Democratic lawmaker says Trump isn’t ‘leaving us any choice’ on impeachment

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said Tuesday that an increasing number of lawmakers believe President Trump is leaving them “no choice” but to pursue impeachment proceedings. 

“The number of members that are coming to the conclusion that the president is essentially leaving us no choice but to exercise our responsibility under the Constitution — that number’s growing and it’s because the president is taking us there,” he told CNN. 

{mosads} Kildee, however, said he is “not at that point” on impeachment, but acknowledged that he is “much closer to it.”

“I do not see another path unless somehow something changes rather dramatically, and I put that fully at the doorstep of the president,” he said. 

The congressman added that lawmakers must “make sure that if we go down this path it’s because there’s no other alternative.”

“Unless the president significantly changes course, becomes more transparent … and allows us to provide just the bare essential oversight … I don’t think he’s leaving us any choice,” he said.   

“I have been a very careful visitor to this whole conversation” of impeachment @RepDanKildee says.

“Unless the President significantly changes course, becomes more transparent…and allow us to provide just the bare essential oversight…I don’t think he’s leaving us any choice” pic.twitter.com/dpUbBNcXEq

— New Day (@NewDay) June 4, 2019

Democrats have ramped up their calls for impeachment in recent days after special counsel Robert Mueller gave his first public press conference on his investigation’s findings.

Mueller said Wednesday during a news conference that “if we had had confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”

Mueller’s report, released last month, found insufficient evidence to charge Trump with conspiring with Russia to interfere in the 2016 elections, but declined to make a prosecutorial decision about whether the president obstructed subsequent investigations into the interference.

Many Democrats have called for impeachment in the wake of the report, but party leadership has maintained that Democrats should stay vigilant in investigating the White House, cautioning that any impeachment attempt would die in the GOP-controlled Senate.