What followed, generally, was conspicuous silence — and not just from her colleagues in Congress.
After sidestepping the explosive issue of impeachment for months by citing the inquiry by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, most of the other 17 Democratic presidential candidates have responded to the special counsel’s report with tentative remarks about impeaching Trump, demands for the unredacted Mueller findings, calls for further hearings or attempts to simply change the subject.
Anything, that is, to avoid clearly answering the question of whether lawmakers should remove the president from office.
For now, according to interviews with multiple Democratic campaign officials, most of the candidates feel no pressure to demand Trump’s impeachment because they simply do not hear a mass clamoring for it on the campaign trail. And in their polling, impeachment is not a top priority for the party’s voters, who say they are more motivated by defeating Trump in 2020 and seeing their desired policy agenda put in place.
The Democratic contenders see the Mueller report mostly as a way to build their fundraising and supporter lists and, ultimately, as a 448-page blunt instrument best used for thwacking the president in next year’s campaign for his behavior.
But Democrats in Washington are perhaps even more divided on the subject than the candidates for president are. While some progressive newcomers, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have called for impeachment proceedings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others in leadership have signaled a strong aversion, often echoed in the rank-and-file.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said an impeachment effort would only help Trump’s cause and fuel his supporters’ feelings of grievance, without especially benefiting Democrats.
“If we impeach Donald Trump, he would never be convicted in the Senate,” Cleaver said, referring to the Republican-held chamber’s role in an impeachment process. “And he would be able to campaign all around the country saying, ‘I’ve been acquitted!’”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.