Kentucky's only Democrat in Washington broke ranks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said President Donald Trump "is not worth" impeaching.

Speaking on CNN late Monday night, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth said it's only a matter of time before the Democratic-controlled House takes steps to remove the president from office.

"To me, it's not a question of 'whether,' it's a question of 'when,'" he said. "And probably right now is not the right time, but I think at some point it's going to be inevitable."

Yarmuth's comments drew an almost immediate rebuttal from Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, who received Trump's endorsement for re-election when Vice President Mike Pence visited the Bluegrass on Friday.

"Wow...⁦ John Yarmuth⁩ couldn’t be more out of touch with Kentucky, a state that overwhelmingly supports our ⁦president," Bevin tweeted. "More liberal than ⁦Speaker Pelosi⁩ may be popular in some circles, but not in Kentucky."

Yarmuth, whose district is made up almost entirely of Louisville, won re-election by 25 percentage points. He took a jab at the governor's poor polling numbers in response.

"Surely Gov. Bevin has seen his own polling numbers and knows that popularity among Kentucky voters isn’t exactly his area of expertise," Yarmuth told the Courier Journal on Tuesday. "I’ll continue to represent my constituents to the very best of my abilities and won’t be concerned with the late night social media ramblings of America’s worst governor."

The House Judiciary Committee has opened up a broad investigation into Trump's administration, campaign and business ties. But Pelosi told the Washington Post on Monday that while she believes Trump is unfit for office, the House should not make a move to remove him.

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"I'm not for impeachment," she said. "Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it."

Under the Constitution, the House can impeach the president with a majority vote. The proceedings would then move to the Republican-controlled Senate, where senators would serve as the jury, and could remove Trump with a two-thirds vote.

Only two presidents have been impeached in U.S. history: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. But neither was removed from the White House. Richard Nixon resigned to avoid being impeached.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been a Trump ally on judicial appointments, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This isn't the first time Yarmuth, who chairs the powerful House Budget Committee, has flirted with kicking Trump out of office. In November 2017, just a year after Trump was elected, he joined a handful of Democratic representatives who introduced articles of impeachment.

Yarmuth said at the time that it was a "symbolic" move that he signed on to after Trump's threats to challenge licenses for broadcast news networks. Specifically, he cited the president slamming NBC News over a report that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called the president a "moron" after discussing the country's nuclear arsenal.

In September 2018, Yarmuth again flirted with the idea after Trump used his Twitter pulpit to slam the U.S. Department of Justice for hurting the re-election chances of two Republicans facing federal prosecution.

Background:Congressman Yarmuth flirts with initiating Trump impeachment — again

Yarmuth told the Courier Journal then that Trump had "committed impeachable acts" but that moving forward with impeachment was pointless unless it could pass the House and obtain a conviction in the Senate.

But speaking with CNN host Erin Burnette, the congressman said he believes the "impeachment power is in the Constitution for a reason, and if we don't use it, then it becomes meaningless, particularly when you have a president who has committed crimes while in office, who has abused the power of his office, and many other reasons why I think he's committed impeachable offenses."

This story will be updated.

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/philb.