Robert Mueller left it to Congress to figure out what to do with his evidence that President Donald Trump may have obstructed justice, but Democratic leaders are putting the brakes on politically charged actions that could lead to an impeachment spectacle.
“Too early,” said House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, whose panel would conduct an impeachment probe.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff agreed. “The evidence would have to be quite overwhelming” to gain bipartisan support for a conviction, he told CNN. “I continue to think that a failed impeachment is not in the national interest.”
Mueller’s report released Thursday identified at least 10 instances of potential obstruction of justice by the president, including discouraging others from cooperating with the Russia probe and dangling possible pardons. Still, top congressional Democrats aren’t taking the bait on an immediate impeachment inquiry. Some dismissed the idea outright. Most depicted months of congressional hearings and fact-finding ahead.
”The report provides a conundrum for Congress by virtually inviting an impeachment probe around the obstruction issue,” tweeted David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have been playing down impeachment talk for months. They believe voters may tire of Trump investigations and that most Senate Republicans wouldn’t vote to convict. Democrats also know an impeachment proceeding could overshadow their proposed legislation on gun control, violence against women, and especially health care, which helped the party take back the House in 2018.
Polls showed that most of the public didn’t support impeaching the president before Mueller’s findings. Now Mueller, in concluding that he was unable to exonerate Trump for obstruction, has thrown the matter into Congress’ hands.
“It must fall to Congress to assess the president’s improper, corrupt and immoral conduct,” the leaders of six House Democratic committees said in a statement. Without mentioning possible impeachment, they said Mueller’s report “outlines efforts to destroy evidence, conceal evidence through encrypted apps, and otherwise interfere with the special counsel’s ability to conduct this investigation.”
The six House panels are conducting a series of investigations into separate allegations of corruption, abuses of presidential power, and possible wrongdoing in Trump’s banking relationships.
Nadler’s panel has called Attorney General William Barr to testify on May 2 about his handling of the Mueller report, and Nadler plans to subpoena the full report and supporting materials. And numerous top Democrats want Mueller to testify to Congress.