It's not impeachment, or even a commitment to hold hearings on impeachment as called for by a growing number of House Democrats. But the "I word," as President Donald Trump has called it, showed up in court filings announced Friday by a House committee seeking more information in its investigations into President Donald Trump. And the step, however small, showed that Democrats such as House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler are making headway in their push to move more aggressively against the president even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging a more deliberative path.

"We are using our full (constitutional) Article One powers to investigate the conduct of the president and consider what remedies there are. Among other things we will consider… are whether to recommend articles of impeachment," Nadler, a Democrat of New York, told reporters. He said the committee had "told the court" of that path.

Asked whether the legal moves constituted an "impeachment inquiry" – a phrase some lawmakers have used to describe a move toward impeachment without committing to actually doing it – Rep. Veronica Escobar, Democrat of Texas, said, "We're now crossing a threshold with this filing." While the committee's activity until now has been oversight, "We are now officially entering into a new examination of whether or not to recommend articles of impeachment," Escobar, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said.

In a Friday filing, the committee asked a court to force the release of grand jury testimony redacted from the report by former special counsel Robert Mueller, material the Justice Department has refused to provide. Nadler said next week he intends to go to court to enforce a subpoena for testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn.

"The House must have access to all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional duty, power of the utmost gravity, a recommendation of articles of impeachment. That duty falls in the first instance to the House Committee on the Judiciary," Nadler said Friday, reading from the court papers asking for the grand jury testimony.

"From my personal standpoint, I think we are in an impeachment investigation," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland.

The distinction is important not just to Trump, who is in full re-election mode and who has dismissed the Mueller inquiry as a "witch-hunt" and Democratic follow-ups as an unwarranted do-over, but to House Democrats. Pelosi, a California Democrat, has urged caution to fellow Democrats demanding that the chamber begin impeachment proceedings.

Democrats are united in their belief that Trump has committed impeachable acts, something they believe Mueller confirmed for the cameras earlier this week when he testified before Nadler's panel and the House Intelligence Committee. Mueller indeed said aloud that the inquiry was "not a witch-hunt," that Trump was not exonerated when it came to obstruction of justice, that Justice Department policy prevented him from recommending an indictment of Trump, and that the president could be prosecuted once he left office.

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But the party is wrestling with whether it makes sense from a political and practical level to impeach. Some members from swing districts might find the vote a difficult one. The Senate is virtually certain not to convict Trump – which could leave the House with nothing but bragging rights and the president, with a virtual acquittal slip to wave around theatrically at rallies.

Lawmakers are also cognizant of the pain and division any impeachment proceedings bring to the country, and want to be assured the public is behind them. And there is also a concern that an impeachment would distract from other issues – such as health care and personal financial security – Democrats believe will help their congressional candidates as well as the eventual Democratic presidential nominee.

Pelosi reiterated Friday that she wants to make sure the House has the best and strongest evidence it can get before going down the impeachment road.

"I am not trying to run out the clock. We will proceed when we have what we need to proceed. Not one day sooner," Pelosi said at her weekly press conference Friday. But "this isn't endless," she added. Pelosi has said that the White House's continued refusal to comply with subpoenas or to provide documents demanded by congressional oversight committee could themselves provoke an impeachment process.

The number of House Democrats asking for impeachment, or a path to impeachment, is approaching triple digits. That's still not enough to assure passage in the House, but it adds some pressure on Pelosi.

In a video posted on Twitter, Rep. Mike Levin, Democrat of California, became one of the latest to join the chorus. "My first priority is serving the people I represent – not the partisan distractions in Washington. However, I can't ignore the corruption and obstruction we witness every day from President Trump. I now support an impeachment inquiry in order to get the truth for my constituents," Levin says in the video.

His comments are especially notable because he is from a swing district in San Diego County, a longtime GOP stronghold which Levin flipped blue in last year's midterm elections.

Pelosi and Nadler have presented a diplomatic public front, although Nadler, a constitutional lawyer who is infuriated with the administration's refusal to comply with subpoenas on top of wanting to hold Trump accountable for obstruction of justice, wants to move faster on an impeachment inquiry. Pelosi Friday brushed aside internal party divisions.

"Everybody has the liberty and the luxury to espouse their own position and to criticize me for trying to go down the path in the most determined, positive way," Pelosi told reporters. Instead of weakening her argument, "their advocacy for impeachment only gives me leverage," she added.

Pelosi also met Friday one-on-one with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman New York Democrat who is one of the most vocal forces calling for impeachment. Asked if the two had buried the hatchet, Pelosi said, "I don't think there ever was any hatchet."