Now that a redacted version of the Mueller report is out, the biggest question is whether Democrats in the House will move to impeach Donald Trump. Although Special Counsel Robert Mueller didn’t recommend criminally charging the president with obstruction of justice or conspiracy, he did lay out some pretty convincing arguments as to why lawmakers should act.
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, who heads the committee where the impeachment process would start, probably should know the answer to this question. If he does, he’s not saying—yet.
Nadler was asked about impeachment and obstruction of justice during an appearance Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “There is plenty of evidence of obstruction,” he said, referring to Trump.
Host Chuck Todd asked Nadler if he’s laying the groundwork for opening an impeachment inquiry, and if not, why not.
“I don’t think we’re doing that. We may get to that, we may not,” Nadler said (emphasis mine).
Sounds like a solid plan.
“It is our job to go through all the evidence, all the information you can get and to go where the evidence leads us,” he added, before Todd interrupted him to ask how much politics is factoring into his decision.
“I don’t know,” Nadler responded. “That’ll come down the road when we see what we have.”
One thing Nadler is certain about is that the information contained in Mueller’s 448-page report shows that Trump’s conduct while in office is impeachable behavior (“if proven,” of course).
“If proven, some of this would be impeachable, yes,” he said. “Obstruction of justice, if proven, would be impeachable.”
“And you’re going to go about seeing if you can prove it?” Todd asked.
“Well, we’re going to see where the facts lead us,” Nadler responded.
During the interview, Nadler also said his committee would call former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify. McGahn told investigators that Trump had ordered him to fire Mueller early on in the probe. McGahn refused and threatened to resign over the issue.
On Friday, Nadler said he planned to hold televised hearings, and that Mueller and U.S. Attorney General William Barr would be among the key witnesses testifying. The same day, Nadler issued a subpoena for an unredacted version of the report, along with the underlying evidence and testimony on which the report was based. The deadline for Barr to provide lawmakers with an unredacted report is May 1. Barr is scheduled to testify before Congress the next day, on May 2.
Nadler said Sunday that Barr “clearly misled the American people” about the issue of obstruction of justice.