A coalition of more than two dozen liberal groups on Tuesday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump, writing in a letter that her reticence is "resulting in dangerous inaction that enables this racist and xenophobic president."

The strongly worded letter voicing frustration with Pelosi, D-Calif., came a day after the Democratic-led House returned from a week-long recess and continued to grapple with how to respond to the report of special counsel Robert Mueller.

While a growing number of Democrats are calling for launching an impeachment inquiry based on findings related to potential obstruction of justice, Pelosi has continued to counsel caution, calling for deliberate steps to investigate Trump.

The letter sent Tuesday calls for Pelosi to exercise "bold, moral leadership" and says that "instead of using your power, you are giving us political excuses for why you shouldn't."

"Instead of leading, you and your colleagues have asked us to wait - wait for the Mueller report, wait for the unredacted Mueller report, wait for Mueller's testimony about the Mueller report, wait for more investigations, wait for bipartisan consensus, wait for impeachment to poll better, or wait for the 2020 election," it says.

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The groups signing the letter include CREDO Action, Free Speech for People, MPower, Movimiento Cosecha, Democracy for America, Indivisible, Working Families Party and Women's March.

Mueller ended his role as special counsel last week and said his office could not consider whether to charge Trump with a crime because of a long-standing Justice Department opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted. During a brief public appearance, Mueller repeated a line in his report explaining that his team would have exonerated Trump of obstructing the probe into Russian election interference if it could have.

Some Democrats read that as a signal that they should more aggressively pursue impeachment of the president.

In the letter, the liberal groups tell Pelosi that there is "still a chance to turn things around."

"You are a powerful leader who has stood up for women's rights, cleared a path for other women to get to Congress and brought us the [Affordable Care Act]," they wrote. "Your strong leadership can help move the public narrative, not only on impeachment but on the dangers Trump's presidency poses for all Americans."

This article was written by John Wagner, a reporter for The Washington Post.