Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking House Democrat, said Sunday that President Trump will certainly be impeached and the only question his caucus must now answer is when to open the impeachment inquiry.
Clyburn, who serves as the Democratic whip, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that his party’s leadership is waiting to open an impeachment inquiry until there is broader public support for for the move, but effectively guaranteed that the president would be impeached at some point.
“We think we have to bring the public along. We’re not particularly interested in the Senate,” Clyburn said, pushing back on Tapper’s suggestion that Democrats might wait to impeach until there is support for the move among Senate Republicans. “We think if we efficiently and effectively educate the public, then we will have done our jobs and we can move on an impeachment vote and it will stand and maybe it will be what needs to be done to incentivize the Senate to act.”
“But it sounds like you’re — you think that the president will be impeached, or at least proceedings will begin in the House at some point, but just not right now?” Tapper went on to ask.
“Yes, exactly what I feel,” Clyburn responded.
.@JakeTapper: “It sounds like you think that the President will be impeached, or at least proceedings will begin in the House at some point, but just not right now?"
@WhipClyburn: "Yes, that's exactly what I feel." https://t.co/Y0gTFkzqeM #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/LPvGXjuzc0
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) June 2, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has in recent weeks warded off escalating impeachment calls from the party’s rank-and-file members and presidential contenders due to her belief that a protracted impeachment fight could prove politically beneficial to the president.
“I think the president wants us to impeach him,” Pelosi told ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday. “He knows it’s not a good idea to be impeached, but the silver lining for him is then, he believes, that he would be exonerated by the United States Senate.”