The Trump Administration will be sending House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a formal letter daring the Democrats to hold a full, official impeachment vote in the House, The Hill reports.
According to the report, the letter will state that the Trump White House will not cooperate with any subpoenas and other such requests from House Democrats unless and until a formal vote is taken on the floor of the House.
This came after Pelosi announced the beginning of an “impeachment inquiry,” without expanding on what this really meant or what the “inquiry” would entail. Some have since described this move as a sort of middle ground between actual impeachment and holding off on impeachment, in an attempt to satisfy both the moderates and the radicals in the party.
As The Hill notes, the move may not only be designed to put moderate, swing-district Democrats on the spot going into the 2020 elections, but also insures that “GOP lawmakers can have a greater say in impeachment hearings…once the full chamber formally approves it.”
House Democrats only narrowly surpassed the threshold of majority support for an impeachment inquiry last week, but it is still unclear if the caucus has enough votes in favor of actual impeachment.