Mueller testimony deepens Dem divide on impeachment
WASHINGTON — Robert Mueller’s long-awaited testimony has inflamed divisions among Democrats over impeachment, with some senior lawmakers pushing Thursday to begin formal impeachment hearings soon and vulnerable moderates pleading that the party needed to rest its case against President Donald Trump.
Liberal House members who have been agitating for impeachment were buoyed by Mueller’s nearly seven hours of testimony, asserting, despite modest viewership numbers and no dramatic revelations, that the former special counsel’s words confirmed their case that Trump had tried to obstruct justice. They showed signs of momentum.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has gradually become convinced that his panel should proceed with impeachment hearings and do so as expeditiously as possible, although he has not stated so publicly, according to lawmakers and aides familiar with his thinking.
In a closed room of lawmakers Wednesday evening after the hearing, he broached the idea that House committees could soon begin contemplating articles of impeachment, although Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pushed back on the idea of quick action.
On Thursday, four more House Democrats came out for beginning impeachment proceedings, including the highest ranking one yet: Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus. That pushed the total above 90.
“The case for impeachment based on the Mueller investigation has been now publicly crystallized and articulated,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a leading impeachment advocate on the Judiciary Committee. “The evidence is overwhelming: 10 different episodes of presidential obstruction of justice and the Trump campaign’s enthusiastic embrace of the Russian attack on our elections.”
The majority of the Democratic caucus remains skeptical about what it sees as a politically perilous push that would lead to an almost certain acquittal in the Senate and further drain attention from its legislative work. Some moderate Democrats who helped deliver the House majority to the party in 2018 by flipping Republican seats sounded increasingly exasperated.
“While there may be certain parts of it that are distasteful or disturbing, I don’t see the high crimes or misdemeanors,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who flipped a seat in southern New Jersey, discussing Mueller’s findings. “If we just let this overshadow all these other issues for a longer period of time, too long a period of time, we are really endangering the election for the Democrats.”
Democrats never expected Mueller to cinch their case against the president, but they did hold out hope that testimony from the man who pursued Russian election interference and possible presidential obstruction of justice for 22 months would clarify their path forward. Those hopes faded by the time the House gaveled in on Thursday, and with lawmakers leaving Washington for a six-week recess, they appear likely to fester into the fall.
Pelosi, an impeachment skeptic and a fierce guardian of members like Van Drew, did her best to keep the House investigations open. She touted the importance of Mueller’s testimony and urged lawmakers to “do your own thing” when it comes to impeachment. But behind closed doors, she took issue with those arguing that Democrats opposed to opening an impeachment inquiry are failing their responsibilities under the Constitution.