Special Counsel Robert Mueller just made House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s job a whole lot tougher. Mueller could not be clearer in his first public statements of his team’s two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election: he explained that he did not consider whether Donald Trump committed a crime because of a long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said. He pointedly noted that only Congress has the authority to hold a sitting president accountable for crimes.

With those words, Mueller exposed the duplicity of Attorney General Bill Barr’s characterization of the findings, thoroughly debunked the White House claim of total exoneration and raised anew the calls for President Trump’s impeachment. Democratic presidential candidates — including Sen. Kamala Harris — seized on the need for impeachment proceedings. Candidate Eric Swalwell, a member of the House Judiciary Committee who often has spoken about the need for meticulous investigation and documentation before taking the big leap, said Wednesday “I’m preparing for impeachment.”

No one has been more strategic and judicious about impeachment than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had been trying to tamp down the impeachment fervor within her Democratic caucus unless and until a compelling (or “iron clad”) case can be made against the president. She is well aware that there is no chance of a two-thirds vote to convict Trump — and thus remove him from office — in the Republican-controlled Senate. A Trump acquittal in the Senate could give him a burst of momentum going into the 2020 election, with potential implications for Democrats in close House and Senate races.

So the pressure is building on Pelosi. “Where they will lead us, we shall see,” she said of the congressional investigations on Wednesday. “Nothing is off the table.”

Prediction: Democratic agitation for impeachment is rapidly approaching critical mass; expect official proceedings to begin soon.

What we’re saying

The real witch hunt: Attorney General Bill Barr has shown he can’t be trusted to be an honest broker in investigations of President Trump. So why should we trust him to oversee an investigation into the origins of the special counsel’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election — especially when it appears to have been done at the urging of President Trump?

Wake up, Facebook: The social-networking giant allowed a doctored video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi to stay on news feeds for far too long. The video made it appear Pelosi was slurring her words. So much for Mark Zuckerberg’s pious claims about a commitment to better patrol fake news.

Fair use of force: The California Legislature has come up with a reasonable compromise on police officers using deadly force. Under the revised AB392, officers can use it only if it’s “necessary” to defend themselves or others against imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury. Our editorial said it represents “a positive solution to a contentious problem.”

One word: plastics! California may soon be in the forefront of banning single-use plastics in their various forms. Two bills going through the State Capitol would curb single-use plastics 75% by 2030. This makes sense, our editorial argues. (Photo below: A container is filled with plastic waste from Australia, in Port Klang, Malaysia, on Tuesday. Credit: Vincent Thian, Associated Press)

Letter of the Week

Bottom line: Elizabeth Samuelson of San Francisco had this pointed response to our Sunday editorial, “State Legislature’s sorry session”:

“Let’s face it, the failure of Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB50 — which would reduce local control over housing construction near mass transit hubs — was because too many state politicians are indebted to wealthy donors from suburban bedroom communities. If a movie was made about this fiasco, it would probably be called “The Revenge of the NIMBYs.”

And please check out our other letters of the day responding to this and other matters. You can send us a letter via this form.

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Just a reminder

The Chronicle’s editorials represent the collective judgment of our Editorial Board, which includes the publisher as well as the writers and editors from the opinion team. Our editors and reporters on the news side are not involved in those decisions (including election endorsements). They are charged with reporting fairly and objectively without regard to our editorial positions. It is one of the core values here at Fifth and Mission streets.

Opinion Central is a thrice-weekly newsletter from John Diaz, The Chronicle’s editorial page editor, and the rest of the Editorial Board. Follow along on Twitter: @sfc_opinions

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