Cummings says he can foresee impeachment proceedings "possibly coming"
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said he could "foresee" impeachment proceedings "possibly coming" against President Trump, given the information presented in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
Some Democrats have already called on the House to begin impeachment proceedings, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 candidate.
"I can foresee that possibly coming," Cummings said about impeachment proceedings in an interview with Bob Schieffer that will air Sunday on "Face the Nation." He said that he was "not there yet" with impeachment, and he added that Congress has to be "careful."
"The American people -- a lot of them clearly still don't believe that President Trump is doing things to destroy our democracy and has done a lot of things very poorly," Cummings said. "And so I think that number one, we need to make sure the Congress has all the information and then we need to be able to have the public know that information so that they can see that they have a president that basically has been about the business, I think, of doing great harm not only to our country but to our democracy."
Cummings said he believes the special counsel's report provides a "roadmap" for Congress to continue to investigate the president.
"I think he basically said to us as a Congress, 'It's up to you to take this further with regard to obstruction and the other matters that might come up,'" Cummings said. He added that he believes Mueller and Attorney General William Barr must testify before Congress.
Mueller concluded that Congress could make "obstruction-of-justice statutes applicable to corruptly motivated official acts of the president" without infringing on Mr. Trump's constitutional rights, according to the redacted report released Thursday.
While he didn't have a definitive answer on whether he supported impeachment, Cummings said that Mr. Trump was doing "great harm not only to our country but to our democracy" as president.
"We're in a fight for the soul of our democracy," he said. "No doubt about it."
Shani Benezra contributed to this report.
