Nadler on potential Mueller article of impeachment: "It's part of a pattern"
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House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) did not confirm on CNN's "State of the Union" whether his committee will draft an article of impeachment based on the Mueller report, but said President Trump's conduct is "part of a pattern" that threatens the integrity of U.S. elections.
"The central allegation is that the president put himself above his country several times. That he sought foreign interference in our elections several times, both for 2016 and 2020. That he sought to cover it up all the time, and that he continually violated his oath of office, and that all this presents a pattern that poses a real and present danger to the integrity of the next election, which is one reason why we can't just wait for the next election to settle matters."— Jerry Nadler
Why it matters: There is some dispute within the House Democratic caucus about whether to include an article of impeachment for obstruction of justice stemming from the Mueller investigation, which detailed nearly a dozen instances of potential obstruction but ultimately did not charge Trump with any crimes.
- Many Democrats viewed the Mueller report as an impeachment referral, since the special counsel acknowledged that Department of Justice policy prevents the indictment of a sitting president.
- Others, however, have cautioned against casting too wide of a net and want impeachment to be focused narrowly on Trump's dealings with Ukraine. The Ukraine scandal caused a spike in public impeachment polling that the Mueller findings never quite generated.
The big picture: Nadler, whose committee will vote on articles of impeachment as early as this week, said that Democrats have a "very lock solid case."
- "I think the case we have, if presented to a jury, would be a guilty verdict in about three minutes flat," the chairman told CNN's Dana Bash.
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