WASHINGTON: Top congressional Democrats left the door open on Sunday to pursue the impeachment of US President Donald , but said they would first need to complete their own investigations into whether he obstructed justice in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Democratic Party leaders have cautioned against impeachment just 18 months before the 2020 presidential election, although prominent liberals have called for the start of proceedings to remove Trump from office since the release on Thursday of Mueller’s report.
US House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, whose panel would spearhead any impeachment proceedings, said Democrats would press ahead with probes of Trump in Congress and “see where the facts lead us”. “Obstruction of justice, if proven, would be impeachable,” Nadler told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Mueller’s report stopped short of concluding Trump had committed a crime, but it did not exonerate him either. Mueller noted that Congress has the power to address whether Trump violated the law, and Democrats said it would be a matter of discussion in the coming weeks.
“That’s going to be a very consequential decision and one I’m going to reserve judgment on until we have a chance to fully deliberate on it,” House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff said on “Fox News Sunday.” Nadler has issued a subpoena to the US justice department to hand over the full and other relevant evidence by May 1, although the department called the request “premature and unnecessary”.
With Republicans standing by Trump, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cautioned against an impeachment effort that would have no chance of success in the Republican-led Senate. US Senator Elizabeth became the first major contender for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination to call for the start of impeachment proceedings, saying on Twitter on Friday that “the severity of this misconduct” demanded it.
Democratic House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Congress needed to look at Trump’s finances and gauge Mueller’s intentions with his report. He said even if Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic impeachment effort, “I think history would smile upon us for standing up for the Constitution.” reuters