Divided debate

Tension over impeachment emerges between Congress, 2020 Dems

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Some top Democrats vying for the White House in 2020 are clamoring for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, but many of their congressional colleagues – who would have to manage such efforts – are far more wary.

The same day House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged rank-and-file Democrats to proceed with caution following the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report detailing 10 areas of potential obstruction of justice, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren doubled down on her impeachment call.

“If any other human being in this country had done what’s documented in the Mueller report, they would be arrested and put in jail,” Warren said Monday at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire.

At the same event, California Sen. Kamala Harris said Congress should “take the steps towards impeachment.” Former Obama administration housing chief Julian Castro has also said he’d back such efforts.

The split reflects tensions that could emerge in coming months between Democrats on Capitol Hill and those seeking the party’s presidential nomination. While the White House hopefuls are trying to rally their base with ambitious proposals and bold calls to take on Trump, those in Congress are tasked with the more arduous task of governing.

The dynamic has already been on display with proposals such as the Green New Deal, which many presidential candidates have embraced to prove their progressive bona fides even as it goes nowhere in Congress. But the debate over impeachment is particularly explosive, and Democrats – including those seeking the White House – are divided over whether it would distract from besting Trump at the polls.

Impeachment calls in Congress run counter to the effort by top Democrats there, who are still struggling with what to do with the Mueller report’s unexpectedly detailed account of Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation. Many would like to see a more deliberate approach that may eventually lead to impeachment but will focus for now on numerous investigations.

Pelosi has been adamant that impeachment is impossible without bipartisan public sentiment for the House to formally charge Trump. Speaking Tuesday at the Time 100 summit, she called bringing such an action “one of the most divisive paths that we can go down.”