President Trump on Wednesday expressed his appreciation for House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent comments opposing his impeachment in a pair of tweets.
….a man who is considered by many to be the President with the most successful first two years in history, especially when he has done nothing wrong and impeachment is for “high crimes and misdemeanors”?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2019
Earlier this week, Pelosi cleared up speculation about whether she would support articles of impeachment against Trump, which some members of her party have introduced.
“I’m not for impeachment,” Pelosi told the Washington Post. “Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.”
“He’s just not worth it,” she concluded.
However, Pelosi added that she does not think Trump is fit for the presidency.
“Ethically unfit,” the California congresswoman said. “Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States.”
The specter of impeachment has divided Democrats, with many warning that it would be too divisive while others, such as Representative Rashida Tlaib, agitate for it and promising to touch it off.
The Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerrold Nadler, who would have to spearhead impeachment proceedings, has echoed Pelosi’s views, calling such a move divisive.
Representative David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat who serves on the Judiciary Committee, agreed that “there’s no question it would be divisive,” but said that “if the facts require us to initiate removing the president, we are obligated to do it. If the facts don’t support it, we won’t.”
House majority whip Jim Clyburn emphasized that there must be a public appetite for impeachment before it is initiated.
“These committees have to build will in the American people for impeachment,” the South Carolina congressman said. “Impeachment is a political question. I don’t care what we may feel — if the public isn’t there, we can’t go there.”