Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s change of tune comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is facing mounting pressure to begin impeachment proceedings | Sait Serkan Gurbuz/AP File Photo Congress Harry Reid: House should start Trump impeachment inquiry

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a turnaround, now says the House should begin an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

In an interview with USA Today on Monday, the Nevada Democrat said that “it’s not the right thing to do nothing” about allegations that Trump obstructed justice in the Russia investigation. But he also said “it’s not the right thing to jump into impeachment without doing an inquiry.” Reid added that an impeachment inquiry would help determine where public opinion is on the issue.


Reid’s comments are a reversal from few weeks ago, when he told The New York Times that he had concerns similar to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s about a possible political backlash if the House moved forward on impeachment. Reid, who was in the Senate during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial 20 years ago, told The Times that Clinton benefited from House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry.

Reid’s change of tune comes as Pelosi is facing mounting pressure from members of her caucus to begin impeachment proceedings. Some House Democrats view June as a make-or-break month for the speaker to change her position before the presidential election dominates the public discourse.