Pelosi, Schumer Stand Firm in Opposing Impeachment
Senator Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that he stands with House speaker Nancy Pelosi in opposition to impeachment proceedings despite pressure from the caucus to move forward.
“I believe that . . . Speaker Pelosi is handling this appropriately,” Schumer said in reference to Pelosi’s strategy of encouraging Democratic House committee chairmen to continue their probes into President Trump and his campaign but hold off on impeachment.
After former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony to Congress last week, Pelosi stated that the House does not yet have the evidence necessary to open an impeachment inquiry. “We will proceed when we have what we need to proceed,” she said. “Not one day sooner.”
Meanwhile, two members of Senate Democratic leadership have come out in favor of proceeding with impeachment. Assistant Democratic Leader Patty Murray of Washington called for an impeachment inquiry “to determine whether the president’s actions necessitate impeachment,” and Senator Debbie Stabenow, the chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, on Monday said she agreed.
Minorities of the Democratic caucuses in both chambers support spearheading the impeachment process. Only twelve Democratic senators say they back impeachment, while over 100 but still fewer than half of the 235 Democratic House members agree.
Despite consistent demands to begin the impeachment process against Trump among some Democratic lawmakers and voters, the movement has been largely kept at bay thanks to Pelosi.
“I’m not for impeachment,” the speaker said in March. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.”
