Speaker Nancy Pelosi scheduled a Monday evening conference call with top House Democrats to discuss Mueller’s garbage report and the “next steps to be taken.”
Last week, Pelosi cited the portion of Mueller’s report that states, “We concluded Congress has authority to prohibit a president’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice,” which “accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.”
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Just hours before Monday evening’s conference call, Pelosi sent a letter to members of her caucus, asking for unity on what to do next regarding their response to Mueller’s garbage report.
Although the top House Dems discussed impeachment on Monday evening’s teleconference, they decided they weren’t going to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Trump…yet.
The Democrats were afraid of the political consequences and didn’t want to guarantee Trump a second term with too much impeachment talk, according to CBS News.
Pelosi and the Democrat Chairs of several Committees however, decided they will keep digging into President Trump with investigations before making a decision on impeachment.
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Democrat lawmakers also acknowledged the GOP-controlled Senate would not move forward and convict the president if the House were to impeach Trump.
Via CBS News:
But some members questioned whether the House should be doing more to hold the president accountable for the actions detailed in the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
“I think we have great evidence that the president has blatantly violated so many laws, it’s just ridiculous,” said Rep. Val Demings of Florida, who sits on both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. “As a 27-year law enforcement officer, while I understand we need to see the full report and all supporting documents, I believe we have enough evidence now.”
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon asked about the prospect of censuring the president. Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, mentioned the last president who was censured, Andrew Jackson, and noted the motion did not have much of a legal impact.
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California Rep. Maxine Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee and the highest-ranking House Democrat who supports impeachment, told her colleagues her position on impeachment hasn’t changed since the release of the Mueller report. But she also said she isn’t actively pushing for it.
Pelosi again spoke and urged members to follow the facts first. She didn’t take impeachment off the table entirely, but urged caution among her members, sources said.
According to CBS News, one liberal lawmaker said the teleconference was “bullshit,” while another member of the caucus said in a text message, “If we in Congress think we should [proceed with impeachment], she can’t stop us. This is an existential threat to democracy and leadership needs to STFU. This isn’t about winning re-election, this is about saving democracy.”
