In an interview with radio talk show host John Catsimatidis, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) said that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) got “rolled by the far left of her conference” on the House’s impeachment proceedings.
“I don’t think that [Nancy Pelosi] brought forth this impeachment because she woke up one day and decided that impeachment was the right thing to do,” Zeldin told Catsimatidis.
“I think that she got rolled by the far left of her conference. They forced her to take on this impeachment. I don’t think she wanted to be in this place.”
Zeldin also said that because of the impeachment proceedings, Pelosi and company had to give the USMCA trade deal as a win to Trump and Republicans.{mosads}
“Politically, if you’re going to move forward with this ridiculous impeachment, that’s why they’re trying to get USMCA over the finish line. And that’s why they don’t want a government shut down – because they will be blamed for it,” Zeldin said.
“There are wins here for the president that the speaker conceded on because she knows just how incredibly stupid this impeachment push is,” he added.
The New York congressman described the impeachment as “toxic,” saying that the whole process was “sucking up way too much bandwidth.”
This week, Pelosi and House Democrats formally introduced two articles of impeachment against President Trump: the first accusing him of abusing his power by leaning on a foreign country to open an investigation into a political rival, and a second accusing him of obstruction of Congress by refusing to comply with the impeachment probe.
On Thursday, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance the two articles of impeachment against Trump.
The articles now move to the floor of the House where they’re expected to be voted on sometime in the coming week. While the vote is expected to pass in the House, in recent days, some moderate Democrats have balked on voting yes.
Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that a Senate trial won’t begin until January.
Trump has called the impeachment investigation into his dealings with Ukraine a “witch hunt” and urged Republicans to defend him during a Senate trial.