Key Democrat Says Impeachment ‘One Possibility’ From Mueller Report

(Bloomberg) -- House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump would be “one possibility” that the Democratic House could pursue in the wake of the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

While saying it’s too soon to reach a conclusion, the New York Democrat said at a news conference that there are multiple avenues House committees might take as they pursue their own investigations of Trump and his administration. Nadler, whose panel would oversee an impeachment process, said Mueller’s findings outline evidence that the president obstructed justice.

“We will proceed with our inquiries,” he said. Mueller’s report “was probably written with the intent of providing Congress with a road map.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House leaders have played down the chance that the House will act on articles of impeachment, saying such a “divisive” issue would need bipartisan support not just in Congress, but also among the American people.

“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point,” Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking House Democrat, said according to CNN. “Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgment.”

Many Republicans remained firmly behind Trump Thursday upon publication of the redacted version of Mueller’s report and celebrated Attorney General William Barr’s interpretation. While Democrats promised further investigation, Republicans sent out the coordinated message that it is now time to move on from the Mueller investigation for the good of the country.

Both parties are seeking to shape public opinion about the president and his conduct before and during his first term in the run up to the 2020 election. The GOP has become increasingly supportive of Trump, while Democrats are seeking to unseat him and expand on the congressional seats they picked up in the 2018 midterms.

Here are some of the most important reactions from Capitol Hill:

Democratic Leadership

Republican Leadership

• Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell in an emailed statement praised Barr as “an experienced leader” who has worked to “ensure maximum possible transparency while carefully protecting classified material and legally restricted grand jury information.”
• House minority leader Kevin McCarthy sharply criticized Democrats for what he described as “a partisan quest to vilify a political opponent,” and he praised Barr’s actions to balance transparency and legal restrictions.
  • “Democrats want to keep searching for imaginary evidence that supports their claims, but it is simply not there,” McCarthy said in an emailed statement
• South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, applauded Barr’s “commitment to transparency and keeping the American people informed, consistent with the law and our national security interests.”
• North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said “the American people have a right to review as much of the report as possible to understand the Special Counsel’s conclusions and the reasoning behind them.”

2020 Candidates

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