Schumer declines to endorse Amash’s comments on ‘impeachable conduct’ by Trump

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday declined to endorse Rep. Justin Amash’s (R-Mich.) comments that it’s clear from the redacted Mueller report that President Trump engaged in “impeachable conduct.”

Schumer stuck to his position that Democrats need to collect more information before making a decision on impeachment when asked about Amash’s argument that special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report reveals that Trump obstructed justice and should be removed.

{mosads}“My view is that we ought to get all the facts out, the way the House is doing now with Leader Pelosi,” he said, referring to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) resistance to impeachment calls in the House.

“If you have a little patience all the information will come out and then decisions will be made,” he said.

Schumer predicted that federal courts will back up House subpoenas for key witnesses and documents, such as Trump’s tax returns. 

“The courts, I think will be on our side,” he said.

But Schumer declined to say whether he agreed with Amash’s weekend comments.

The Libertarian-leaning fourth-term Republican became the first Republican in the house to support impeachment proceedings against the president, arguing over the weekend that “Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.” 

In a string of tweets, he argued that Mueller’s report “identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.”

But polls show there is little public appetite for an impeachment battle on Capitol Hill.

A CNN poll published earlier this month showed that only 37 percent of Americans favor impeachment proceedings against Trump while 59 percent oppose the idea.

Forty-four percent of the respondents said Democrats are going too far in their investigations of Trump, according to the survey.

Amash on Tuesday refused to rule out a third-party challenge to Trump in 2020.