House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reportedly told senior Democrats in a closed-door meeting that she’d like to see President Trump “in prison.”
Politico reported Wednesday that Pelosi made the remarks during a heated meeting Tuesday night with House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and other top Democrats leading investigations against the White House.
Nadler pressed the Democratic leader to allow his committee to launch an impeachment inquiry, which she denied, multiple sources told Politico.
“I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison,” Pelosi said, according to the news outlet.
Pelosi’s reasoning, according to Politico, is that she would rather Trump be defeated at the ballot box in 2020, and then prosecuted for his alleged crimes.
Politico adds:
They said she was expressing solidarity with pro-impeachment Democrats who want to hold the president accountable while disputing the idea that it is now time to take that step. Pelosi has long argued that certain conditions must be met before Democrats begin impeachment — public support and strong bipartisan backing, neither of which have so far materialized.
Nadler on Wednesday told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer “it may very well come to” launching an impeachment inquiry, but “right now, there doesn’t appear to be the support for it.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) were all also present for the meeting.
