Top U.S. Democrat Opposed To Impeaching Trump

The top U.S. Democratic lawmaker has said she is opposed to efforts to impeach President Donald Trump, saying he is "just not worth it."

Nancy Pelosi, who is the leader of the House of Representatives, made the comments in an interview with The Washington Post published on March 11.

"I'm not for impeachment" of Trump," she was quoted as saying.

"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," the Post quoted her as saying.

Pelosi's comments come amid growing pressure from Democratic lawmakers to pursue efforts to impeach Trump, a Republican. The pressure has grown since November, when Democrats took control of the lower house of Congress.

Under the constitution, any effort to impeach a U.S. president is first conducted in the House. If a president is impeached, then the Senate would decide whether to remove him or her from office -- something that has never happened in U.S. history.

Several House committees have launched aggressive investigations of Trump's White House, looking at, among other things, Trump's ties to Russia.

Representative Elijah Cummings, who heads a key House committee leading one of those investigations, said impeachment "has to be a bipartisan effort, and right now it's not there."

Congressional lawmakers, and many Americans, are also waiting anxiously for the final report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has been investigating Russian ties, as well as possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

Mueller has already indicted dozens of people and entities, including Russian military intelligence officers, and his investigation has resulted in other prosecutions in other federal jurisdictions, such as against Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Once finished, his report will be transmitted to the attorney general, who will then decide what is released publicly or to Congress.

Based on reporting by The Washington Post