Nancy Pelosi: Donald Trump is 'goading' Democrats on impeachment to rally his base

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president was “goading” Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings because it would cause divisions throughout the country.

“Trump is goading us to impeach him, that’s what he’s doing every single day. He’s just taunting, taunting, taunting because he knows it would be divisive in the country,” Pelosi said during an event at Cornell University on Tuesday. “But he doesn’t really care, he wants to solidify his base.”

The president is up for re-election in 2020 and so far 21 Democrats are currently competing to run against him.

Pelosi has long resisted impeachment, despite calls from some members of her party. In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY in March, Pelosi said impeachment would be a waste of time unless Republicans got on board.

"Otherwise, it's a gift to the president. We take our eye off the ball," she said at the time.

She appeared to have successfully tamped down talks of impeachment until special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 came out in April.

The report did not find the president or members of his campaign conspired with the Russians, but did not determine whether Trump obstructed the investigation. 

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However, the report also outlined 10 instances of possible obstruction, including an instance in which Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller. Those details got some members talking about impeachment again.

So far, Pelosi and Democratic leadership have reiterated the importance of holding hearings and other investigations of Trump in Congress. She did not rule out whether information gathered in those probes would lead to impeachment. Pelosi said Democrats must get more information.

"Our impeachment power is a justification for our getting that information,” she said.

Pelosi said the “moment of truth” has come before. When Congress held impeachment hearings about former president Richard Nixon, just before he resigned, support for impeachment became bipartisan.

“That moment of truth came after months and months and months of investigation and then the facts were so clear. What’s different now from then, is that the Republicans are probably going to never, never vote for impeachment for this president,” she said.

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