Top Democrats discuss timing of Trump impeachment

WASHINGTON: Top Democratic lawmakers have been in talks to set the timing to impeach US President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) were in disagreement over the timing of impeachment proceedings against Trump, The Hill reported on Saturday. Nadler has been pushing for rapid legal action against Trump.

According to the Hill, Nadler explained to Pelosi and her top lieutenants in a private meeting this week, that the majority of his committee members were in favor of launching an impeachment inquiry against Trump and that he, too, thought this was the best course of action now, sources familiar with the meeting said.

Appearing on MSNBC on Thursday night, Nadler confirmed earlier reporting by The Washington Post that he had pressed Pelosi to act more swiftly on starting impeachment proceedings.

“I urged the Speaker to speed things up and consider an impeachment inquiry,” Nadler told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, though he conceded that Democrats’ recent court victories had made his argument for impeachment “much weaker.”

Pelosi, who is concerned that Democrats need to wait because they have not yet gained enough public support to defeat Trump, favors a go-slow course of action for the impeachment.

In addition Pelosi was said to be confident that the string of court victories over the Trump administration and business entities had bolstered Democrats’ arguments in the public eye that the law was on their side as they methodically probed the president for evidence of his wrongdoings and cover-ups.