House Democrats outline impeachment process

WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler tried to clear up confusion within his caucus about impeachment on Thursday as the committee approved guidelines for impeachment hearings on President Donald Trump.

Nadler says there’s no uncertainty about what his committee is doing: It’s an impeachment investigation, no matter how you want to phrase it.

Some of Nadler’s fellow Democrats — including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer — have stumbled over how to explain what they’re doing, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been reluctant to echo the committee’s assertions that they are in the midst of an impeachment probe.

At a news conference after the committee vote, Pelosi was on the defensive. She said she supports what the committee is doing, and “I salute them for that work.” She said, though, that when she travels the country, “people are saying it’s good to be careful about how we proceed.”

Impeachment has divided Democrats who control the House. Democrats on Nadler’s committee, including some of the most liberal members of the House, have been eager to move forward with the process. But moderates, mostly first-term lawmakers who handed their party the majority in the 2018 election, are concerned about the committee’s drumbeat on impeachment and the attention that comes with that continued action.

Given those divisions, Nadler and Pelosi have been talking about impeachment very differently. While Nadler has been clear that his committee is moving ahead, Pelosi is reluctant to mention the “i” word and has repeatedly said the strategy is to “legislate, investigate and litigate.” In private meetings, she has urged caution and told the caucus that the public isn’t there yet on impeachment.

The first hearing scheduled under the new impeachment rules is with...