Rep. Jim Banks Tells Tony Katz Democrats Are Begging For More Articles Of Impeachment So They Can Vote Against Them

About this Episode

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced that she is instructing her Chairmen (including Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Jerrold Nadler) to write up Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump. A vote on impeachment could come before Christmas.

Rep. Jim Banks (R IN-3) tells radio host Tony Katz that there are Democrats who are begging Democratic leadership to add more articles so they can vote against them, in order to save face in the swing dirsticts they represent:

REP. JIM BANKS: There will be a handful or more, maybe a dozen=n or so, or more, Democrats who will vote against it. That again gets to the heart of the matter, because you're not going to see a single Republican in the House of Representatives who votes in support of impeachment.

TONY KATZ: You think there's going to be a dozen Democrats who vote against impeachment in the House?

BANKS: So that's my speculation today based, Tony, on conversations with Democrats on the floor. There are a number of Democrats who come from moderate, swing districts who know that the results of this will not fair well for them in the election in 2020.

They're begging Speaker Pelosi to put Articles of Impeachment on the floor they can vote against. That's why I think you'll see a handful of articles, because those Democrats want to be able to go home and say at least they voted against some of the articles.

So, I'm speculating at this point. But I really dont believe she has as much support for impeachment as even she had for the impeachment inquiry vote a couple of weeks ago.

KATZ: But we're not arguing whether or not she's got enough votes to have some of the articles passed, and send it to the Senate for trial.

BANKS: They'll get there with at least one of the articles of impeachment. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But there are Democrats who are privately begging House Democrat Leader (Adam) Schiff to put articles on the floor they can vote against.