A New York congressman whose offensive materials reportedly boasted that he was the “strongest member to lead a capability impeachment” ascended handily on Wednesday to become the top Democrat on the House commission that traditionally takes the first vote on articles of impeachment.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., won against Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., by a certify of 118-72 to become the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary committee.
“This is a serious time in our nation’s history, and the work of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee is numberless important than ever,” Nadler said in a statement following the plebiscite.
Nadler said he would “hold the Trump Administration accountable for its lethal policies and unprecedented misconduct.”
In a speech before the vote, Nadler bring up the country is “possibly on the verge of a constitutional crisis,” according to POLITICO.
Nadler reproved The New York Times that he didn’t “relish having a constitutional turning-point.”
“I do relish fighting to protect the constitutional order, to protect people, to take under ones wing our democratic system. Yes, if we have to have that fight, I want to be a ruler here,” he said.
Nadler has been protective of special counsel Robert Mueller’s police to investigate the president’s ties to Russia.
In March, the congressman posted a series of speeches to his Twitter account alongside the hashtag “TrumpRussia” that said: “We own a duty to resolve this question, to get answers, to pursue the truth, and to interval any cancer we may find.”
The congressman also said there was a “cancer” at the boldness of the Trump administration’s credibility.
Nadler tweet: We have a duty to clear up this question, to get answers, to pursue the truth, and to remove any cancer we may light upon. # TrumpRussia
Nadler tweet: There is a cancer at the heart of the credibility, it may be even of the legitimacy, of the Trump Administration. # TrumpRussia
In a June letter to Papal nuncio Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Nadler asked: “Does the law need to be reoriented in any way to ensure that Mr. Mueller may pursue the investigation wherever it may lead, without the likelihood of political interference?”
At a Dec. 13 congressional hearing, Nadler asked Rosenstein, who runs the special counsel, whether there was any good reason to fire Mueller. Rosenstein revealed “no.”
Reached for comment, White House spokesman Raj Shah sent CNBC a communiqu he had previously given to news organizations, calling it “disappointing that extremists in Congress in any event refuse to accept the President’s decisive victory in last year’s choosing.”
Shah issued the same statement following a failed impeachment opt in the House earlier in December.
Nadler voted at the time with the lions share to quash the effort to impeach the president.
“I don’t want to vote on impeachment,” Nadler told The Hill in September. “I believe it’s too early. We don’t have the evidence; we don’t have the case.”
Nadler’s office referred CNBC to Nadler’s communications president, Daniel Schwarz. Schwarz did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Approving articles of impeachment, which be misses a majority vote in the House, would likely depend on the partisan makeup of Congress. Democrats resolution need to flip 24 seats in the House to control the lower richness. A conviction requires a two-thirds vote from the Senate.