General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Does Pelosi need a majority in the House to start Impeachment hearings? [View all]StarfishSaver
(18,486 posts)The inquiry itself was conducted mostly behind closed doors - only the first 20 minutes of the first hearing in May was done in public - and had little impact on public opinion. Other factors outside of the impeachment proceedings - including the Senate Watergate hearings, criminal prosecutions and convictions, the Saturday Night Massacre, Agnew's conviction and resignation, Nixon's continued defiance of the courts, and the Supreme Court order to turn over the tapes, were much more influential than the impeachment inquiry itself, which turned up no new information and people weren't privy to for until the very end when the Articles of Impeachment were drafted, debated and voted on. And by the time the inquiry was opened to the public, support for impeachment was well over 50%.