CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd on Wednesday said Democrats in Congress need to "shut up" about impeaching President Donald Trump and focus on issues like health care.
Mudd appeared on CNN's Cuomo Prime Time for a panel conversation about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's hearing earlier in the day. Host Chris Cuomo asked CNN national security analyst Asha Rangappa what she believes Democrats should do next, prompting her to say she is not a political analyst.
"You're smart. You work at the FBI. You're a law professor. What do you think they should do?" Cuomo asked.
"I think they need to begin an impeachment inquiry," Rangappa said. "If you are looking at this from an investigative point of view, there is more than enough reasonable suspicion."
Cuomo chimed in and said Democrats can't finish the job with Trump as president, sparking a back-and-forth exchange comparing FBI investigations to the Mueller investigation. Rangappa said the FBI gets leads all the time, adding they don't know whether they will always lead to successful prosecutions.
"Phil Mudd, two words," Cuomo said.
"They should Shut up. They might see some indication of wrong-doing. A, As you're suggesting, they will never reach the end of this in 15 months and B, it's going to divide America, so if you can't reach a conclusion and if it's bad for the country, regardless of whether you see some evidence of wrongdoing, do you think that you should pursue this?" Mudd said.
"I'd say A, for reasons of America shut up and B, I'm not a politician, but if you think Americans are going to say, 'I'm going to watch this show paint-drying for another 15 months,'" Mudd continued. "I watch this myself and I'd say, 'Leave me alone. Find something else like health care to worry about.'"
Mudd, who has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, made his comments after Mueller sat through two House hearings taking questions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers. While many House Democrats were eager to draft an impeachment inquiry against Trump after the hearings, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) still believes they should wait until they have a "stronger " case.
"If we have a case for impeachment, that’s the place we will have to go. Why I’d like it to be a strong case is because it’s based on the facts — the facts and the law, that’s what matters," Pelosi told reporters.
"The stronger our case is, the worse the Senate will look for just letting the president off the hook," she added.