Clyburn says pursuing Trump impeachment ‘would be a waste of our time’

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Tuesday poured cold water on the idea of pursuing impeachment proceedings against President Trump over a phone call between him and Georgia’s secretary of state, but said officials in Georgia should bring criminal charges against the president after he leaves office.

Speaking with CNN’s “New Day,” Clyburn indicated that he thought the president’s request for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” more than 11,000 votes he would need to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state was illegal.

“It would be a waste of our time here in the House to pursue impeachment. I suspect if all that I’ve heard on this tape is to be investigated there could very well be criminal charges brought by state and local governments down there in Georgia … and I would hope that that would be pursued,” he said.

“I would hope that the House of Representatives would spend its time concentrating on getting ready for this new administration and getting this House in order … so that we can get beyond this pandemic,” Clyburn continued. “That’s where I think our energy ought to be.”

Pursuing impeachment over Trump’s Georgia call “would be a waste of our time here in the House,” @WhipClyburn says.

He urged lawmakers to instead prepare for the new administration “to deliver for the American people so that we can get beyond this pandemic” pic.twitter.com/CNCHdzCdEn

— New Day (@NewDay) January 5, 2021

Audio of the phone call was made public by The Washington Post on Sunday. Democrats immediately condemned the call but few have gone as far as calling for impeachment in the waning days of Trump’s presidency.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), however, did call for Trump to face immediate impeachment proceedings on Sunday.

“I absolutely think it’s an impeachable offense, and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor quite quickly, but he, I mean, he is trying to — he is attacking our very election. He’s attacking our very election,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday.

On the roughly hourlong call, the president could be heard repeating a number of conspiracy theories about the elections in Georgia ranging from ballots being supposedly shredded in Fulton County, home to Atlanta, and claims about Dominion voting machines that have been sharply denied by the company itself.

Raffensperger refused on the call to bow to the president’s wishes and overturn his election defeat.