--- title: Nancy Pelosi: Impeaching Trump Would Be a Waste of Time description: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said during a speech at Hearst that impeaching President Donald Trump would be a waste of time. canonical: https://time.com/5029752/nancy-pelosi-impeach-trump/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-17T18:20:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:32:05.390Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nancy Pelosi: Impeaching Trump Would Be a Waste of Time and Energy og:description: "He's just not that important" og:url: https://time.com/5029752/nancy-pelosi-impeach-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604eb41ca47e3b5c/6988e6547cdbac99a5d5aef3/nancy-pelosi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Nancy Pelosi Holds Her Weekly Press Conference At The U.S. Capitol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nancy Pelosi: Impeaching Trump Would Be a Waste of Time and Energy twitter:description: "He's just not that important" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt604eb41ca47e3b5c/6988e6547cdbac99a5d5aef3/nancy-pelosi.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nancy Pelosi: Impeaching President Trump Would Be a Waste of Time and Energy > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=22866968-028b-4ce8-aaff-3432f5145f65&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Group of Democrats Just Officially Moved to Impeach Donald Trump as President [Watch (HLS stream): A Group of Democrats Just Officially Moved to Impeach Donald Trump as President](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eub0OCQK.m3u8) (6:08)  _Published 2017-11-15. A half-dozen Democrats on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, accusing him of obstruction of justice and other offenses, in a long-shot effort that stands little chance in the Republican-led House._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 17, 2017 6:20 PM UTC A half-dozen Democrats on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, accusing him of obstruction of justice and other offenses, in a long-shot effort that stands little chance in the Republican-led House.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 17, 2017 6:20 PM UTC Two days after [a group of Democrats made moves to impeach President Donald Trump](http://time.com/5026052/democrats-impeach-donald-trump/), House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said during a speech that impeaching Trump would be a waste of time and energy, because “he’s just not that important.” Pelosi, who spoke at Hearst’s offices on Friday, said Democrats’ priority should not be removing Trump from office, according to [tweets from _Cosmopolitan_ features editor Emma Barker](https://twitter.com/emmajune/status/931561224076185600). “Republicans would love for us to make our campaigns about the impeachment of Trump,” she said. “That’s not what it’s about. It’s about the well-being of American families.” The longtime congresswoman has publicly denounced impeachment efforts in the past. Earlier this month, [she told](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/05/pelosi-trump-impeach-house-democrats-244567) _Politico_ that impeachment proceedings are “not someplace that I think we should go.” During her appearance at Hearst, according to Barker’s tweets, Pelosi also said that impeaching former President Bill Clinton was “a frivolous activity.” ## Transcript Morning, we're gonna go ahead and get started. Although a couple people are gonna join us. And a couple other people who are on the resolution will not be here today. But I'm proud to stand here with my friend, Congressman Gutierrez, with other Congress people that will be here, and announcing that we're introducing articles of impeachment. To remove President Trump from office. There would b, I believe six signatories on the resolution. We have taken this action because of great concern for our country, and our constitution, our national security, and our democracy. We believe that President Trump has violated the Constitution, and we've introduced five articles of impeachment. The first is obstruction of justice, which deals with Mr. Comey's firing. The second is a violation of the Constitution's foreign emolument clause, which deals with monies he's taken from foreign powers without the consent of Congress. The third is a violation of the Domestic Emoluments Clause which deals with monies he's made from the United States at his personal businesses beyond that of his person salary, which is also forbidden by our Constitution. The fourth is undermining our federal Judiciary and the [ UNKNOWN ] is undermining freedom of the press. These are aggressive actions he has taken over a period of time against the press and against the judiciary with the positive actions to cap off a series of pattern of behavior belittling and Questioning these institutions that are so important for our democracy. The judiciary obviously is in the constitution an equal branch of government. The press is not in the constitution but freedom of press is and he's threatened licenses of broadcast stations, so called fake news and other actions that Hurt our democracy. The definitely hurt our democracy. They're fundamental parts of it. So we're calling upon the house to begin impeachment hearings immediately. It's not a call for a vote. It's a call for hearings. I don't expect the house judiciary committee which is operated like a branch of the administration to take up hearings. It's their responsibility in my opinion, and I believe Congressman Gutierrez and our other colleagues to have hearings. But of the four committees that have jurisdiction, House and Senate Intelligence and House and Senate Judiciary, the House Judiciary, which is particular committee which would have responsibility for bringing impeachment charges through the Constitution. Al, come join us, please. Has that responsibility, and which, if I sit as the ranking member on the constitution sub committee, has not taken any action whatsoever, or had any hearings whatsoever. And because of that, it's even more important that congressman Gutierrez, who's a member of the committee, and myself, Bring this impeachment article for failure of our chairman to even have hearings. If we don't have hearings which we don't respect, we won't be holding briefings and participating the briefings on these particular charges to let people know what's going on as we. Experience them, that the Constitution is being violated, that our democracy is being threatened and to bring these charges to light in the form of briefings with experts who will help us explain them to the American people. Some people may say why in light of the investigation of Bob Muller. We support Bob Muller's investigation but he's looking at criminal charges. And that can or may not be an impeachable offense. More likely than not, it will be. We think he's gonna come up with things. But that's for him, and it's gonna take some time. There's no reason why we don't start now with definite Violations of our constitution and threats to our democracy. There are already sufficient facts in the public record to warrant the start of impeachment proceedings in congress. Given the magnitude of the constitutional crisis there's no reason to delay. With regard to obstruction we know president Trump fired FBI director Comey while the bureau was investigating potential collusion with Russia And the Trump campaign and the president has already admitted on national television that he had the Russian investigation on his mind when he fired Director Comey. We already know that Donald Trump Jr. met with the Russian attorney, who offerred to bribe damaging evidence on Hillary Clinton, as part of Russian Government's efforts to help his. Father's campaign. These facts are uncontested. They are similarly clear cut facts with regard to the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses. You just have to go to the Trump hotel, the Trump Tower, See what the Saudi's have paid. What other foreign governments have paid. What the Secret Service is paying. What people pay to stay at Mar- a- Lago and other expenses that we are paying right now. And it is because President Trump, unlike any President in history has not released his taxes and has not put his ownership of assets into a blind trust. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ NOISE ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] The framers of our Constitution wisely prohibited Presidents from the accepting the payments as have been made. Such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia paying $ 270, 000 to the Trump International Hotel as part of their lobbying effort. And the embassy of Kuwait held an event there spanning give or take, $ 50, 000. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Harry Trueman didn't do it. President Eisenhower didn't do it. The Bush's didn't do it. Nobody's done it. Nobody benefits financially, directly, as they are President of the United States. It demeans the office. It demeans the Country. It demeans the Constitution. President Trump is repeated this as the Trump branded properties, which he retains an ownership interest. And that has caused the federal government to spent money there. As I've mentioned, Secret Service golf carts at Mar- a- Lago, lodging at Mar- a- Lago and Hawaii couldn't help it said that the golf tournament. Or maybe it's Korea. Their golf tournament was won by a Korean. It was at his golf club. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Well- established record of President Trump with regard to undermining the independence of the judiciary. 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