The most epic moment of Pelosi’s oversight abdication was, of course, her response to the Mueller Report. She was completely outfoxed by Bill Barr’s shameless misdirection at first, and once his sleight of hand became obvious, she seemed to have no strategy to hold Trump to account in any way. She was presented with striking evidence that President Trump repeatedly abused the power of his office to obstruct justice — the charge that brought down Nixon, and was one charge that forced even Bill Clinton into a Senate trial — and was all but invited by Mueller to move the ball forward through impeachment: “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Pelosi immediately, reflexively, punted.
Pelosi is no shrinking violet; I suspect she wants to let the Mueller report and Trump’s serial indecencies simmer for awhile. That would have made sense, ohhhh, 10-years ago — but memories are short in the modern media era. And with FOX News commanding roughly one-third of the American appetite for news, I am sure that many Americans don’t know yet that the report doesn’t come close to giving Trump a pass. It may be that the only way to focus public attention on Trump’s corruption and incompetence is to start impeachment hearings just to force news coverage.