Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back on Democrats calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, even though she said the president “engaged in highly unethical and unscrupulous behavior which does not bring honor to the office he holds.”
Responding to calls from some of her members to impeach Trump for acts revealed Thursday in a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, Pelosi said impeachment proceedings are not the only way to uncover the facts needed for Congress to hold Trump “accountable.”
Her “Dear Colleague” letter posted on Monday comes before a caucus-wide conference call with House Democrats to discuss her party’s response to the investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Pelosi conceded Democrats don’t all agree on what course they should take following the report’s release last week.
“While our views range from proceeding to investigate the findings of the Mueller report or proceeding directly to impeachment, we all firmly agree that we should proceed down a path of finding the truth,” she wrote.
Pelosi, who has been trying to tamp down impeachment talk, also wrote that it is “important to know that the facts regarding holding the president accountable can be gained outside of impeachment hearings.”
Aside from impeachment, House leaders have suggested some type of censure resolution as another possible outcome of an investigation.
“As we proceed to uncover the truth and present additional needed reforms to protect our democracy, we must show the American people we are proceeding free from passion or prejudice, strictly on the presentation of fact,” she wrote.