House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) privately told senior Democrats that she’d like to see President Trump “in prison,” Politico reported Wednesday.
Her remarks came during a meeting Tuesday night with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and other top Democrats leading investigations against the White House, multiple sources told Politico.
{mosads}Nadler reportedly pressed Pelosi to let his committee launch an impeachment inquiry, which the Democratic leader denied.
“I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison,” Pelosi said, according to Politico.
Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the alleged quote from The Hill.
Nadler on Wednesday told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “it may very well come to” launching an impeachment inquiry but that “right now, there doesn’t appear to be the support for it.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) were all also present for the meeting, per Politico.
Pelosi has sought for months to tamp down talk of impeaching Trump, arguing that public support and strong bipartisan backing are prerequisites.
Even as an increasing number of House Democrats call for impeachment based on the results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Pelosi has tried to project a united party.
“Make no mistake, we know exactly what path we’re on. We know exactly what actions we need to take,” she told reporters Wednesday, per Politico.