House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony Wednesday a watershed moment, but said it’s still too early to talk impeachment.
She said Congress still needs to gather more evidence on Mr. Trump before it can make the case for his ouster, suggesting that Mr. Mueller’s details of potential obstruction of justice didn’t go far enough to justify that case.
Instead, Mrs. Pelosi pointed to the president’s finances and other areas she said Mr. Mueller wasn’t allowed to investigate, where she predicted Democrats will find the goods to show the motives for the crimes Democrats say Mr. Trump committed.
“It means we can get the information to show the American people what the obstruction of justice was all about,” she said.
The California Democrat is under pressure from her party’s left wing, where lawmakers are increasingly agitating for the start of impeachment proceedings. Mrs. Pelosi has been reluctant, suggesting it’s a fool’s errand unless the public is more in support.
So far, polls show a majority of voters aren’t eager for Congress to take the step.
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Mrs. Pelosi said Mr. Mueller’s hours of testimony should have helped dent that resistance.
“It is a crossing of a threshold in terms of public awareness of what happened and how it conforms to the law — or not,” she said.
But she also signaled it wasn’t enough.
She said the next step will be to win several looming court battles where Democrats are demanding judges order the administration to turn over information about the president’s finances.
“We are fighting the president in the courts,” she said.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said they’ll sue in court later this week to try to force former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify. Mr. Nadler said if they can win that case, it will be a rejection of the White House’s blanket objections to House inquiries.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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