Pelosi under growing impeachment pressure from key Democrats
The party is sharply divided over whether to launch proceedings to remove Trump from office.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is under pressure from some fellow Democrats to initiate an impeachment inquiry against the president.J. Scott Applewhite / AP
May 21, 2019, 3:36 AM UTC / Updated May 21, 2019, 1:06 PM UTC
By Alex Moe, Heidi Przybyla and Rebecca Shabad
WASHINGTON — Several Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee pressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday evening to move forward with an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump as one of his former White House aides planned to defy a congressional subpoena Tuesday.
During a weekly Democratic leadership meeting in Pelosi's office on Capitol Hill, Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Joe Neguse of Colorado all argued for launching an impeachment inquiry if former White House counsel Don McGahn failed to testify Tuesday before the Judiciary Committee, which has the power to initiate impeachment proceedings. McGahn's legal team said Monday evening that he would not appear because Trump instructed him not to comply with the panel's subpoena.
Key Democrats press Pelosi to move forward with impeachment
May 21, 201901:35
"It was a big debate and was long and very emotional," one source inside the Democratic leadership meeting told NBC News.
An impeachment inquiry, Cicilline said, could be used as a tool to force the Trump administration to comply with subpoenas for certain witnesses to testify or to provide requested documents.
"If Don McGahn doesn't testify, it is time to open an impeachment inquiry," Cicilline said in an interview on MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily" Monday evening.
Raskin, a former constitutional law professor at American University, said that he supports opening an impeachment inquiry so that Democrats could gain access to information they're seeking in their investigations, an argument that other Democrats, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California, have recently made. Raskin said, however, that he was not in favor of impeachment.
Impeachment was also raised at a separate weekly meeting Monday evening among Democratic leaders and committee chairs, including by Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, another member of the Judiciary Committee.
The debate in both meetings Monday highlighted deepening divides within the party, as more members of the House Democratic Caucus lean toward opening impeachment proceedings and top leaders remain opposed.
"We've always said one thing we'll lead to another as we get information," Pelosi, D-Calif., said during the meeting to her members, still wary about the calls to open proceedings that appear to be growing among rank-and-file members. "We still have unexhausted avenues here," she added, referring specifically to the ability of Democrats to use inherent contempt against those who defy subpoenas.
Many Democrats remain frustrated with the administration's efforts to ignore congressional subpoenas, and may now feel under greater pressure to consider impeachment after Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, became the first GOP member of Congress to call for impeachment proceedings against Trump.
During an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that was taped Monday, Pelosi was asked if Amash's position fit the bar for bipartisan impeachment support.
"Well the bipartisan support for impeachment has to be in the Senate," Pelosi said. "In terms of Congressman Amash, his voice speaks to the silence of so many other — all the other Republicans not to hold this president accountable for the oath of office that he takes to protect and defend the Constitution, respecting the co-equal branches of government. So Amash may be one voice, but the fact that it is the absence of other voices, it speaks very loudly."
The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters that Democrats shouldn't be moving so quickly to impeachment.
"We're going to have a discussion about the best way to proceed, but I think we can't go from 0 to 60," Jeffries said, adding "No one is above the law not even the president of the United States of America, not the attorney general, not the Treasury secretary. We're going to make sure we teach them that lesson, one way or the other."
Alex Moe
Alex Moe is a Capitol Hill producer for NBC News covering the House of Representatives.
Heidi Przybyla
Heidi Przybyla is an NBC News correspondent.
Rebecca Shabad
Rebecca Shabad is a congressional reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.
Allan Smith contributed.