Flashback: Pelosi Blasts Impeachment as Excuse to Air ‘Any and All Grievances’ Against the President

AUSTIN, TX - SEPTEMBER 28: Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi speaks wi
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Hannah Knudsen

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in 1998 blasted the impeachment process against former President Bill Clinton as a situation where lawmakers were airing out “any and all grievances that anybody ever had with the president,” and accused Republicans of “talking about impeachment without even defining what the laws may have been that were broken.”

A clip of Pelosi from 1998 features the lawmaker slamming the impeachment efforts against Clinton, using many of the same arguments that House Democrats are actively ignoring in their pursuit of impeachment against President Trump.

She said in the clip:

Right now we have a situation where any and all grievances that anybody ever had with the president are being heaped on and talking about impeachment without even defining what the laws may have been that were broken, with applying the facts to them, without even defining – if even those laws were even broken – if that amounts to an impeachment offense.

Similarly, a flashback clip of Joe Biden (D) from the same year shows the then-senator warning Congress to be “very careful” before upsetting the decision made by American voters.

“The election of a president is the only nationwide vote the American people will ever cast, and that’s a big deal,” Biden stated.

He continued:

The America people don’t think that they have made a mistake in electing Bill Clinton, and we in Congress had better be very careful before we upset their decision and make darn sure that we are able to convince them – if we decide to upset their decision – that our decision to impeach him was based upon principle and not politics.

The flashbacks follow a tumultuous battle in the nation’s capital over the Democrats’ secret impeachment inquiry. The House is expected to vote on a resolution laying out impeachment inquiry proceedings, but Republicans are not on board.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said the resolution “falls way short” and sets a “new low”:

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