MSNBC host Chris Matthews argued the way to get to the truth regarding President Donald Trump's relationship with Russia is through pursuing impeachment during an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday afternoon.
"So final question, Chris. Where does this leave us? Because the Democrats in Congress have a real choice here about how and where to streamline their objections, their bills of particulars, and their investigation," fellow MSNBC host Brian Williams asked.
"Well, they can take the obstruction of justice point, they can take elements of the collusion part, clearly all this ball playing, I mean. I think the decision by the Mueller team to say you can't prosecute on a guy who takes dirt from Wikileaks, from Guccifer 2.0 and uses that as part of a propaganda campaign along the lines the Russians intended, which was to hurt Hillary and help Trump, I don't see that—why that is not advancing a conspiracy, but I guess that is their legal judgment," Matthews began.
"That seems to be a big difference between them reporting it for their political purposes and someone in the objective media simply saying here is what the Russians are pushing. It seems to be two totally different stories," Matthews continued.
Matthews then criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D., Calif.) expressed opposition to pursuing impeachment without bipartisan support.
"But I think that it's going to come down to, let's face it, Jerry Nadler, who is listening to Nancy Pelosi, and Nancy Pelosi has made a political judgment that without Republican support for an impeachment exercise, she shouldn't go along with it for political reasons. In other words, if you can't make the case in a bipartisan fashion, don't make it, because it will only serve the purpose of hurting yourself politically," Matthews said.
Matthews accused Pelosi of being inconsistent in pursuing the truth.
"As journalists and as commentators, we can say, you know that is not the right way to make a decision, because you're been saying all along that your questions about Trump and his behavior were nonpartisan, you simply wanted get the truth and follow the truth. But then you can't step back and say, well now I'm going to make a political judgment, it is not in our interests to pursue this in a partisan fashion if that is what it comes to. That is not being consistent," Matthews said.
"If you're going after the truth, go all the way to the truth and the way to get to the truth is an impeachment exercise. That is how you get the truth, that's how you get the subpoena power that will be upheld. I think this Supreme Court will support the right of any Congress to advance the cause of an impeachment exercise," Matthews added.
Earlier today, Attorney General William Barr told reporters special counsel Robert Mueller found "no evidence" President Trump or campaign associates conspired with Russia to collude to interfere in the 2016 election. Barr also said no material in the Mueller report was redacted on grounds of executive privilege.
On the issue of obstruction of justice, Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not fully agree with Mueller's legal theories and "felt that some of the episodes did not amount to obstruction as a matter of law."
Mueller's report, which was released after Barr spoke, stated the investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."