McCarthy Condemns Nick Fuentes, Stopping Short of Faulting Trump
House Speaker Paul Ryan: “We are not going to allow anybody to be bullied by the White House.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday that he and several others in Congress have decided not to seek impeachment against President Donald Trump for the reasons they outlined in recent days following their testimony to the House Intelligence Committee last week.
“There are many legitimate reasons for us to want to not impeach the president,” Ryan said in an interview after the Wisconsin Republican released a sweeping legislative agenda he plans to unveil this week. “We’re making that decision for what we believe to be the best interest of the country.”
Ryan said most members of Congress have similar reasons for not pursuing impeachment. In the wake of Trump’s first summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on June 12, the president “has an awful lot to answer for” in terms of his conduct of the summit, he said. And despite Trump’s own claims that he has “done a terrific job” on trade, Ryan said he has never taken a position on trade policy and does not have “a position on how tariffs are created.”
Nevertheless, he added, “When we look at the president’s conduct over the years, it has been so appalling, so abusive, so disrespectful, so disgusting, so uncivil.”
Ryan said that the decision came after he, along with Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, discussed the issue with lawmakers in their caucus. They have also met with Trump’s personal lawyers as well as members of the president’s family — including Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
As Ryan made his decision, Trump has faced increasing pressure from members of his party to remove him from office through impeachment.
On Monday morning, Senate Republicans were scheduled to vote on a measure to force Trump’s hand through a debate in the Senate that would remove him from office if the House does not vote to impeach him by December 13.
But Trump, for his part, said he has “no intention” of removing himself from office and is determined to “win in the 2020 election.”
