WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to quell a rising furor Sunday over whether Democratic lawmakers will seek to impeach President Trump, saying in an interview on CBS News’ “Sunday Morning” that the public has yet to hear the conclusions of special counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation.
Democrats are unlikely to pursue a path of impeachment without Republican backing, Pelosi hinted. That could hinge significantly on whether Mueller’s probe uncovers concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
“If and when the time comes for impeachment,” she said, “it will have to be something that has such a crescendo in a bipartisan way.”
Pelosi’s remarks come amid days of Democratic infighting after newly elected Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., vowed at a progressive gathering Thursday to “impeach the (expletive),” referring to Trump. In Washington, a wave of shock accompanied Tlaib’s use of profanity.
Many of Tlaib’s colleagues have cautioned against moving too quickly toward impeachment. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., on Sunday told ABC News that impeaching Trump would be “an unbelievably serious undertaking.”
“We need to be very deliberate, very careful and very serious about how we do this,” he said. “We need to see Mueller’s report, and we need to make a very, very strong case if there is one to be made.”
Others said that while House lawmakers could “line up the votes,” a bid for impeachment would be fruitless without Republican support in the Senate.
“If the Republican senators, at least some of them, are not on board, then all you have is a failed impeachment, and I don’t think that benefits the country,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on CNN.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
