By Julia Musto | Fox News
House Democrats have made a decision to “wholly consume themselves” with the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, and it will result in a “net negative” or a “wash” for the party, Fox News anchor Dana Perino said Thursday.
A sharply divided House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a resolution setting “ground rules” for the impeachment inquiry into Trump, putting lawmakers on record over the contentious process while setting the stage for proceedings to move into the public eye after weeks of closed-door depositions.
HOUSE APPROVES IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY RULES AFTER FIERY FLOOR DEBATE
The measure passed largely along party lines, 232-196. Two Democrats defected on the vote.
Appearing on “America’s Newsroom” with anchors Bill Hemmer and Julie Banderas, “The Daily Briefing” host said that Republicans’ complaints about the Democrats’ probe process up to this date have been “well-founded.”
She told Hemmer and Banderas that she was skeptical Democrats could keep the public eye focused “on this matter.”
“But, you will soon start to see — I believe — many staffers on Capitol Hill decide this is not worth it. As Nancy Pelosi just said, the speaker said, nobody comes to Washington just to impeach a president,” she said, noting that this could play to the president’s advantage ahead of the 2020 election.
“And, in contrast to the Hill, what the president is able to do is have this amazing power of incumbency,” she said. “He’s got accomplishments he can talk about with the economy and then on national security, he can have a medal of honor ceremony, he can go out and travel around the country. He’s out being able to show and tell all of these things while the Democrats are going to keep congress there talking about impeachment every day.
“Barring some other, sort of, bombshells that come out, I would think that in the long run, it’s either a wash or a net negative for the Democrats,” she predicted, adding that this process is going to: “have huge consequences for whoever emerges as the nominee.”
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. Julia Musto is a reporter for Foxnews.com
