US: Pelosi denies Democrats pursuing Trump impeachment

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are not actively pursuing impeachment articles against President Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

“I think what really got to him was these court cases and the fact that the House Democratic caucus is not on a path to impeachment," Pelosi said, referring to the president and subsequent court rulings that he has to comply with congressional subpoenas for his financial records.

Pelosi and top Democrats in the House and Senate have been weary of broaching impeachment, cautious that it may cost the party in the 2020 presidential elections among swing voters and potentially further energize the president's base.

The House speaker continued to allude to the concern, saying that is where Trump "wants us to be".

The president fumed Wednesday after Pelosi accused him of being engaged in a cover-up related to his efforts to stymy congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony from his former top officials, vowing he would not work with Democrats on critical issues until their investigations come to an end.

Pelosi continued to insist that Trump's refusal to heed congressional subpoenas as well as cases of possible obstruction of justice brought out in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report could be impeachable offenses but cautioned that "impeachment is a very divisive place to go in our country".

"We can get the facts to the American people through our investigation. It may take us to a place that is unavoidable in terms of impeachment — or not," she said. "But we’re not at that place."