Impeachment is coming.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has resisted it, recognizing that the Republican-led Senate likely will not remove the president from office. She’s suggested that President Donald Trump’s critics should be satisfied that the commander-in-chief is “self-impeaching” through incompetence.

But constituents turned out in large numbers at town-hall events over the summer to urge their Democratic representatives to hold the president accountable for possible obstruction of justice and corruption. The number of U.S. House members who support impeachment proceedings now stands at 137 -- with 31 calling for impeachment after Congress went into recess in August.

Ninety-eight House Democrats, many representing competitive, “Trump-friendly” districts, have not called for impeachment hearings. No Republicans in the chamber support such action. Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who supports impeachment, switched from Republican to independent over the summer.

The House has the authority to impeach, or bring charges against, a president for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” A trial would then take place in the U.S. Senate, which needs a two-thirds majority to convict the president and remove him from office.

The House Judiciary Committee, led by California Rep. Jerry Nadler, is aggressively moving forward with an impeachment inquiry in all but name.

“I would bet that before mid-October, there will be actual articles of impeachment drafted by the committee,” Rep. John Yarmuth told Politico this week. “I don’t think there’s much doubt about that. I think Jerry’s committed to doing that, and I think a significant majority of the committee is there.”

Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, supports impeachment.

The Judiciary committee has brought federal lawsuits to pry loose evidence for its inquiry.

“Because Department of Justice policies will not allow prosecution of a sitting President, the United States House of Representatives is the only institution of the Federal Government that can now hold President Trump accountable for these actions,” states the committee’s suit seeking grand-jury documentation from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s completed investigation. “To do so, the House must have access to all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional power of the utmost gravity -- approval of articles of impeachment.”

The committee’s efforts to compel former White House counsel Donald McGahn to testify before Congress is expected to come to a head in the courts at the end of October. President Trump has prevented McGahn from cooperating with the House probe. Mueller’s report indicates that McGahn refused to carry out various obstructive orders from the president.

Democratic politicians and activists have worked hard to make Mueller’s findings widely known. The former special counsel did not clear Trump of obstruction of justice, suggesting it was an issue for Congress to address, and made clear that the president was elected in 2016 with help from Russian agents of influence.

House Democrats also have decided to investigate the pre-election “hush-money” payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had an affair with Trump. Daniels said Tuesday she’s prepared to testify before Congress. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is serving a 3-year prison sentence for campaign-finance violations and other charges, some of which are related to the hush-money payments.

I have no fear of being under oath because I have have been and will be honest. Bring it! https://t.co/69EJyd9PUh — Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) September 3, 2019

Impeachment remains a starkly partisan issue. The conservative magazine National Review this week called Nadler’s impeachment push a “farce.”

Recent polling found that a strong majority of Americans -- 59 percent -- say the president should not be impeached.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.