House Judiciary Chair Nadler is fed up with the semantics around impeachment

Jerry Nadler.
(Image credit: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

What exactly should we call the House Judiciary Committee's investigation into President Trump? The top Democrat doesn't much care.

The Judiciary Committee met Thursday to take a vote on the parameters of their Trump investigation, with this coming amid mixed messages from Democrats about what, exactly, the probe is. Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D) has previously said the committee is effectively conducting an impeachment inquiry right now. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday that actually, Democrats aren't conducting an impeachment inquiry, only to backtrack and say he misunderstood the question, per Politico.

Nadler didn't exactly clear up this confusion Thursday but asserted this debate doesn't matter.

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"This committee is engaged in an investigation that will allow us to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to President Trump," Nadler said. "That is what we are doing. Some call this process an impeachment inquiry. Some call it an impeachment investigation. There is no legal difference between these terms, and I no longer care to argue about the nomenclature."

Republicans on the committee did, however, want to argue about the nomenclature, with Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) arguing the committee is "not in an impeachment inquiry" right now, that they need to "get the terms straight," and that since Democrats are trying to make this probe look like something it isn't, the committee has become a "giant Instagram filter."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.