Nancy Pelosi says Democrats demanding impeachment ‘only gives me leverage’ as over 100 House members call for removal of Trump

Comments come as House judiciary committee files lawsuit demanding secret material gathered by Robert Mueller

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has defended herself at a press conference against accusations from a growing number of members within her own party, that she was “trying to run out the clock” on impeaching Donald Trump.

“Everybody has the liberty and the luxury to espouse their own position and to criticise me for trying to go down the path in the most determined, positive way,” Ms Pelosi said about her stance on launching an impeachment inquiry into the president. The House speaker has said she does not yet support impeaching Mr Trump, noting several congressional investigations still ongoing into his financial dealings and possibly obstruction of justice.

Speaking about a growing number of Democrats calling for the process to remove the president from office to begin, Ms Pelosi said: “Their advocacy for impeachment only gives me leverage.”

“A decision will be made in a timely fashion,” she added. “This isn’t endless, and when we have the best, strongest possible case and that’s not endless either.”

The speaker’s comments arrived as more Democrats continued adding their names to a growing list of House representatives demanding Mr Trump’s impeachment, the latest of those being Ann Kuster, the highest-ranking Democrat to call for his removal so far. Also, Democrats filed a lawuist demanding secret, grand jury testimony collected by special counsel Robert Mueller, which they said they needed to determine whether to press ahead with a formal censure.

In a statement after Ms Kuster announced her support for an impeachment inquiry to be launched, Democrat Don Beyer wrote in a statement: “100 Members of the House of Representatives now publicly support an impeachment inquiry.”

“There will be more to come,” he added.

The list of 100 House representatives is made up of Democrats, save for Justin Amash, a former Republican who left the party after announcing his support for an impeachment inquiry. Mr Amash has reportedly been mulling launching a presidential bid in opposition of Mr Trump.

A growing faction of Democratic senators and 2020 hopefuls are also urging Ms Pelosi to begin an impeachment inquiry.

Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts senator and candidate for president, said at an event on Wednesday: “l understand that there are people who for political reasons say it’s not where we want to be. But my view is some things are above politics.”

“One of them is our constitutional responsibilities to do what is right,” she added.

The speaker’s refusal to support impeachment arrived just two days after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified on Capitol Hill about the president’s alleged obstruction of justice and Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Jerrold Nadler, the House judiciary committee chairman, said on Friday he was moving forward with court action to investigate the president, adding ”there’s no point speculating whether the speaker with agree with our decision”, when the probes come to a conclusion.

“We are continuing an investigation of the president’s malfeasances,” he said.