Y'all do realize what happened today, right? And can we give Speaker Pelosi some props for it?

[Liberty Belle]

114. A not-yet discussed reason Pelosi may be doing things this way, but an important one:

By starting the hearings in a committee and not yet committing when or if this goes before the full House let alone Senate, where we know it would go down in defeat with Moscow Mitch in charge, she holds open the possibility that should Trump be reelected but Dems take back the Senate, he could be impeached, convicted, and removed from office at the start of his new term.

Winning back the Senate is our MOST important race. Remember, if Dems can just do that, Dems will then have the power to impeach and convict if Trump is still in office, and it could be done swiftly. (How to do this, when Mitch is blocking election security bills, is another matter.)

Impeachment hearings could potentially be going on close to the election, keeping Trump's perfidy in front of voters, but without a vote to actually send impeachment to the Senate until AFTER the election, which also protects Dems in red or swing districts from having to go on record and alienate crossover voters.

If Dems win the presidential election, House Dems could still vote on the full floor for impeachment after the Nov. 2020 election but before the new Senate and President are seated in January 2021, thus in theory giving the wicked Reps the chance to actually convict him just before he leaves office anyway due to losing the election. It's unlikely they would do so, but Dems would go down in history for having done the right thing, and the Rep-controlled Senate would go down in infamy for not doing so. I supposed there's even a snowball's chance in hell that if enough Rep Senators are voted out of office and become lame ducks, a few might even vote to impeach on the way out the door.

Pelosi is a brilliant strategist, and I've seen no discussion of these options, but I suspect it is what she's up to.