One sportsbook has temporarily removed their 2020 Presidential Election odds.
On Wednesday, odds on who will win the White House next year were taken off the board at Bovada bookmakers — due to the sweeping investigations against President Donald Trump (Bovada: +200 | 33.33%) and a pending Senate vote on his national emergency declaration to construct a U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Before the 2020 odds were taken off the board, Trump’s odds of re-election were at +200 (giving him an implied probability of 33.33%), which made him the overall favorite as a Republican in a growing field of Democratic candidates.
Before the odds were made unavailable, Sen. Kamala Harris (Bovada: +500 | 16.67%) was the favorite among the Democrats seeking the party’s 2020 nomination.
This comes after the House Judiciary Committee launched a massive investigation into Trump’s business deals and campaign finances on Monday.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler announced that the committee was sending letters to 81 people and organizations in the White House, Justice Department, and officials involved with the Trump Organization and campaign.
Both Trump and his administration initially said they would cooperate with the House committee.
But then Trump and White House lawyers on Tuesday refused to cooperate, rejecting the security clearance documents requested by the Judiciary Committee as part of its probe. The House committee has given the Trump administration two weeks to comply before they request a subpoena.
Reports also surfaced on Tuesday claiming that Trump pressured former chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn into giving his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, top-level security clearance despite recommendations from Kelly and McGahn.
Trump and his White House aides would then lash out at the House committee probe led by Democrats and reporting regarding security clearance being forcibly given to family members.
“They want to [investigate me] instead of getting legislation passed,” Trump said. “Eighty-one people or organizations got letters. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace to our country.”
Trump then turned to Twitter, calling the investigation against him, “The greatest overreach in the history of our Country.”
He would then immediately follow up with another tweet:
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement as well, claiming Democrats have embarked on a “fishing expedition” and that their “intimidation and abuse of American citizens is shameful.”
House Democrats believe if the probe findings prove the President abused his power via collusion, obstruction of justice, abusing his office for personal gain, or substantial evidence from any other allegations made before and during his presidency, then there would be grounds to begin Trump’s impeachment proceedings.
Adding to the Trump investigations, the House passed a bill this week to block the President’s national emergency declaration to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
After the House passed the bill, several GOP senators publicly announced over the weekend that they intended to vote in favor of blocking Trump’s national emergency declaration.
Trump has already said publicly that he will veto the bill attempting to block his own declaration and took to Twitter again today, urging Republicans to “STAY UNITED!”
If the bill is vetoed, it would not only be the first of Trump’s presidency, but the House (controlled by Dems) and the Senate (controlled by GOP) would need a two-thirds majority to override the President’s veto, meaning the House must have 290 votes (passed bill with only 245) and the Senate must have 67 votes (51 votes are expected so far).
The Senate is expected to call for a vote before going to recess on March 18.
Even though betting odds on specific candidates are temporarily unavailable, odds on which party will win the 2020 Presidential Election are still available from Bovada bookmakers.
Currently, the nominee from the Democratic Party (-150) is favored to win the presidency in 2020 while the nominee from the Republican Party (+120) is considered the underdog.