Dems Cannot Wait To Impeach Trump

House Democrats battle behind the scenes over impeachment

BY MIKE LILLIS - 06/13/17 11:00 AM EDT 533

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House Democrats battle behind the scenes over impeachment

TheHill.com

00:0400:50

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The weekly meeting of House Democrats on Tuesday erupted over stark disagreements about how the party should fight President Trump.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.), a leadership ally, stood during the Democrats’ closed-door caucus meeting to denounce Rep. Brad Sherman’s (D-Calif.) impeachment push as a selfish maneuver that could hurt fellow Democrats and candidates at home, according to a source in the room.

There must be ”a discussion within the caucus — in a public forum — before we do something that would position our colleagues or our future colleagues,” Capuano said, according to the source.

"Emotions are high. These issues have political implications and government ones."

Sherman on Monday introduced an article of impeachment against the president, accusing Trump of obstructing justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey last month.

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But Democratic leaders and their allies have been incensed by the move toward impeachment, arguing that the facts don’t sufficiently support such a weighty tactic — yet — and warning that lawmakers should await more details in the ongoing investigations before launching such an aggressive attack.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has tried in recent weeks to tamp down the talk of impeachment, backed Capuano on Tuesday, the source said. She argued that the Democrats should focus on bread-and-butter issues like the economy while allowing the various investigations into the Russia-Trump saga to play out on their own terms.

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, also criticized Sherman and the other handful of Democrats urging impeachment.

“There is a need for a family discussion before any issue of this magnitude is brought forward,” Crowley told the group, according to the source. “It's of a courtesy to our colleagues."

Sherman, the source said, was in the room for the entirety of the criticism.