House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) downplayed the possibility of an impeachment vote in a Thursday interview.
House Democrats launched a formal impeachment inquiry in September following a whistleblower allegation against President Trump. ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi if Congress had reached a "point of no return," and if an impeachment vote is "inevitable."
"I don't think so," Pelosi responded. "No, we just go forward and follow the facts. There are some people who say 'why are you calling for an inquiry? You should just call to impeach.' I don't think that would be fair and it isn't worthy of the Constitution."
Pelosi also defended her colleague Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) for reading out a parody transcript of President Donald Trump's July phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during a hearing. Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi if it was right for Schiff to do a dramatic rendition of the phone call.
"I want the American people to know what that phone call was about. I want them to hear it. So yeah, it's fair, it's sad but it's using the president's own words," Pelosi said.
"Those weren't the president's words. It was an interpretation of the president's words. They're saying he made this up," Stephanopoulos interjected.
"He did not make it up," Pelosi responded before changing topics.
At a House Intelligence Committee hearing last week, Schiff read from dialogue not used in the actual conversation that is now at the center of the impeachment inquiry. Republicans and the media have challenged the California Democrat for putting words in Trump's mouth. Schiff has defended himself by saying he was emphasizing "in sum and in character what the president was trying to communicate with the president of Ukraine."