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Democrats weigh renewed Ukraine push after Trump acquittal

So far, it appears they have not settled on a plan.

“We haven’t made any decisions about what comes next,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the House’s lead impeachment prosecutor, said in an interview. “We wanted to get through the trial, and so we’ll have those conversations among our caucus, within leadership. Right now, we’re just trying to take stock of what just took place.”

Pelosi did not respond to a question late Wednesday about her plans for the Ukraine investigation. But in a statement she more broadly foreshadowed continued efforts to investigate Trump — ones that also center on Trump’s finances and allegations of self-dealing.

“The House will continue to protect and defend the checks and balances in the Constitution that safeguard our Republic, both in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion,” Pelosi said.

The noncommittal responses from Pelosi and Schiff come as some House Democrats privately note a tension between the argument that Trump remains an imminent threat to the integrity of the 2020 election and concerns about appearing overzealous in the face of the Senate’s rejection of their impeachment push.

Asked about those conflicting concerns, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), one of the impeachment prosecutors, said the House should not simply abandon what Democrats view as a larger effort to protect the 2020 election from foreign interference.

“The trial being over does not mean that we don’t respond to abuses and threats going forward — both external threats from foreign actors, but if there are internal threats as well, we will always respond,” Crow said in an interview Wednesday. “The results of the trial do not in any way absolve us of our constitutional obligations to continue to defend our democracy.”

Yet Democrats acknowledge the acute political risks associated with a full-on revival of the Ukraine inquiry. Racing to accelerate an investigation that already resulted in Trump’s acquittal could make House Democrats look like sore losers, some detractors say, and it’s unclear whether the most vulnerable House Democrats would support that effort.

After a three-month investigation, the House charged the president in December with abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden. They also accused him of obstructing Congress’ investigation into the alleged scheme. But the Republican-controlled Senate cleared Trump on both charges, accusing the House of a rushed and flawed process, but largely agreeing with Democrats that Trump’s actions were improper.

At the heart of those accusations is the House Intelligence Committee’s decision to forgo subpoenas for high-level White House officials and Trump associates during its Ukraine investigation last year. That choice was intended in part to avoid entangling the impeachment push in months- or even yearslong litigation. With the trial in the rearview mirror, that concern is moot.

Indeed, some Democrats are pushing for the Intelligence Committee to immediately subpoena John Bolton, the former national security adviser who declared last month that he would be willingly to testify in the Senate impeachment trial if he were subpoenaed. Democrats, however, never issued one because Senate Republicans defeated their effort.

Source: politico.com
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