here we sit now well into july, and those are the numbers on impeachment. you ve got mueller potentially appearing, let s say maybe it s the 24th. as soon as he finishes, then congress is supposed to go on a recess, basically until the end of the summer. so you re laying out all these other things you need. between the poll numbers that show the public is not there right now, that looming recess that is going take you to labor day, the clock running out here? steve, it possible for me to jump in here? because i think we re sort of missing the bigger picture. impeachment is obviously something that congress could be considering. but there is so much more at stake. and i was thinking about during your last section where mr. podhoretz mentioned the access hollywood tapes and how that didn t affect the election. well, i d also, if i recall, remember that that was the very day that wikileaks dumped all of the emails that had been hacked by the russians from hillary
air system in prison. more on the former trump fixer s life behind bars. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m washington blitzer. you are in the situation room. breaking news this hour, cnn has learned that the house judiciary chairman jerry nadler does, indeed, want to open an impeachment inquiry putting him at odds with the house speaker nancy pelosi s go slow approach. we are told nadler moved forward this week. a source telling cnn he is being careful what he says publicly because he doesn t want to throw pelosi under the bus. also breaking, the new release of the key everyday of robert mueller s obstruction information. it s a voicemail message from then trump lawyer john dude to a key mueller witness, the fired national security adviser to the
president michael flynn. the call was investigated as a potential attempt to deter flynn from cooperating with mueller s team. this hour, i ll talk with democratic congressman jimmy gomez, a member of the house oversight committee and our correspondents and analysts are standing by. let s go to manu raju, i understand you have exclusive new reporting on nadler s personal views on whether the house should launch impeachment proceedings. reporter: apparently jerry nadler has been cautious, not so far as going p going into a impeachment. quietly, he has been lobbying for an impeachment probe and made that case directly to nancy pelosi in multiple private meetings, including one earlier this week with a key chairman. i am told in this meeting he said to pelosi and others who were there, that this would add
they re not getting the witnesses they need. if they can get don mcgahn up there. subpoenas are fought things you decide to do or shouldn t do, it s optional. they re subpoenaing people. they need to get people up there. jeffrey, nadler does say within weeks, if necessary, he will issue a subpoena to robert mueller to appear before his committee. well, you know, time is passing. you know, it s june. the mueller report came out in march. you know, i guess he s like trying to be real polite with mueller, saying, asking, pretty please testify, you know, weeks are passing. it s soon. it s going july. then august. i know all the months, actually. i can recite them. but it s like you know i just don t tow what they re waiting for to actually get some witnesses and start presenting evidence rather than talking about what they re going to do. what do you think, david? let me see if i can tie a couple things together?
i think jeff i have right, house democrats need to do more actual investigating. they are frustrated they re not getting the witnesses and their suspense answered. people like nadler apparently want to move forward so they can get more access to information. on the other hand, i think the pelosi position is, i want to make it clear to the public and to the courts and to other members of congress that we can t get anything through the courts. we can t get anything any other way except to impeach. she wants this clearly to be a last resort. i think the problem is the more time that passes is actually going to undercut their argument for impeachment. mueller put out that report i think it was april 18th he made that report public. yes, it was reasonable for them to take some time, digest the report. not seem like they were rushing to conclusions, impeachment. the thing is they ve had time to look at the report and look at the absolutely shocking conduct that is described about what the