BY HEATHER CAYGLE, SARAH FERRIS
WASHINGTON (POLITICO) -- House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn on Monday walked back remarks suggesting that Democrats will impeach President Donald Trump, reversing course to say he’s “farther” from backing impeachment than most of his caucus.
Clyburn’s comments came after a private leadership meeting Monday evening in which Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she didn’t support launching impeachment proceedings right now despite a growing push within the caucus.
“I’m probably farther away from impeachment than anybody in our caucus,” Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters Monday night. “We will not get out in front of our committees. We’ll see what the committees come up with. I’ve said that forever.”
Asked by POLITICO whether he thought impeachment proceedings were inevitable, Clyburn simply said no.
The No. 3 Democrat’s comments stand in contrast to what he said Sunday, suggesting it was only a matter of time before House Democrats began impeachment proceedings against Trump.
“That’s exactly what I feel, I think we’ve already begun it,” Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked whether House Democrats would try to remove the president from office.
Clyburn went on to say that his caucus was still pursuing a methodical series of steps — including several committee probes, a slew of subpoenas, upcoming contempt votes and multiple court cases — with no timeframe for when that might culminate in official impeachment proceedings.
Other top Democrats were already distancing themselves from Clyburn’s remarks over the weekend, even before he seemed to soften his stance on the issue.
“Jim Clyburn is a well-respected member of Congress, someone whose shoulders that we all stand on, and I’ll let him speak for himself,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus . “My position has not changed, which is we’re going to continue to proceed aggressively and methodically.”
Asked about Clyburn’s assertion that the House would eventually turn to impeachment, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) declined to comment.
“We’re not getting into that,” Hoyer said Monday night.
Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.), the freshman leadership representative, said: “I would say it may be” inevitable. “I wouldn’t say definitely. But I definitely think that there’s a good chance.”
The Democratic Conference Vice Chairwoman, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), dismissed the idea that Democratic leaders were sending mixed messages to their caucus.
“I think we have one clear shared goal, and that is to get this president out of office as soon as possible,” Clark said. But she drew a clear contrast with Clyburn’s comments on Sunday.
“I certainly understand people’s thoughts about this, but I think it’s important to remember impeachment is a tool, not an end goal itself.”
Still, Democratic leaders are taking aggressive action against the Trump administration, including scheduling a floor vote next week to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt.
The vote, which Hoyer (D-Md.) announced during a closed-door leadership meeting on Monday, will also include sweeping authority authorizing committees to take legal action against Trump administration officials who defy Democrats’ subpoenas in the future.
The floor vote could appease some of the growing angst within the caucus as a gush of Democrats — including some senior lawmakers close to Pelosi — announced their support for impeachment last week after the first public statement from special counsel Robert Mueller on his two-year investigation.
Mueller said he was barred from considering whether to charge Trump with a crime because of longstanding Justice Department policy and implied that the only recourse to hold the president accountable was impeachment.
But it’s unclear how long Pelosi and her lieutenants can hold the line against impeachment, especially with Mueller saying last week that he didn’t want to testify about his report in front of Congress.
More than 50 House Democrats have come out in favor of impeachment in recent weeks, and some less-senior members of Pelosi’s leadership team — including Rep. David Cicilline, who leads the caucus’ messaging arm — are still pushing to open an impeachment inquiry.
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