The impeachment battle: Rice U. expert available for comment on what happens next

Editor’s note: Brace is available for phone, email and Skype interviews. To schedule an interview, contact him directly at 832-628-5285.

NEWS RELEASE

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

The impeachment battle: Rice U. expert available for comment on what happens next

HOUSTON – (Sept. 25, 2019) – As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launches a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, Rice University political scientist Paul Brace is available to comment on what comes next.

Paul Brace. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

“An inflection point may have been reached,” Brace said. “This was triggered by a whistleblower and stunning revelations about President Trump. The president allegedly used U.S. aid as a cudgel against Ukraine to induce an investigation. He wished to have Ukraine revive a dormant matter concerning Joe Biden’s son and his business dealing in Ukraine.”

Brace said where the Mueller report “was nuanced and steeped in legalese, the current revelation is a stark, political and seemingly clear overreach by President Trump.”

“While it is early, initial reactions suggest this action was sufficiently concerning to move many Democrats to support an impeachment investigation,” Brace said. “Moreover, there are some signs that the matter prompted bipartisan movement, as the Senate passed a unanimous resolution to obtain the whistleblower report.

“In Churchill’s words, this is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning,” he said. “We now move into even fiercer battles to control evidence, testimony and, most importantly, the narrative.”

Brace, the Clarence L. Carter Professor of Political Science at Rice, is widely published in the areas of U.S. politics and judicial decision-making. He comments regularly on presidential politics, the judiciary and the U.S. government. For more information on Brace, visit http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~pbrace/. To schedule an interview, contact him directly at 832-628-5285.

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Related materials:

Paul Brace bio: https://politicalscience.rice.edu/paul-brace

Images for download: https://news2.rice.edu/files/2019/02/190204_-Brace_fitlow_029-1exe76e.jpg

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