House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says "I'm not for impeachment" of President Donald Trump, arguing that "he's just not worth" the divisiveness that the country would suffer from such an action.
Pelosi's opposition to seeking Trump's removal was laid out in a new, wide-ranging interview with the California Democrat published by The Washington Post on Monday.
Her view contrasts with that of some of her fellow Democrats, who believe their party should use its new-found majority in the House to impeach the president.
"I'm not for impeachment," Pelosi told The Post.
"This is news. I'm going to give you some news right now because I haven't said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I've been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that 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."
"And he's just not worth it," Pelosi said.
The White House had no immediate comment on Pelosi's stance.
Pelosi and another top Democrat in the House tried to tamp down talk about impeaching Trump in January, on the heels of a public comment by Rep Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who promised to "impeach motherf-----."
On Jan. 6, Pelosi told CBS News's show "Sunday Morning" that "If and when the time comes for impeachment ... it will have to be something that has such a crescendo in a bipartisan way."
Even if House Democrats could must a majority to impeach Trump, removing the president from office would be extremely difficult given current Republican control of the Senate. For a president to be removed from office, two-thirds of the Senate's membership must vote for it.
Also on Jan. 6, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told NBC News's "Meet the Press" that, "I don't think an impeachment process is inevitable, and that's not what we're focused on."
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
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