House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remained mum Wednesday about the prospect of President Trump’s impeachment.
The California Democrat’s resistance against some of her conference to begin proceedings to forcibly remove Trump from office comes after special counsel Robert Mueller delivered a statement regarding the Trump-Russia investigation.
“Special Counsel Mueller made clear that he did not exonerate the President when he stated, ‘If we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,'” the speaker, 79, said in a statement. “He stated that the decision not to indict stemmed directly from the Department of Justice’s policy that a sitting President cannot be indicted. Despite Department of Justice policy to the contrary, no one is above the law — not even the President.”
[Related: Mueller explains why he didn’t reach conclusion on obstruction]
Pelosi, however, said Congress “holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate” and keep Trump “accountable for his abuse of power.” She also pushed election reforms passed by the House in March, which have yet to be considered by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Pelosi’s reluctance to endorse impeachment was parroted in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement, who said congressional oversight should continue “without interference or stonewalling.”
“Mr. Mueller made clear today that the Russians interfered in our elections, the wellspring of our democracy. If President Trump and Congress don’t do anything, it will be worse in 2020 and yet, inexplicably, Sen. McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate are blocking bipartisan election security legislation, despite Democrats’ repeated calls to protect our democracy from interference — by Russia or any other foreign adversary,” the New York Democrat said.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was the lone member of leadership to add that special counsel should appear before lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“After his press conference this morning, I believe that Special Counsel Mueller needs to testify before Congress, and I continue to call on Attorney General Barr to release the full, unredacted report to Congress,” the Maryland Democrat said.
While House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., indicated Wednesday he supports probes of Trump, his 2016 campaign, and the president’s business dealings, a high-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary panel joined the growing chorus advocating for Nadler to take next steps toward Trump’s ouster.
“The next step is for the House Judiciary Committee to open an impeachment inquiry to formally begin consideration of whether or not articles of impeachment should be filed,” Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., wrote in series of tweets. “The opening of this inquiry will allow the Committee to collect evidence, compel the attendance of witnesses, and decide how to proceed.”
[Also read: Cory Booker calls for impeachment proceedings to begin]
