Nancy Pelosi Sidestepped Impeachment In This Message To President Trump
Amidst her party's growing call for an impeachment inquiry, Nancy Pelosi is speaking out about why she's avoiding initiating outright impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. On Friday, Aug. 2, the speaker of the House referenced the Mueller report's findings of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election as well as the possible instances of obstruction of justice in a lengthy official statement. While her plans moving forward do not seem to include a formal impeachment process, Nancy Pelosi’s updates on current House investigations include a strong message for President Trump, saying he "will be held accountable." Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on Pelosi's statement, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Pelosi's statement comes a little more than a week after former special counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress about his probe into the Kremlin's interference in the 2016 presidential race as well as Trump's possible efforts to block or otherwise inhibit the investigation. While Mueller's testimony didn't give Democrats the decisive ammunition they were looking for, since he reiterated "the report did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime," more than half of the party members in the House now support beginning impeachment proceedings, per ABC News. While the speaker of the House has shied away from condoning impeachment, previously citing low levels of support from the general public and potential backlash from the action, she did address what the Democrats in Congress plan to do to "continue to legislate, investigate, and litigate," and she closed her statement with a message that "President [Trump] will be held accountable." Elite Daily reached out to Pelosi's representation for clarification on how the House will hold the president accountable, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
"When we take the oath of office, we solemnly vow 'to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,'" she said in the statement, which she shared on Friday. "The Mueller report states unequivocally that Russia interfered in the 2016 election 'in sweeping and systematic fashion.' And the Intelligence Community informs us that Russia is working 24/7 to undermine our elections. This assault on our elections is a serious national security matter which the President chooses to ignore." Per NBC News, Trump told reporters on Aug. 1 that he did not broach the subject of possible Russian meddling in the 2020 election during a recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
She continued by laying out several damning conclusions from Mueller's testimony that would warrant a closer investigation:
The Mueller report and his testimony last week confirmed that the President’s campaign welcomed Russian interference in the election, and laid out [10] instances of the President’s obstruction of justice. The President’s more recent attempts to prevent us from finding the facts is further evidence of obstruction of justice.
Trump has previously denied claims of obstruction of justice, and the Mueller report did not reach a determination on that point.
Pelosi then outlined the Democrats' current course of action in the form of six current litigation processes, which includes pursuing access to the president’s financial statements, bank account records, and tax returns as well as ratifying and affirming subpoenas. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on the litigation to seek President Trump's financial records, but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, under the "legislation" section, Pelosi called out Mitch McConnell for refusing to cooperate and support the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act, which would prevent foreign powers from influencing future American elections. For his part, McConnell rebutted claims of aiding Russia with a lengthy statement on July 29, saying he has used his position to "stand up to Russia."
Calling it a "grave national security issue," Pelosi continued, "We owe it to our Founders to sustain our system of checks and balances and our democracy. We owe it to our heroic men and women in uniform who risk their lives for freedom to defend our democracy at home. We owe it to our children to ensure that no present or future president can dishonor the oath of office without being held accountable."
"In America, no one is above the law," she concluded. "The President will be held accountable." Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on Pelosi's statement that President Trump "will be held accountable," but did not hear back at the time of publication.
Pelosi's new statement affirms that the speaker of the House doesn't have any current plans to begin an impeachment process, echoing her past comments on the matter. Only time will tell what Pelosi's idea of holding the president to account looks like.
