House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has argued that the "White House is just crying out for impeachment" but that Democrats will continue to hold back on opening an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump until it's "unavoidable".

"How we deal with it is a decision that our caucus makes, and our caucus is very much saying 'whatever we do, we need to be ready when we do it'," Pelosi said at her weekly news briefing on Thursday.

Pelosi has previously argued that President Donald Trump is provoking Democrats into impeaching him because he thinks it will fire up his base ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Despite a more fervent push from members in her caucus this week to open an impeachment inquiry, Pelosi continues to argue to Democrats that impeachment is "divisive" and the House is already on a steady course with their investigations.

"It may take us to a place that is unavoidable in terms of impeachment or not," she said in her Thursday briefing. "But we're not at that place."

Her comments come a day after Trump on Wednesday abruptly left a White House meeting with Pelosi and other Democratic leaders over infrastructure, blasting her for using the word "cover-up" to describe the White House's lack of cooperation with House investigations.

Pelosi on Thursday described the encounter as a "temper tantrum" from Trump.

"I wish that his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country."

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