Speaker Nancy Pelosi convened the Democratic Caucus after Robert Mueller's appearance before the House Judiciary and Intelligence panels. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Congress Pelosi rebuffs Nadler on impeachment after Mueller flop The two senior Democrats discussed the party's next steps in a closed-door caucus meeting after the special counsel's testimony.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler pushed to launch impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting Wednesday, only to be rebuffed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.

At a caucus meeting that came after the hotly anticipated testimony of former special counsel Robert Mueller, Nadler suggested that several House committee chiefs begin drafting articles of impeachment against Trump. Pelosi called the idea premature, the sources said.


Mueller's appearance was a disappointment to many Democrats, as the former FBI director stumbled at times, even seeming unsure of the contents of his 448-page report on Russian election interference and Trump's efforts to obstruct the investigation.

Pelosi convened the Democratic Caucus after Mueller's appearance before the Judiciary and Intelligence panels. A lengthy, animated discussion about the impeachment process followed.

Sources said rank-and-file lawmakers asked about the technical aspects of an impeachment inquiry, including whether it would require a full vote of the House or could be initiated by the Judiciary Committee.

Nadler indicated that the committee could launch proceedings on its own. Articles filed by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) at the outset of this Congress have already been referred to the panel, giving Democrats a vehicle to begin proceedings. The technical discussion also included a question about how an impeachment case is presented to the Senate.

In the course of the wide-ranging discussion, Nadler countered Pelosi's pushback by noting that polls showed limited support for removing President Richard Nixon from office when the House began impeachment hearings against him in 1973, but that public support for the effort grew as more evidence came out about Nixon's behavior.

As she has for months, Pelosi argued to her colleagues that the "slow, methodical approach" employed by House Democrats is the right way to move forward, despite the fact that more than 90 of her members have now called for an impeachment inquiry to begin.

Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts became the latest Democrat to endorse the idea on Wednesday, but some pro-impeachment members had hoped for far more lawmakers to join them.

Pelosi also noted Democrats have several lawsuits moving forward in federal court, including cases involving Trump's personal finances and tax returns, the sources said.

Pelosi has insisted Democrats need support from Republicans, or a shift in public sentiment, before even starting an impeachment inquiry against Trump.

A GOP-run Senate is not going to vote to remove Trump from office, at least for now, so Pelosi and other senior Democrats have argued impeachment is an empty gesture that will only cause a backlash against vulnerable Democrats in 2020.

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The meeting adjourned with Democrats agreeing on their next steps: filing a lawsuit to enforce a subpoena against former White House counsel Don McGahn, who told Mueller that Trump tried to get him to fire the special counsel in order to end the investigation.

During a news conference afterward, Pelosi's opposition to impeachment appeared to soften, although she still didn't endorse the idea.

"If we have a case for impeachment, that’s the place we will have to go. Why I’d like it to be a strong case is because it’s based on the facts — the facts and the law, that’s what matters," Pelosi told reporters while showing no signs of her disagreement with Nadler, who stood next to her.

“The stronger our case is, the worse the Senate will look for just letting the president off the hook.”

Pelosi added that Democrats' investigations are “not endless in terms of time.”

“If it comes to a point where the cone of silence and the obstruction of justice and the cover-up in the White House prevents us from getting that information, that will not prevent us from going forward and in fact, it’s even more grounds to go forward," Pelosi said.

“Today was a watershed day in telling the facts to the American people. With those facts, we can proceed. And we face a time of great danger,” Nadler added. “This cannot go on. And it’s up to Congress to safeguard the Constitution and we will do it.”

While Mueller's performance was panned by Trump, GOP lawmakers and many media pundits, Democrats insisted it is too soon to say how it will affect the national debate on the president and impeachment.

“I think it’ll depend on how the public views what they saw today," Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) said. “Hopefully my colleagues see what I see. We’ve known for a long time that this president went above and beyond to obstruct this investigation. I think the Republicans know it, I think they’re playing defense for their guy.”

While Mueller was largely unwilling to go beyond what was in his March report while testifying, there were some surprising moments that Democrats seized upon to damage Trump.

Mueller repeatedly said Wednesday, as he did in his report, that Trump wasn't exonerated by his investigation and firmly rejected the president’s “no collusion, no obstruction” claims. And Mueller said Trump could still be charged with a crime after he leaves office.

But Mueller also had an embarrassing "correction" that undermined his most damaging revelation from his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

Mueller initially said in response to a question from Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) that Trump couldn't be indicted because of a longstanding Justice Department opinion on charging a sitting president with a crime. Democrats and pundits quickly jumped on it.

However, a short time later, before the Intelligence Committee, Mueller clarified his comment.

"I want to go back to one thing that was said this morning by Mr. Lieu who said, and I quote, ‘You didn't charge the president because of the [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion,'" Mueller said. "That is not the correct way to say it. As we say in the report, and as I said at the opening, we did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime."

By midday, Democrats found themselves having to defend Mueller, a development they didn't expect heading into the day.

"He got off to a slow start, but anytime 20 million people are watching you on TV and you're in front of a congressional committee, you're going be a little nervous," said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.)., who supports an impeachment inquiry.

“He doesn’t have his finger on every syllable of the report. So to think he would know everything is very unreasonable," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said. "It’s hard, it’s hard."

Some pro-impeachment Democrats, especially a hard-line group on the Judiciary Committee, argued Mueller actually helped their cause.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Mueller laid out "overwhelming, devastating evidence" of obstruction of justice by Trump, "even if he took on a far less aggressive role [as a prosecutor] than he could have.

"There was no new evidence today but it was new to about 95 percent of the American people," Raskin added. "All of that is in the report, and I think it's going to gain a whole bunch of new readers after that."

Sarah Ferris and Mel Zanona contributed to this report.

