House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) vowed that House Democrats would continue their oversight probes into the Trump administration after special counsel Robert Mueller briefed the public about his investigation into Russia’s election meddling.
Pelosi said Mueller’s report, released in April, and his briefing “provide a record for future action both in the Congress and in the courts regarding the Trump Administration involvement in Russian interference and obstruction of the investigation.”
{mosads}“The Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the President accountable for his abuse of power. The Congress will continue to investigate and legislate to protect our elections and secure our democracy. The American people must have the truth,” she added.
Notably absent from Pelosi’s statement was any talk of impeachment, an issue that has gripped the House Democratic delegation in recent weeks.
The California Democrat and other top lieutenants in House leadership have beat back calls from rank-and-file members for impeachment, which have neared a fever pitch in recent weeks as the White House defies subpoenas from several House committees.
Mueller found insufficient evidence to charge President Trump with conspiring with Moscow to meddle in the 2016 elections but declined to make a prosecutorial judgement in his April report about whether the president obstructed justice regarding the investigation. In his report, Mueller outlined 10 “episodes” that his team investigated for possible obstruction.
The special counsel doubled down on his assertion Wednesday that he did not exonerate Trump, and said, “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.”
Mueller said that existing Justice Department guidelines prevented his team from charging Trump with a crime because he is a sitting president.
Pelosi seized on Mueller’s Wednesday comments, saying the special counsel “made clear that he did not exonerate the President.”
“Despite Department of Justice policy to the contrary, no one is above the law – not even the President.”