Clinton: Not worth pursuing Trump impeachment with ‘do-nothing Senate’

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday backed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for her comment that impeaching President Trump “isn’t worth it,” saying the California lawmaker was chiefly concerned with putting “some points on the board” because of the “do-nothing” Republican-controlled Senate.

“I think Nancy is right to be cautious about making sure whatever is done in this Congress is more in accord with the very careful approach of 1973 and ‘4,” Clinton said while speaking at the Time 100 Summit.

{mosads}”And remember, the other piece of this is that the Congress has to keep working. I know she is very focused on putting some accomplishments on the table, even if they die in the do-nothing Senate, which they will, because that has become a hotbed of cynicism unlike anything I have ever seen,” she continued.

Clinton also said at the event, “I have a kind of weird personal history about impeachment,” which earned laughs from the crowd. 

“And not what you’re thinking,” she added, noting she was referring to her work as an attorney during former President Nixon’s administration, not to her husband, former President Clinton, who was impeached by the House but not the Senate in 1998.

Clinton, noting that she knows several current Republican senators through her time serving in the Senate, added, “I know some of these people, and they know better.”

“So, the House needs to put some points on the board, and that happened during Watergate,” Clinton said, referring to the buildup of impeachment proceedings against Nixon in 1973 and 1974.

Pelosi has frequently expressed disinterest in impeachment proceedings against Trump, reportedly warning ahead of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report that appearing overeager without securing any Republican support could hurt Democratic candidates in 2020.  

Clinton wrote a profile of Pelosi for Time’s annual “100 Most Influential People” list, which was released last week.

“There’s a saying that goes: ‘If you want something done, ask a busy woman to do it.’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi is living proof that when it comes to getting the job done, more often than not, it takes a woman,” the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate wrote.

During the Time 100 event, Clinton also said she thought Trump would have been indicted for obstruction of justice as a result of Mueller’s probe if he weren’t in the White House.

Updated 4:28 p.m.