A new survey commissioned by Fox News has found that support for impeaching President Donald Trump is at an all-time high.
The poll released on Wednesday found that 51% agreed that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, a nine-point jump from the most recent survey on July 19.
The poll found that another 4% said that Trump should be impeached but not removed from office, and that 40% opposed impeachment altogether.
The remaining 5% were undecided on the impeachment issue.
A new survey commissioned by Fox News has found that support for impeaching President Donald Trump is at an all-time high
Supporters of the impeachment inquiry rally near the office Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams on Wednesday in West Jordan, Utah
The survey comes as the impeachment battle rises to a fever pitch, after the White House vowed not to cooperate with House Democrats who accuse Trump of asking a foreign government to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.
The poll found that 43% agreed that Trump’s remarks on a July phone call with the president of Ukraine were and impeachable offense, while 27% believed that they were inappropriate but not impeachable. Only 17% said the remarks were appropriate.
The survey of 1,003 registered voters was conducted by phone between October 6 and 8.
On Wednesday, experts said the White House’s refusal to cooperate with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry has teed up a constitutional clash that will likely leave it up to the Supreme Court to decide whether to compel compliance.
The confrontation – which has only grown more volatile since the release of a whistle-blower’s report last month – could very well be on a path akin to United States vs. Nixon – with a series of major and minor figures facing ratcheting pressure of legal fees, not to mention fines and jail – as the branches sort out conflicts.
The stand-off became even more immediate when the White House counsel’s office released a blistering letter essentially daring House Democrats to sue, and vowing the White House ‘cannot participate in your partisan and unconstitutional inquiry under these circumstances.’
White House’s refuses to cooperate with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment inquiry
‘The moment of crisis is already upon is. We’ve got a president of the United States saying against the clear meaning of the Constitution and 230 years precedent he’s going to plainly defy orders,’ said Frank O. Bowman III, who teaches law at the University of Missouri and wrote a book on impeachment in the age of Trump.
Things will only pick up if the House directs its counsel to take the matter to the courts to compel the production of documents.
That could immediately put the squeeze on lower-level officials as well as cabinet members who are in possession of documents House Democrats deem essential to their inquiry.
Depending on how the Trump administration responds, individuals may have to choose between court orders and what their administration bosses are saying.
U.S. ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland said through his attorney that he wants to testify and flew in from Brussels to do so Tuesday, but has been directed not to participate by the White House. He has turned over information to Mike Pompeo’s State Department, but may also maintain personal possession of materials of interest.
House Democrats are mindful of dangers posed by a long slog through the courts.
But on a related matter – the Manhattan DA’s investigation of the Stormy Daniels payoff and other matters – the 2nd Circuit scheduled a quick hearing after Trump’s lawyers appealed a blistering lower-court ruling.
‘I think that things are definitely heating up and I think it’s fair to call this approaching a constitutional crisis,’ said Susan Low Bloch, who teaches constitutional law at Georgetown University Law School.
‘It’s not yet because nobody has defied [an order]. So far there’s no defiance – there’s standing on principle and “I’m not going to do this,”‘ she said.
The Trump White House made clear its defiant stance in a legal letter that eschewed legalize in favor of bashing Schiff and the ‘partisan rush to judgement.’
The matter could easily be headed to the Supreme Court, prompting Democrats to fear GOP foot-dragging might run out the clock.
Pelosi in recent comments has called for moving swiftly, and focusing on Ukraine even as fellow Democrats push to consider pursuing impeachment based on alleged obstruction, self-dealing, and other matters.
Whichever avenue they take, Democrats are on firm constitutional ground as far as their impeachment power, say legal scholars.
Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the Constitution states that: ‘The House of Representatives…shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.’ The Constitution also grants each chamber the power to ‘determine the rules of its proceedings.’
The lack of firm instructions on how to actually carry out an impeachment has opened the way for Trump to launch a focused attack on Pelosi’s move.
In addition to blasting the inquiry itself, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone attacked the process itself, calling for the minority be given the right to have lawyers present and issue its own subpoenas.