Speaker Nancy Pelosi told senior Democrats that she’d like to see President Donald Trump “in prison” as she clashed with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler in a meeting on Tuesday night over whether to launch impeachment proceedings....I know that Pelosi didn't say this for public consumption, but she's been in Washington long enough to know that it was likely to leak. It's a baffling message. To impeachment supporters, it says, "Yes, what the president has done is so bad that he's likely to go to jail for it someday -- but for heaven's sake, don't impeach him over it!" To Trump critics and doubters who oppose impeachment because they think it's better to deal with the president at the ballot box, Pelosi's rhetoric undoubtedly seems as intemperate as impeachment talk. Pelosi's attempt at needle-threading pleases nobody.
Nadler pressed Pelosi to allow his committee to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump — the second such request he’s made in recent weeks only to be rebuffed by the California Democrat and other senior leaders....
“I don’t want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison,” Pelosi said, according to multiple Democratic sources familiar with the meeting. Instead of impeachment, Pelosi still prefers to see Trump defeated at the ballot box and then prosecuted for his alleged crimes, according to the sources.
Democrats, please: Just stop talking about this, or at least impose a cone of silence around every intraparty discussion. We know that Nadler and many other Democrats want an impeachment proceeding. We know Pelosi won't allow it. Just stop airing the disagreement in public. Pretend that you have a strategy, which is to keep Trump off balance with a good-cop/bad-cop approach. What you're doing has that effect. What you're saying conveys weakness.
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