Top Democrat Says ‘Not There Yet’ With Trump Impeachment
In a new interview with CBS News, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said that the United States Congress is “not there yet” when it comes to the impeachment of Donald Trump.
Cummings said that the Congress first needs to obtain additional information pertaining to possible obstruction of justice by the president, and then possibly move forward with impeachment proceedings. Until then, he said, the Congress needs to be “careful.”
“The American people — a lot of them clearly still don’t believe that President Trump is doing things to destroy our democracy and has done a lot of things very poorly,” the top Democrat said, accusing Trump of “doing great harm” to the United States, and democracy in the country.
“And so I think that number one, we need to make sure the Congress has all the information and then we need to be able to have the public know that information so that they can see that they have a president that basically has been about the business, I think, of doing great harm not only to our country but to our democracy.”
Cummings added that Mueller provided a “roadmap” for Congress, suggesting that it continues investigating the president. As CBS News noted, in his final report Mueller refrained from definitively accusing Trump of obstructing justice, but refused to exonerate him of the crime.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, President Donald Trump and his advisers have been cleared of collusion, but the president has not exactly been cleared of obstruction — mainly, according to Mueller, due to the fact that his attempts to influence the investigation were largely unsuccessful.
Trump failed to obstruct Mueller’s probe because his aides and advisers pushed back against his initiatives, essentially refusing to follow the commander-in-chief’s orders. The Mueller report paints an unflattering picture of a hectic, highly-chaotic White House, in which the president is almost openly disobeyed by his subordinates.
CNN’s Jake Tapper: “Do you want to move forward on articles of impeachment, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for today?”
Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings: “I may very well, but I want to make sure that I’ve got all my facts in a row” pic.twitter.com/EMlXTPH96q
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 19, 2019
This has apparently angered Trump, who is allegedly furious at former White House officials who talked to the special counsel’s office, seemingly revealing the disarray and turmoil in the highest office in the country. According to media reports, Trump is not only angry at his former aides for talking to Mueller, he is also becoming increasingly worried that his current advisers will betray him at some point in the future.
Nancy Pelosi is coming under pressure by progressives demanding she push for impeachment of President Trump https://t.co/IzcB6PSkuJ
— Bloomberg (@business) April 20, 2019
Some Democrats have openly called for the impeachment of Donald Trump — House progressives in particular — but top Democrats like Jerry Nadler, and Adam Schiff have all warned against it. The issue appears to be dividing the Democratic Party, according to Business Insider.
