Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are facing a decision that could change American politics forever.
Will they proceed with a partisan attempt to impeach Donald Trump?
But Nancy Pelosi was caught off guard when a leak about her secret plans caused all hell to break loose.
Since Congress was on recess, Pelosi had to convene a conference call to lay out the Democrats strategy on impeachment.
Pelosi and her lieutenants urged caution.
They know impeachment is unpopular, and if Democrats proceed rashly, it will only help re-elect Donald Trump.
But the word leaked out.
What also leaked out was Pelosi acknowledging the desire among her caucus to undo the 2016 election with impeachment.
Speaker Pelosi promised agitators like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib that impeachment would proceed if Democrats turned up the evidence.
“It is what we need to do to honor our responsibility to the Constitution — if that’s the place the facts take us, that’s the place we have to go,” Pelosi stated.
“I wish you would just read my letter because it, I think succinctly, presents some of the reasons, I think — whether it’s articles of impeachment or investigations, it’s the same obtaining of facts,” she said to her members.
“We don’t have to go to articles of impeachment to obtain the facts, the presentation of facts.”
Pelosi hoped the leak about her wanting to proceed cautiously would be the big story.
That way, once they did move forward with impeachment, Democrats could claim it was not the result of partisan passions.
Pelosi and her leadership team would say they took a clear-eyed look at the facts and only reluctantly moved to introduce articles of impeachment.
Of course it would all be a lie – impeachment was always the Democrats goal.
But not every Democrat took the hint.
California Senator Kamala Harris – who has seen her Presidential campaign momentum stall – enthusiastically leaped into the impeachment debate by declaring her support.
Harris stated that, “Congress should take the steps toward impeachment.”
The California Democrat joined Elizabeth Warren in putting her support behind a partisan impeachment scheme to override the will of the voters.
Harris even admitted that Senate Republicans were unlikely to join the Democrats in voting to convict President Trump and remove him from office, but that the House should take the plunge anyway.
This is not the message Nancy Pelosi wanted dominating the headlines after the Democrats conference call.
Instead, Presidential candidates are demanding Pelosi move ahead with a doomed-to-fail impeachment push along partisan lines.
This is music to Donald Trump’s ears.
Running against an ideologically extreme Democrat Party that has succumbed to the demands of their fringe base will all but guarantee Trump a second term.
And try as she might, Pelosi is quickly realizing she is powerless to prevent that scenario from playing out.
We will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
