"Formal impeachment proceedings" are under way, according to House Judiciary Committee

Yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said publicly for the first time that his committee has already begun the process of conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Donald T-rump. He expects that the committee will decide by the end of the year whether to refer articles of impeachment to the House floor.

“This is formal impeachment proceedings,” Nadler said in a CNN interview, and an MSNBC interview last night. “We are investigating all the evidence, gathering the evidence. And we will [at the] conclusion of this — hopefully by the end of the year — vote to vote articles of impeachment to the House floor. Or we won’t. That’s a decision that we’ll have to make. But that’s exactly the process we’re in right now.”

“The fact is, we are doing an investigation. We are investigating the facts, investigating the evidence,” Nadler added. “We are going into court to get witnesses all with a view toward deciding and recommending to the House whether to impeach the president.”

According to his timeline, the impeachment process will move ahead right at the start of the Democratic candidate primaries, as well as the Republican primaries. This will put T-rump in a rather awkward position, as he gears up for re-election with a possible vote for impeachment at the same time.