House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is reluctant to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Donald J. Trump, but her Democratic colleagues have other ideas.
House Democrats met on Wednesday discuss the issue as Pelosi tries to beat back a growing rebellion in her ranks from members who believe impeachment is the best way forward.
"A growing majority of our caucus believes that impeachment is going to be inevitable," said Rep. John Yarmuth (D., Ky.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, during an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
Pelosi is facing dissent from all factions of the party, from celebrity socialist freshmen such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), to top-ranking veterans such as Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who told reporters that President Trump was "not leaving us with any choices" about whether to pursue impeachment.
"I believe that we have come to the time of impeachment," Rep. Ocasio-Cortez tells @kasie.
"This is no longer about politics, but this is about upholding the rule of law." pic.twitter.com/FigjKgrQ8r
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 21, 2019
Some House Democrats feel compelled to initiate impeachment proceedings in response to what they view as the Trump administration's stonewalling of their efforts to conduct additional investigations following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, the conclusions of which failed to satisfy Trump's opponents.
Pelosi, on the other hand, has been preaching patience. She understands the futility of the effort, given that the Republican-controlled Senate will never go along. Impeachment is also a polarizing issue that could rally Trump's supporters to his defense. It also lacks significant public support. A recent CNN poll, for example, found that just 37 percent of Americans favored impeachment, compared to 59 percent who disagreed, while 44 percent said that Democrats were going too far in their efforts to investigate the president.
Pelosi is renowned for her ability to keep her fellow Democrats under control, but the impeachment fervor has shown no signs of letting up. She'll have her work cut out for her.