Judiciary Democrat: ‘Most of us have been led to the position that an impeachment inquiry is warranted’

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Wednesday that an impeachment inquiry into President Trump is “warranted.”

Raskin cited the Trump administration’s “aggressive obstruction” of congressional attempts to get information in a number of congressional subpoenas. 

Raskin, asked by The Washington Post whether a majority of the caucus was on board yet with impeachment, said it was “hard to know.”{mosads}

“Hard to know, but this conversation is built into the committee system,” he said. “We are intimately familiar with the president’s aggressive obstruction of the congressional fact-finding function,” he added. “So most of us have been led to the position that an impeachment inquiry is warranted.”

Raskin added that he believes there should be an impeachment inquiry based on “overwhelming evidence” presented in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

“Overwhelming evidence has been presented to us in the Mueller report, and outside of it too, of high crimes and misdemeanors, and we should launch an impeachment inquiry,” he said. “Remember, an inquiry doesn’t prejudge the outcome. We’re not talking about articles of impeachment.” 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that he believes the case for an impeachment inquiry is “getting stronger” as the administration continues to “stonewall” Congress.

His comments come after the Trump administration rejected several congressional subpoenas in recent weeks.

Last week, the White House rejected a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for oversight records. The Treasury Department also defied a congressional demand for Trump’s tax returns, and, on Tuesday, former White House counsel Don McGahn did not appear to testify before the House despite a subpoena. 

An impeachment inquiry is an investigation and is not an impeachment floor vote to bring charges against the president.