Washington Free Beacon editor in chief Matthew Continetti argued Thursday that Democrats already know they want to impeach President Donald Trump.
Speaking with Chuck Todd on MSNBC's Meet the Press, Continetti explained that delays by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) had nothing to do with slow deliberation. Todd said Democrats seemed to be waiting to hear from Special Counsel Robert Mueller before deciding on impeachment, but Continetti disagreed.
"I think a lot of Democrats in Congress have already made up their mind, which is that they want to move to impeachment," Continetti said. "They feel that Volume II [of Mueller's report] is enough to begin the impeachment proceedings."
The second volume of Mueller's report examines potential obstruction of justice by the president concerning the investigation into Russian interference and collaboration. Mueller declined to make a finding on obstruction, citing the Office of Legal Counsel memorandum concerning policy against indicting a sitting president.
Democrats are calling for Mueller to testify in the hopes of gathering new information, but Continetti argued that his testimony would likely make no difference.
"One: Mueller most likely is just going to stay within the bounds of his report, so I'm not sure what new information he would reveal," he said. "And two: The person that is keeping the lid on all of this impeachment talk is Pelosi. And Pelosi doesn't want to engage in impeachment because she doesn't want to interfere in the 2020 election, and she knows that, right now with Americans as a whole, impeachment is unpopular."
Speaking with students at the Georgetown University Law Center on Thursday, Pelosi described the president's conduct as grounds for removal. She pointed to the president's refusal to comply with subpoenas from various congressional committees.
"I think the President every day gives grounds for impeachment in terms of his obstruction of justice," she said.
The top House Democrat stopped short of actually endorsing the move.
"Now I don't want to impeach," she said. "I want them to give us the information before they have to spend too much money on lawyers."
Even yesterday, the Washington Post reported Pelosi remained against impeachment.
Pelosi told her caucus members to "stick to their policy agenda ahead of the 2020 election rather than initiate impeachment proceedings," the Post reported. And not a single lawmaker challenged her," according to a source.
A number of Democrats have publicly called for Trump's impeachment. They have been filing articles of impeachment since 2017. This week, billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer aired advertisements attacking Democrats in Congress for failing to move ahead with impeachment.