Chuck Todd said Wednesday morning if a "functional Washington" existed that Congress would be holding investigations into the Trump presidency and looking for ways to draw up articles of impeachment. He also advised outgoing House Speaking Paul Ryan to leave behind a group of Republicans to "start an investigation" in the House Judiciary Committee to probe Trump.



"You now have a president of the United States accused of committing a federal crime," Todd said on Wednesday's Today Show. "The way a functional Washington would work is that Congress, there is a process here. The sitting president is accused of a crime. The Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives would begin to look to see if there's enough evidence to start investigating and drawing up articles of impeachment, but this is not a functional Congress. This is a Congress controlled by Republicans."



"They would have to do this on their own president. But I have to tell you, I think there is going to be increased political heat and you're going to have a divided Republican party. Those who are fearing Trump as a drag and those that know that his base is there till the end," he added.











Todd continued his rant on investigating Trump and "drawing up impeachment papers" when the conversation veered toward Congressional midterm elections. He said there is a "misguided" idea by Republicans to campaign on defending Trump. Todd implored the retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan to create a Trump investigation before he leaves office.



"I do think Paul Ryan needs to think long and hard about the future of the Republican Party. This is your last chance off this train, and it looks like Manafort and Cohen only have more to say. Only may cooperate more. This could get worse," Todd said.



Todd said to put this cohort in the Judiciary Committee, the House element responsible for articles of impeachment, doing "the party" a favor.



"Ryan's retiring," he said. "I think he could actually do the party a favor and just start the procedure in the House Judiciary Committee to give some home, to give some place for Republicans getting nervous to say, 'Hey, you know what, let's start an investigation and we'll go from there."



