Well, guess it’s official now. Nancy Pelosi has just announced that the House is moving forward with an impeachment inquiry.

Pelosi just announced publicly that an impeachment inquiry is moving forward — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 24, 2019

So, what does that mean, exactly?

Does "impeachment inquiry" mean anything specific? — Tim Carney (@TPCarney) September 24, 2019

Well, let’s see. Here’s what we learned earlier:

NEW: Emerging from Pelosi’s office, House Ways and Ways Chairman Richard Neal says each of the six chairmen will continue to investigate under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry. “The other committees are going to act under the umbrella of formal inquiry,” Neal told us — Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 24, 2019

Pelosi essentially echoed that in her announcement. Watch:

BREAKING: Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry." "The president must be held accountable; no one is above the law." https://t.co/E2e0WqWOBQ pic.twitter.com/CRELddNf7K — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 24, 2019

OK …

So what Pelosi is endorsing is a continuation of existing investigations the six committees are doing to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment. And assuming they do recommend articles of impeachment, Judiciary will vote on those articles before full House does — Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 24, 2019

So what Pelosi seems to be endorsing is essentially what already has been happening – but now she’s signaling she’s supportive of calling it impeachment inquiry with the goal to determine whether to impeach Trump Neal for one said he would continue his effort to get Trump taxes — Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 24, 2019

So, then … what’s the point of this exercise? Other than attempting to placate the Resistance and the media?

Pelosi is directing her six committees to keep doing what they have been doing. Thats not a big change. — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) September 24, 2019

Definitely not a big enough change for some of her colleagues:

Pelosi speaking. Meanwhile some Dems are not happy about what they heard and are speaking out in the caucus. “If you are asking us to stay on message, give us a goddamn message to stay on,” Rep. Slotkin said. — Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) September 24, 2019

More Slotkin: “We came out because this is something different, this meeting did not give me confidence that this will be something different.” — Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) September 24, 2019

Uh-oh …

Oof. If Nancy’s trying to make an already bad situation for the Democrats even worse, she’s doing a bang-up job.

PELOSI: “Today, I am announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” A rhetorical escalation, for sure. But lawmakers are openly questioning whether the newly charted path is any different from what they’ve already been doing. — Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) September 24, 2019

Has anything really changed besides Pelosi stating she will now refer to investigations already under way as an impeachment inquiry? Why take the hit with awful polling and not have teeth of a select committee? — Elliott Schwartz (@elliosch) September 24, 2019

Because AOC doesn’t want one? This is all going just great.

Wait, this is it? The same, but more intense? Once more with feeling? She's just taking the quotation marks off "impeachment inquiry"? LOL, what a joke. It's all a farce. H/t @JenWoodruff79. https://t.co/YKOS5oMjD3 — Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 24, 2019

So, to recap: -Pelosi has backed an impeachment INQUIRY

-Unclear If they’ll vote on opening an impeachment inquiry on the floor

-Unclear If they’ll vote on impeachment

-Unclear If Pelosi supports impeachment A lot of smoke at this point, very little fire. — Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) September 24, 2019

So it's exactly the sham it seemed it would be. Outstanding. Don't forget, kids, if the House doesn't vote for a formal inquiry, there isn't one, no matter how much Pelosi protests otherwise. And don't you dare pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. H/t @_Drew_McCoy_. https://t.co/msEqwe1D56 — Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) September 24, 2019

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.

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‘He can’t win’: Speaker Nancy Pelosi lays her cards on the table about impeachment