Democratic mega-donor and environmentalist Tom Steyer on Monday dodged a question on whether Democratic donors should withhold their donations to Democratic lawmakers and candidates who are not willing to publicly call for President Donald Trump's impeachment immediately.
"Do you think that Democratic donors should withhold campaign money from Democrats who are not willing to say that the president should be impeached now?" MSNBC host Kasie Hunt asked.
Steyer, a multi-billionaire who donated more than $91 million to Democratic campaigns during the 2016 cycle, dodged Hunt's question and immediately started talking about his organization, Nextgen America, and how it organizes grassroots conversations around the United Sates.
"We believe anytime those conversations are held, people will move to a more progressive approach, so the fact of the matter is that isn't really ask ourselves," Steyer said. "So the fact of the matter is, that isn't really a question we really ask ourselves. The question we ask ourselves is, how do we get a broader, more just society? How do we get a more broad, more complete democracy? And that is something we'll never give up on."
"We don't see that that is in anyway in conflict with the kind of call we're making now to impeach this president," Steyer added.
Steyer's dodge on whether Democratic donors should withhold donations from those not aggressively calling for Trump's impeachment appears to be a softer stance than what he previously called for. Two weeks ago, Steyer sent a letter to Democratic congressional offices and the party's House and Senate campaign committees demanding that they pledge to push for the impeachment of Trump.
Steyer called Trump a "clear and present danger to the republic " in his letter to lawmakers and said that he is concerned about Trump's "control over our nuclear arsenal."
He also launched a TV ad campaign on Friday, which an aide has said would cost "well over $10 million," calling for Trump to be impeached.
"A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. And today, people in Congress and his own administration know that this President is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons," Steyer says in the ad.