House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said on Thursday that he doesn’t think it would be “worthwhile” to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Trump, following the release of the highly anticipated Mueller report.
“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point,” Hoyer told CNN‘s Dana Bash, adding “Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement.”
House Majority @LeaderHoyer just told me : “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement,”
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) April 18, 2019
Perhaps it has something to do with Mueller’s findings of no collusion with Russia, combined with 10 instances of potential obstruction that didn’t rise to the level of a chargeable crime.
Hoyer’s comments echoed those of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who said recently that impeaching Trump is “not worth” the political divide it would cause.
“Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country,” Pelosi said in March.
Trump on Thursday quoted Fox News‘s Jesse Watters, who said “Donald Trump was being framed, he fought back. That is not Obstruction.” The President then added “I had the right to end the whole Witch Hunt if I wanted. I could have fired everyone, including Mueller, if I wanted. I chose not to. I had the RIGHT to use Executive Privilege. I didn’t!”
“Donald Trump was being framed, he fought back. That is not Obstruction.” @JesseBWatters I had the right to end the whole Witch Hunt if I wanted. I could have fired everyone, including Mueller, if I wanted. I chose not to. I had the RIGHT to use Executive Privilege. I didn’t!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2019
Not all Democrats agree that impeachment is off the table. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said on Thursday afternoon that impeachment was still “one possibility” but that it was “too early to reach those conclusions.”
NADLER on impeachment: “That’s one possibility… it’s too early to reach those conclusions.” pic.twitter.com/f2GhqrheqM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 18, 2019
Meanwhile, the rest of the Democratic party has had mixed feelings on the notion of impeachment:
Rank-and-file House Democrats have had more mixed opinions on the prospect of impeachment. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) made headlines earlier this year when she said the incoming Congress would “impeach the motherf—er,” referring to Trump, but Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another of several progressive freshmen members, was cooler on the idea of impeachment, noting the difficulty of getting the votes to convict with a Republican majority in the Senate. –The Hill
Other Democrats simply want Trump gone by any means. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) has unsuccessfully introduced articles of impeachment against Trump several times – says that his motive has nothing to do with the Mueller report, rather, that Trump’s statements amount to “bigotry.”
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2Gg31Y0 Tyler Durden