WASHINGTON — House Democrats are “not even close” to having majority support in their caucus to impeach President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview Tuesday morning.
Pelosi’s comments came in an interview aired on CNN Tuesday, where the speaker was pressed on whether she’d support impeachment if a majority of her caucus did.
“It’s not even close in our caucus. Why are we speculating on hypotheticals?” she answered. “Look, I want to tell you something. There is nothing as divisive in our country, in my view, as impeachment. ... So we’re trying to make decisions as we go forth that are unifying, not dividing.”
Among those “unifying” decisions, Pelosi said, are improving infrastructure and lowering prescription drug prices, the rare priorities shared by the House Democratic Caucus and Trump.
“Cleaner government, not so sure [Trump supports] that, but nonetheless it is part of our agenda,” she said. “And as we do that, we try to find as much common ground as possible while maintaining the boldest common denominator. Impeachment, if you’re going down that path, you don’t go to court with your weakest case.”
According to a BuzzFeed News analysis, more than 60 House Democrats have now publicly said they support an impeachment inquiry, and just last week, Pelosi reportedly said she wants to see Trump “in prison” during a meeting with some senior members of the House Democratic Caucus, including Judiciary chair Rep. Jerry Nadler. Nadler, according to reports, is pushing Pelosi in private to allow him to launch an impeachment inquiry.
Pelosi did qualify Tuesday that impeachment is still a possibility.
“It’s not off the table,” she added. “I don’t think you should impeach for political reasons, but I also don’t think you should not impeach for political reasons. It’s not about politics. It’s not about Democrats and Republicans. It’s about patriotism to our country.”
The House is scheduled to vote Tuesday afternoon to give Nadler authority to sue to enforce subpoenas issued to former White House counsel Don McGahn and Attorney General Bill Barr, as well as to empower committee chairs to go to court to enforce subpoenas going forward. In court, Nadler could ask a federal judge to force the administration to turn over special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report.
Emily Ashcraft contributed reporting to this story.