House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, following the Thursday release of the Mueller report, that trying to impeach President Donald Trump “is not worthwhile at this point.”
“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement,” Hoyer said to CNN’s Dana Bash.
House Majority @LeaderHoyer just told me : “Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement,”
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) April 18, 2019
The comment comes hours after the Mueller report, with limited redactions, was sent to members of Congress and released publicly. It confirmed Attorney General William Barr’s summary that the special counsel did not find evidence of a conspiracy between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement that reads in part, “The differences are stark between what Attorney General Barr said on obstruction and what special counsel Mueller said on obstruction.”
“As we continue to review the report, one thing is clear: Attorney General Barr presented a conclusion that the president did not obstruct justice while Mueller’s report appears to undercut that finding,” they added. (RELATED: Trump Wanted An Attorney General He Could Tell ‘Who To Investigate’)
Pelosi has frequently pushed back against Democrats who have called for impeachment.
“I’m not for impeachment. This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before,” Pelosi said while being interviewed by The Washington Post, last month.
Despite this, many Democratic members of Congress have long looked to impeach the president, including California Rep. Maxine Waters and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.