Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t think Trump impeachment is off the table

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) doesn’t think Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is completely shutting the door on impeaching President Trump.

“She’s always demonstrated leadership that takes all kind of factors into account,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday. “Legally I don’t think it’s something that can ever be 100 percent off the table, but if that’s how she feels right now I respect that.”

{mosads}Pelosi in an interview on Monday told The Washington Post: “I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.”

Ocasio-Cortez noted that there are a number of “unsettled variables” including the much-anticipated report generated by special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation that could play into how House Democrats ultimately decide to proceed.

“Well, I think all of us have a responsibility to advocate our viewpoints, and so I wouldn’t say that the statements are designed to shut down conversations or to shut down the conversation over it,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “You know, this is how the Speaker feels, but the whole point of our democracy is that if we disagree we have a responsibility to air out our arguments as to why and take it into consideration.”

Ocasio-Cortez said she believes Trump is guilty of impeachable offenses, citing then-Rep. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) remarks during former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment process while making the case that Congress is within their rights to take action.

“Lindsey Graham said himself that you don’t have to commit a crime to be impeached when he was making the argument for Clinton, you just have to have kind of defiled the office in a way, which hello, so in every way imaginable,” she said. “So, I think according to the Lindsey Graham standard, that absolutely, does Trump meet that bar? He’s met it multiple times.”

Democratic leadership has been hesitant to pursue impeachment proceedings against Trump despite some Democratic lawmakers, such as Reps. Al Green (D-Texas) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), pushing the issue.