Nancy Pelosi on Stephen Colbert show says of impeachment inquiry: ‘This is about the Constitution’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended Democrats moving President Trump impeachment inquiry forward Thursday, framing the Constitution as the reason for finalizing the rules in the investigation of Mr. Trump.

Hours after the House voted 232-196 — with no Republican crossing the aisle — Mrs. Pelosi appeared on CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” saying she didn’t want impeachment but quoted Thomas Paine when saying “the times have found us.”

“Madame Speaker, now, every Republican has rolled the bones that you don’t have enough to impeach the president,” Mr. Colbert said, which made Mrs. Pelosi scoff.

“They’ve all voted against her and said she’s got nothing. They don’t have what it takes to impeach the president,” Mr. Colbert continued, mimicking Republicans’ spin. “Are you looking at [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy and the rest of the Republicans and saying, ’Do you feel lucky, punk?’ “

After she laughed, Mrs. Pelosi said, “The thing about this, again, it’s about the Constitution.

“We’re honoring our oath of office, we’re there to strengthen the institution in which we serve, and if [Republicans] don’t want to do that, that’s their problem. But it’s interesting because they have been talking process, process, process because they know they can’t really go near the substance issue.”

Mr. Colbert responded: “If the Constitution has the goods on President Trump, to put it in your vernacular, it’s already a rough political landscape, are you prepared for how rough it’s going to get? Because you know the guy’s not going easy. Can you street fight?”

Mrs. Pelosi responded by recounting two stories she told while accepting the President Lyndon B. Johnson award Thursday night.

“One of them was what advice would you give people who want to run for office? And I told them they have to have their vision, knowledge, strategic thinking and connection to the aspirations of their constituents,” she said. “But I said this is not for the faint of heart. So if you want to go into the arena, you have to be prepared to take a punch. But you also have to be prepared to throw a punch.”