Nancy Pelosi Says She Won’t Seek Impeachment Of Trump Unless Acceptance Is ‘Clearly Bipartisan’
The swearing in of a new Congress today has many wondering what the fate of President Donald Trump will be at the hands of a Democrat-controlled House, especially as a number of newly released polls have indicated that many Americans believe there should be some type of action taken against the president.
Expected Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, has made it clear that this is not the outcome she plans to invoke, at least not right away, and explained to USA Today exactly what it would take for her to seek grounds to impeach the president.
In a new interview published on Thursday, January 3, the California Democrat said that seeking impeachment for the president is not her priority and will only do so if there are clear evidence and support from both political parties.
“If there’s to be grounds for impeachment of President Trump–and I’m not seeking those grounds–that would have to be so clearly bipartisan in terms of acceptance of it before I think we should go down any impeachment path,” Pelosi said.
Nancy continued, reminding the news outlet that the important word she continues to reiterate while discussing the subject is “facts.”
“The facts will indicate a path and I don’t think we should impeach a president for any political reason, but I don’t think we can ignore any behavior that requires attention and that was all based on the facts,” she explained.
Despite calls from some on the left wing of her party to try to remove President Trump from office, @NancyPelosi says the efforts to serve as a check on Trump’s power don’t extend to impeachment – at least not yet. https://t.co/LVsAN4eG2f pic.twitter.com/hMPf5r6Q61
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) January 3, 2019
Some attribute her caution around the action to watching Republicans lose seats in the House after pursuing impeachment for former president Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, though others expect Pelosi to eventually come around to the idea.
“The Democrats nationally want action around Trump,” said Kevin Mack, the lead strategist for the group Need to Impeach that has gathered 6.5 million signatures in support of impeachment. “We as a party have to prove that we can represent Democratic values. So, I don’t think Nancy Pelosi can be a speed bump on impeachment forever.”
Meanwhile, other Congressional Democrats do not see the need to act cautiously around the subject. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, California Rep. Brad Sherman plans to introduce articles of impeachment against President Trump today as the new session of Congress convenes, continuing an effort he first introduced in 2017.
On the first day of Democratic control of the House, Northridge Democrat Brad Sherman plans to introduce a measure to impeach Donald Trump. https://t.co/MSVcuYkgWw
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 3, 2019
The difference this time, however, is that the decision on whether or not to act lies in the hands of Democrats rather than the president’s Republican allies.
At the same time, a number of surveys have shown an increasing amount of support for action to be taken against President Trump. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the results of a new Harvard/CAPS Harris poll suggest a majority would like to see the president either impeached or formally censured.
