impeachers would step back in when the time comes to drop the hammer.
Hakeem Jeffries, the caucus chairman, shared his messaging advice, harping on a six-word framing: betrayal, abuse of power, national security.
For now, no Democrats are willing to speak with much specificity about the individual articles of impeachment they expect to bring against Trump.
Some members see merit in limiting the ultimate impeachment articles to the Ukraine call and excluding Mueller’s findings. ... But to members who’ve been calling for impeachment for months, if not years, a strict Ukraine focus is “too near, too simple and clever,” in Connolly’s words. “I don’t think you can ignore the other things that 138 of us thought merited impeachment, especially obstruction of justice.”
The investigative committees are now eager to test the limits of Trump and his allies’ defiance (all the better to draw up impeachment articles based on obstruction, some members say).
