Robert Mueller Just Put Nancy Pelosi In A Hard Place

Robert Mueller has just resigned as special counsel. The Russia investigation is over—well, his is, anyway. But he did leave a parting gift that will likely infuriate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

During his brief statement, Mueller again highlighted one of the most controversial findings of his special counsel report regarding obstruction of justice, saying that, “If we had had confidence that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Mueller went on to say, “We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.”

None of this is new information, of course, but that fact did not stop Democrats on Capitol Hill and beyond from calling on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings, something Pelosi and House leadership have been against for some pretty straightforward political reasons. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) said Mueller is playing Taboo, a game where you must describe a word without using it, and that the word is impeach.

Meanwhile, on the 2020 presidential campaign trail, Sen. Cory Booker took to Twitter to suggest that Mueller’s statement “makes it clear” that impeachment should occur now.

Booker is a low-tier candidate, but he joins Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is not alone in this call. This could start to break the floodgate. Should the rest of the candidates follow suit, Pelosi and House leadership will be on an island, facing almost the full fury of the Democratic Party. It’s Nancy’s House, but that will be a lot of pressure.