House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday any push, including one by environmentalist Tom Steyer, to impeach President Trump is still “premature.”
The longtime Maryland Democrat said Democratic leadership, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are against impeachment efforts, but said he remains open to the possibility.
“I think the leader and I have made it very clear that impeachment … is premature at this point in time” Hoyer told reporters. “It’s not necessarily off the table at some time in the future, but is premature at this point in time.”
Hoyer was responding to a question about Steyer, who is spearheading a $10 million advertising campaign, including a national ad released over the weekend. Hoyer said Steyer is still behind the Democratic message, despite the impeachment push.
“Tom Steyer is for our message. He also has an individual focus on impeachment, but he is for our message. If you asked Tom Steyer today ‘are you for the things Hoyer just said,’ he would say yes,” Hoyer said.
“Very frankly, I think that every Democrat thinks that … the daily actions and the conduct of the president of the United States today is dangerous to our country, destabilizing to our economy, and harmful to our people, and we’re not happy with that,” Hoyer continued.
“We weren’t for this president, obviously. That does not mean that we think, at this point in time — and we may have a disagreement with Mr. Steyer. I’ve seen his comments — that we ought to move to impeachment at this point in time.”
In his ad released on Saturday, Steyer argued Trump is a “clear and present danger” to the U.S. and is “mentally unstable.”
“A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. And today, people in Congress and his own administration know that this President is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons,” Steyer said in the ad.
A top contributor to Democratic candidates in recent years, Steyer himself is considering a run for office, including in 2018 for the seat occupied by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
