In some ways, Robert Mueller’s turn as America’s disappointed dad seemed to light a fire under Democrats. “What Mueller basically did was return an impeachment referral,” Senator Kamala Harris tweeted moments after the presser. “Now it is up to Congress to hold this president accountable.” Still, the presser seemed to fall flat with the only constituency that really matters when it comes to impeachment: Nancy Pelosi. In the aftermath, she didn’t close the door on impeachment completely, but she also didn’t budge from her view that the process could ultimately backfire on Democrats, resulting in another four nightmarish years. “Nothing is off the table,” Pelosi told a crowd in San Francisco. “But we do want to make such a compelling case, such an ironclad case, that even the Republican Senate, which at the time seems to be not an objective jury, will be convinced of the path that we have to take as a country.”

Mueller and his team were tight-lipped about their investigation for close to two years, even as Trump railed against the probe, smeared the special counsel, and apparently attempted to fire him. But the spin cycle around his report seemed to push him over the edge. He took the podium Wednesday to outline some of its key aspects, and though he didn’t say anything that couldn’t be found in his 448-page tome—“the work speaks for itself”—he did highlight a couple points that the president’s detractors interpreted as a call to arms. First, Mueller made clear that, regardless of what Attorney General William Barr or Trump himself might have you believe, his investigation did not prove the president’s innocence. “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” he said. “Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.” Second, and perhaps most importantly, he emphasized that he views dealing with Trump’s transgressions as the responsibility of Congress. “A president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office,” he said. “The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”

His 10 minutes in the spotlight emboldened Democrats (and Republican Rep. Justin Amash) in their calls for impeachment. “The ball is in our court, Congress,” Amash tweeted. “It’s clear now that Congress must hold hearings on the findings of the Special Counsel, including the witnesses who gave testimony to investigators,” Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle, who previously called for caution, wrote Wednesday. “It’s time to official start Impeachment Hearings.” A number of 2020 candidates began beating the drum, too. In addition to Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Kirsten Gillibrand joined the ranks of Democratic hopefuls calling for impeachment. “Robert Mueller made himself clear: He expects Congress to exercise its constitutional authority to finish what he couldn’t,” Gillibrand wrote. Warren re-upped her call for Congress to act, describing hearings as a “point of principle”.

But the Mueller show didn’t sway Trump’s Republican allies in the Senate, who echoed the president’s “case is closed!” narrative. “For me, the case is over,” Lindsey Graham said in a statement. “Mr. Mueller has decided to move on and let the report speak for itself. Congress should follow his lead.” And therein lies the problem for Pelosi and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose Judiciary committee would be tasked with initiating impeachment proceedings: should they introduce doomed articles of impeachment on principle? Or press on with congressional investigations and focus on beating Trump in 2020? It may not be either/or; as FiveThirtyEight pointed out in March, while impeachment proceedings would likely be politically troublesome for Democrats in the short term, the impact they would have on 2020 races is less clear. That is, Pelosi is right that such a move would be divisive—but it wouldn’t necessarily be the thing that energizes Trump’s base, makes everyone hate the Democrats, and gets the president another four years.

Still Pelosi has made it clear that, at least at present, she sees impeachment as a risk not worth taking. She’s touched on the topic of late, including in recent remarks suggesting that Trump was engaging in potentially impeachable conduct, but she’s also made clear that she doesn’t want to take her shot unless it’s a sure thing. “Many constituents want to impeach the president,” she said in her appearance Wednesday. “But we want to do what is right and what gets results.”

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