democrats are now saying it s officially time to open impeachment proceedings. that is new. but how many democrats are with them, if house speaker nancy pelosi is still trying to pump the brakes on any movement towards that? joining me right now, let s find ow, democratic congressman andy kim of new jersey joins me. thank you for being here. thank you for having me. you have some democrats who are taking a new position today. they re saying today has been a tipping point. david cicilline saying that don mcgahn s empty chair at this house judiciary hearing is a tipping point for him. it s time to bring impeachment inquiry against the president. is this a tipping point for you? for me, i take my cues and my direction from people in my district. so what i keep hearing as i did a town hall this past weekend is continuing to talk about health care, continuing to talk about infrastructure. they re raising questions about what s happening with iran and iraq right now. and these are the
we re now at six days now. this appeal basically could potentially put in motion a process that could stop that from happening, at least in the next week while that case is pending. but already, president trump has gone forward with attacking this judge. listen to what he said to reporters yesterday. as far as the financials are concerned, we think it s the wrong it s totally the wrong decision by obviously an obama appointed judge. so an attack on the judge directly there from president trump. but this too is also going to get worked out in court. i would say, kate, this decision by the judge yesterday could have reverberations across the board for president trump. he made it very clear that congress has the power to investigate, to do oversight, and contrary to what president trump has been saying, it is not presidential harassment, kate. yeah, good to see you. thanks so much. joining me now is julie hirshfield davis, a cnn political analyst and congressional correspondent
issue. talk about impeachment. pelosi has called this special meeting tomorrow morning, and i think this is what they talk about, should they move forward with impeachment or not. pelosi and her top lieutenants, again, they don t want to do this. they think it s a mistake. they think it s potentially a trap. you don t talk about your legislative agenda if you re talking about impeachment. there are a lot of rank and file democrats who see the president stoneple walling congress and they want to take dramatic action. some of the difference here, julie, is also this isn t just freshman democrats. this is some of the members of the leadership team who are bringing up if not saying it s time to impeach straight up, it s time to start beginning impeachment proceedings. until now, as john has mentioned, pelosi has been able to hold the team together until now, walking around on capitol hill this morning, she was asked how do you address the divisions of your caucus? we don t have division.
that s a shift among democrats. this is something they have been debating behind closed doors even as nancy pelosi has not favored that approach. one top democrat, adam schiff, who has been skeptical about pursuing impeachment told me earlier today if the white house continues to stonewall their requests, it may be time to move forward. do you believe that it s an impeachment inquiry is warranted given the stonewalling from the administration? i think that the administration is certainly pushing the congress in that direction by obstructing everything. but i expect we ll have a discussion about that today. are you changing your tune on that? you know, i think the case gets stronger the more that they stonewall the congress. several other members have went even further, including the house budget chairman, john yarmuth, who said it s time to move forward now. joaquin castro who is the congressional hispanic caucus chairman, said it s time to
mr. mcgahn has a legal obligation to be here for this scheduled appearance. if he does not immediately correct his mistake, this committee will have no choice but to enforce the subpoena against him. mr. mcgahn did not appear today because the president prevented it. just as the president has said that he would, quote, fight all subpoenas, close quote, issued by congress as part of his broader efforts to cover up his misconduct. this stonewalling makes it all the more important to highlight some of the incidents that mr. mcgahn is said to have witnessed. so this comes after a meeting last night where behind closed doors, house democrats were split on whether this move from the white house is really the last straw. and there is more. less than 24 hours after a federal judge sided with congress saying that the committees have a right to see the president s financial