ST. LOUIS — As the impeachment inquiry into President Trump takes over daytime TV many are wondering who's footing the bill?
Viewer Teresa asked "Where are the Democrats getting the money to pay for the impeachment investigation? Is it true that Nancy Pelosi took $40 million out of Social Security to pay for this impeachment process?"
Our sources for this story were Alex Lawson — an expert on Social Security — the office of Congressman Lacy Clay and the Fiscal Year 2019 Budget.
So first, let's look at the claim that millions were taken out of social security.
Our Verify team found that the origin of that story came from a website called — and we're not making this up — PotatriotsUnite.com.
The website is satirical. Even still, our Social Security expert said there are legal protections against that sort of thing.
“It’s impossible. There’s no mechanism of it. The law is really clear that the premiums that we pay into Social Security can be only used for benefits and the administration of the services to provide those benefits," Lawson, the Executive Director of Social Security Works, said.
So we can verify, that claim is false. Money for the impeachment proceedings did not come from Social Security.
But let's take this a step further, where does the money come from?
When it comes to a special counsel investigation, like the one conducted by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, his funding was financed by the U.S. Treasury by money that is set aside for those types of investigations.
When it comes to the hearings, Congressman Lacy Clay's office said that money comes from funding already allocated to Congress to conduct their business.
For the budget wonks out there, it technically falls under the "legislative operations" budget.
So, in short, all of the money used for impeachment is money that has already set aside for these types of things.
