House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, responded to public remarks from special counsel Robert Mueller by indicating that it is now the job of Congress to take over, Talking Points Memo reports. Mueller spoke publicly for the first time since beginning his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which included the possibility of coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign as well as the possibility of obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump himself.
Mueller, in his initial report and again on Wednesday’s remarks, indicated that he agreed with the standing interpretation of a Justice Department policy which precludes charging a sitting president with a crime. Therefore, Mueller said, regardless of the findings of his investigation, he would not have pursued charges against Trump.
Nadler, in a prepared statement, took the opportunity to make the case for congressional involvement in carrying forward in pursuit of consequences for the president.
“Although Department of Justice policy prevented the Special Counsel from bringing criminal charges against the President, the Special Counsel has clearly demonstrated that President Trump is lying about the Special Counsel’s findings, lying about the testimony of key witnesses in the Special Counsel’s report, and is lying in saying that the Special Counsel found no obstruction and no collusion,” Nadler said.
He went on to indicate that in the absence of criminal charges from the special counsel or elsewhere in the Justice Department, Congress would be ultimately responsible for bringing about a resolution.
“Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump – and we will do so,” Nader said.
“No one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law.”
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler on impeachment: ‘All options are on the table’ -> https://t.co/CIKSzw4EbD
Do you think President Trump faces impeachment? [A] – YES [B] – NO pic.twitter.com/qVPc1GhKNd
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) May 29, 2019
Even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has remained publicly reticent to pursue articles of impeachment against the president, figures such as Nadler are seeing growing support for using congressional mechanisms to hold Trump to account for what they see as substantial evidence of wrongdoing detailed in the Mueller report.
Recently, with the support of Representative Justin Amash, a Republican from Michigan, Nadler and others in favor of holding the president accountable are joined by at least one colleague from across the aisle. In fact, Amash has dominated the national spotlight as a result of his position, which he has described in detail through Twitter and elsewhere.
Following Mueller’s appearance on Wednesday, Amash’s stance was clear.
“The ball is in our court, Congress,” he tweeted .
