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Nancy Pelosi: ‘I’m not for impeachment,’ slams Trump as ‘not worth it’

Posted at 8:40 PM, Mar 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-11 18:42:56-04

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not currently support impeaching President Donald Trump despite thinking that he’s unfit for the country’s highest office, according to a Washington Post magazine interviewpublished Monday.

“I’m not for impeachment,” Pelosi said. “This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”

The California Democrat also said that Trump is “ethically,” “intellectually,” and “curiosity-wise” unfit for office.

“No, I don’t think he’s fit to be President of the United States,” she said.

Pelosi’s comments published Monday are perhaps her strongest yet against the issue, but the speaker has signaled for monthsher resistance to pushing for impeachment.

“It’s not someplace that I think we should go,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in November 2017when asked whether Democrats would seek to oust the President if they regained the majority.

The comments come days after House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler announced a sweeping investigation, sending letters to 81 people and entities — including the White House, the Justice Department, senior campaign officials, Trump Organization officials and the President’s sons — into possible corruption, obstruction of justice and abuses of power. Democrats say they’re conducting the rigorous oversight of the administration that Republicans refused to do the first two years of Trump’s presidency.

While Pelosi’s comments may help Democrats in competitive districts distance themselves from a divisive topic, they could frustrate some of those now in the middle of congressional investigations.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, told CNN he’d “put it differently” than Pelosi.

“The Constitution calls for impeachment in cases of bribery, treason and other high crimes and misdemeanors,” he said. “So the legal case should indeed be compelling, the evidence should be overwhelming and the politics should be bipartisan. He may not be worth it but of course that’s not the standard. The country is certainly worth it if the Constitution and the public interest demand it.”

“There have, of course, been cases when impeachment investigations have been unifying, as with Richard Nixon,” Raskin added.

A few Democratic members of Congress have already introduced articles of impeachment. Last week, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a freshman Democratic lawmaker from Michigan, said she would file such a resolutionthis month.

But House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told CNN that he agreed with Pelosi and that a “failed impeachment isn’t a good idea.” The California Democrat added it doesn’t make sense to move down that road “in the absence of very graphic evidence.”

This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.