Reps. Abigail Spanberger (center) and Elaine Luria (right) after a House Democratic caucus meeting following Nancy Pelosi's announcement of a formal impeachment inquiry. congress Vulnerable Democrats fear impeachment messaging stumbles Centrist freshmen expressed concern behind closed doors that the caucus lacked clear messaging and strategy.

Moderate Democrats finally took a major step toward impeaching President Donald Trump. Now some are afraid their own colleagues could squander it.

In a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, multiple centrist lawmakers expressed concern that the caucus lacked clear messaging or strategy going forward, which could soon suck the air out of the move toward impeachment, according to multiple lawmakers and aides.


“If you are asking us to stay on message, give us a goddamn message to stay on,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said in the private caucus meeting, according to multiple Democrats in the room.

Slotkin, whose comments came after Speaker Nancy Pelosi had already left the meeting to deliver a televised statement endorsing an impeachment inquiry, was voicing a sentiment that quickly gained steam among the moderates.

That’s particularly true of the vulnerable freshmen in GOP districts who took the impeachment plunge because of concerns with Trump’s threat to national security and who now fear that Democrats plan to engage in another wonky process debate that will distract from the allegations of Trump's abuse of power.

Another first-term Democrat, Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, raised a similar sentiment about Democrats losing focus on what led the party to this moment, after Pelosi and other key chairmen outlined a multi-step plan for their impeachment inquiry involving the six committees investigating Trump.

Several moderates are also privately worried about members of their caucus going too far, with some progressives declaring prematurely that Democrats are ready to imminently impeach Trump.



They say they want the message focused squarely on Trump pressing a foreign leader to investigate Joe Biden — an effort seemed designed to aid Trump’s reelection — which Slotkin, Spanberger and five other freshmen described as a potentially “impeachable offense” in a joint op-ed Monday night.

Trump has denied wrongdoing but acknowledged he urged Ukraine to investigate the former vice president in a call with the country’s president in July. Pelosi told her caucus it was a “betrayal” of his oath of office and warrants a full and “expeditious” impeachment investigation.

Several members praised the freshman members’ op-ed and stressed that it should be the core of the message, according to multiple people in the room.

Democratic leaders are also emphasizing "unity of message," with House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries urging members to "resist the temptation however possible to take shots at each other publicly" over process disputes.



Still, moderates say they are worried that the narrative is already straying from the president’s actions to where House Democrats stand on impeachment — the same scenario that they believe hurt the party as they attempted to use Robert Mueller’s report against Trump earlier this year.

“The focus should be on what actually is happening, what the concern is, what led us to publish that op-ed,” said Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), one of seven freshman Democrats with national security resumes who backed impeachment proceedings in the op-ed.

As instructed by Pelosi, the multiple committee chairmen investigating Trump should present their best evidence to the House Judiciary Committee so that the panel can determine whether to draft articles of impeachment.

New Window INTERACTIVE: See where House lawmakers stand on impeachment

But the where, the when, the how of that strategy? It wasn’t articulated by top Democrats, several lawmakers privately complained afterward.

Pelosi did emphasize at times that the caucus would focus on national security.

“[R]ight now, we have to strike while the iron is hot,” Pelosi told lawmakers, according to a Democratic aide in the room. “This is a national security issue — a national security issue — and we cannot let him think that this is a casual thing, so that's where I'm at.”

“In any event, our messaging is: the president admits to this,” she instructed lawmakers, according to the aide, though many members had already left.

Pelosi added that Trump has betrayed “his oath of office, our foreign policy, our national security and the integrity of our elections, therefore we are moving forward with this inquiry.”

One of the Democrats who penned the op-ed, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), added that she did believe Democrats’ messaging focus going forward would be on Trump’s blunt acknowledgment that he had spoken to Ukrainian leaders about Biden at the same time as he was withholding military aid from the country.

“The sole focus is on this particular instance where the president solicited the assistance of a foreign leader in order to conduct an investigation to smear and malign his political opponent, ostensibly influence the outcome of our next election,” Luria said.

Pelosi told members that Democratic leaders planned to release a notecard with specific talking points after the meeting based on members' input, though not all lawmakers and aides heard that part of her remarks.

But several Democrats said they had already expected a full set of talking points from leadership and the committees on such a pivotal day for the caucus. Many also wanted a specific timeline for action.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin leaves a House Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Lawmakers said they’re concerned that by not singling out the Ukraine controversy — and aggressively pursuing an impeachment investigation based on that alone — they risk dragging out the process further, bumbling their message and losing the public’s attention at a critical point.

“We haven’t done a great job as a caucus of communicating clearly what the real problem is and what we’re trying to investigate,” Slotkin said later when asked about her remarks to the caucus.

“Obviously we have a lot of investigations already ongoing. But I think it’s important that we focus on this one,” Slotkin added. “It’s clear, it’s understandable, it’s strategic, and we need to bring along the country with us.”

While the caucus’ most vulnerable members have been the most vocal, several other Democrats expressed similar concerns about the uncertain path ahead.

Multiple Democrats said they’re worried the impeachment investigation could turn into a mockery based on how the probe has progressed so far — from the circus surrounding Corey Lewandowski’s testimony before the Judiciary panel last week to the antics from colleagues like Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and his fried chicken stunt when Attorney General William Barr stood them up earlier this year.

Moderates, in particular, said they were looking for Democratic leaders to adopt a clear and forceful message on Trump to match what they see as a watershed moment for the caucus.

“There’s no going back at this point. But going forward, we need to be in a mindspace where cooler heads prevail,” one senior aide close to the moderate wing said. “You’ve got one shot to do this.”

