Strategist on impeachment: Trump 'would love to drag this out'

Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 1:30 PM

In a vote along party lines, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Friday.

The move comes after the committee abruptly shut down a 14-hour session late Thursday, following a marathon effort by Republicans looking to kill the charges. Political pundits have been analyzing whether the impeachment proceedings will damage Trump as he looks to secure a second term as president.

“I don't think it hurts him all that much,” Greg Valliere, AGF Investments U.S. policy strategist, told Yahoo Finance’s On the Move, referring to the impeachment. “In fact, he would like to drag this out. He'd like to have a big, spectacular, nasty, theatrical impeachment trial in the Senate. He thinks that might help him even more.”

U.S. President Donald Trump walks down the West Wing colonnade at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

In the weeks since U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to launch an impeachment inquiry, Trump and his top political advisers said the process had already begun to boost benefits for his re-election campaign. In September, the Trump campaign pulled in $1 million in just three hours.

Rather than sway right-leaning voters away from Trump, Valliere said that the trial is more likely to serve as merely one more chapter for the history books.

”For decades, centuries to come, it's going to mention that he was impeached, as Bill Clinton and a couple of others were,” he said. ”But I don't see any sign in the polls that this has hurt him all that much. I think you've got to say that among Republicans, the sense of unity is stronger than ever. It's really been a remarkable story for them.”

Bridgette Webb is a producer at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @bridgetteAwebb.

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