‘It’s just not worth it’

Impeaching Trump would ‘divide the country’ says Speaker

HOUSE Speaker Nancy Pelosi is setting a high bar for impeachment of President Donald Trump, saying he is “just not worth it” even as some on her left flank clamour to start proceedings.

Ms Pelosi said in an interview with The Washington Post that “I’m not for impeachment” of Mr Trump.

“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,” she said.

While she has made similar comments before, Ms Pelosi is making clear to her caucus and to voters that Democrats will not move forward quickly with trying to remove Mr Trump from office. And it’s a departure from her previous comments that Democrats are waiting on special counsel Robert Mueller to lay out findings from his Russia investigation before considering impeachment.

That thinking among Democrats has shifted, slightly, in part because of the possibility that Mr Mueller’s report will not be decisive and because his investigation is more narrowly focused. Instead, House Democrats are pursuing their own broad, high-profile investigations that will keep the focus on Mr Trump’s business dealings and relationship with Russia, exerting congressional oversight without having to broach the I-word.

Oversight and Reform Committee chairman Elijah Cummings, one of the politicians leading those investigations, said he agrees with Ms Pelosi and Congress needs “to do our homework.” He said impeachment “has to be a bipartisan effort, and right now it’s not there”.

“I get the impression this matter will only be resolved at the polls,” Mr Cummings said.

Still, Ms Pelosi’s comments are certain to stoke a stubborn tension with those who believe impeachment proceedings should have begun on day one of the new Congress.