Arizona Democrat says neither party should eliminate ‘impeachment’ from vocabulary

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) says that House Democrats and Republicans shouldn’t eliminate the term “impeachment” from their vocabulary for the “well-being” of the country.

“Do you think the House is going to impeach the president?” Hill.TV correspondent Jamal Simmons asked the Arizona Democrat during an interview that aired on Monday. 

“I think the drip, drip, drip on this president has become a pretty steady pour now,” Grijalva said.

“And as we go forward, I don’t think Democrats or Republicans in terms of the well-being of this nation should eliminate the word ‘impeachment’ from their vocabulary,” he continued.

Grijalva added that Democrats over the past few months have downplayed talk of impeachment proceedings against Trump to “not feed more to the fire.”

Ahead of the midterm elections, House Democratic leaders tamped down on talk about impeachment, choosing instead to focus on policy issues. 

In August, Pelosi told The Associated Press that impeachment is “not a priority.” The incoming House Speaker also emphasized that Democrats should focus on oversight of the president and allow special counsel Robert Mueller to do his job “unless something else comes forward.”

Now that Democrats have won back control of the House, they have started talking more and more about impeaching Trump but argue that the timing must be right. 

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the likely incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said President Trump’s alleged hush payments to silence two women was an “impeachable offense,” but he questioned whether it was enough of an offense to remove Trump from office over.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), vice-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is also cautioning Democrats not to move too quickly on impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Jackson said, while a “mountain [of evidence] is building against Trump,” Democratic lawmakers should wait for the report from Mueller’s probe before making any final decisions.

President Trump has previously threatened retaliatory investigations against Democrats over possibly impeaching him.  

“If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level,” he tweeted in November before adding, “Two can play that game!”

House Democrats have tried to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump. That, however, was before Democrats had the majority and the measure overwhelmingly failed.

—Tess Bonn