Rep. Jim Clyburn, R-S.C., said Sunday that Congress should conduct full investigations before deciding whether to try and impeach President Trump.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Clyburn, the House majority whip, said special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report would lay a foundation and a guide for further investigation into Trump. The report said there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election cycle, but Democrats have seized on instances examined by Mueller’s team that might have constituted obstruction of justice.
“Mr. Mueller laid out for us a road, map but what people seem not to be talking about is Mueller also said that on this road map there are some barricades that were erected,” Clyburn said. “[Mueller] says that the best vehicle to get around these barricades and road blocks is the Congress and then we are going to do our work but we’re not going to do it haphazardly.”
Clyburn said “timing is everything” and noted that while Congress could just rush into impeachment proceedings quickly, “It is something else to lay a foundation, gather the facts, educate the American people, so that we can see exactly what needs to be done and when we should do it.”
Some members of the Democratic caucus have called for Trump’s impeachment after the release of the report, including 2020 hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. But Democratic leaders led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have pushed for investigations in lieu of immediate action on impeachment.
