Pelosi insists Trump is 'goading us to impeach him'

President Trump might actually want Democrats to launch impeachment proceedings against him, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested on Tuesday.

Pelosi said at a Cornell University event that Trump is "goading us to impeach him" and "every single day" is "taunting, taunting, taunting," CNBC reports. She said Trump knows impeachment would "be very divisive," but he "doesn't really care" and "just wants to solidify his base."

The House speaker has previously suggested that impeachment would play into the president's hands and that Democrats should avoid doing so, instead focusing on defeating him in 2020.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

At the same time, Pelosi on Tuesday said that Trump defying congressional subpoenas "could be part of an impeachable offense," Bloomberg reports, adding that "every day he's obstructing justice by saying this one should testify, that one shouldn't testify."

Pelosi spoke on the same morning that the White House instructed former counsel Don McGahn not to comply with a subpoena from Congress; Democrats in the House are considering holding both him and Attorney General William Barr, who missed a deadline to provide Congress with the unredacted Mueller report, in contempt.

Since the release of the redacted Mueller report, more Democrats have taken the step of calling for impeachment, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday saying, "This is not a fight I wanted to take on, but this is the fight we have in front of us now. Begin impeachment proceedings now against this president."