The new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, said on Friday it is “too early” to talk about impeaching President Trump.
The New York Democrat, who took over as chairman when the 116th Congress convened Thursday, said he disagreed with other lawmakers in his party already advocating impeachment.
Nadler also distanced himself from Thursday night comments by first-term Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. “We’re gonna go in and impeach the motherf—ker,” Tlaib said, recounting a conversation she had with her son about Trump, at an event hosted by the progressive group MoveOn.
“I don’t really like that kind of language,” Nadler told CNN Friday morning.
Nadler added he would have to wait to see what came of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race and other matters, along with separate probes by the Judiciary Committee.
“More to the point, I disagree with what she said. It is too early to talk about that [impeachment] intelligently. We have to follow the facts, we have to get the facts. That’s why it is important to protect the Mueller investigation, that’s why it’s important to do our own inquiry.”
Many members of the new House Democratic majority have voiced support for impeachment proceedings against Trump. But Nadler said impeachment could not be partisan and would need buy-in from at least some Republican lawmakers to be credible.
“We have to get the facts, we will see where the facts lead,” he said. “Maybe that will lead to impeachment, maybe it won’t. It is much too early. We must have the facts now, and we must have the facts in order to say that impeachment… is necessary.”
