Pelosi on Trump impeachment: ‘You’re wasting your time’ without GOP buy-in
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back against Democrats saying she is setting too high a bar for impeaching President Trump, insisting that anything short of that is “wasting your time.”
Pelosi said in an interview with USA Today that some progressive Democrats in the House have “wanted to impeach the president since the day he got elected.”
She argued that Democrats should focus on legislation they campaigned on in 2018 instead of whether they should impeach Trump at this point.
“You’re wasting your time, unless the evidence is so conclusive that the Republicans will understand,” Pelosi told USA Today. “Otherwise, it’s a gift to the president. We take our eye off the ball.”
Pelosi’s latest comments come after she told The Washington Post in an interview published last week that trying to impeach Trump is “just not worth it” unless there is bipartisan support.
“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 the interview. “And he’s just not worth it.”
Pelosi has long maintained that impeachment proceedings should be bipartisan and that pursuing it without GOP support would be a “gift” to Republicans.
“I made the comment that I made because I make it every week. I’ve made it July, August, September, October. I’ve made it all through the campaign. I made it in our transition, and I’ve made it every week. It didn’t seem to catch on until I had a gimmick. ‘He’s not worth it.’ Boom. It explodes,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference on Thursday when asked about her comments to The Washington Post.
“So many of you have said to me, ‘Why are you saying this now?’ Because I’ve said it almost every day, but if I frame it that way, it gets more attention.”
Some liberals agitating for Trump’s impeachment, including Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) and billionaire activist Tom Steyer, pushed back against Pelosi last week.
Green renewed his pledge to force another House floor vote to impeach President Trump. Green had previously announced in February that he would seek another impeachment vote but has yet to introduce articles of impeachment or offer a timeline.
“If we wait on Republicans who are not going to buy in, then there won’t be any impeachment,” Green said during the press conference in his office.
Green previously forced two procedural votes on his articles of impeachment against Trump in December 2017 and January 2018 while Republicans held the House majority. Neither effort succeeded, but each vote drew the support of around 60 Democrats.
Steyer’s group, Need to Impeach, has aired television ads and held town halls to pressure Democrats on impeachment.
“Speaker Pelosi thinks ‘he’s just not worth it?’ Well, is defending our legal system ‘worth it?’ Is holding the President accountable for his crimes and cover-ups ‘worth it?’ Is doing what’s right ‘worth it?’ Or shall America just stop fighting for our principles and do what’s politically convenient?” Steyer said last week.
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