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LA Congresswoman Walks Back Call For Trump Impeachment

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Congresswoman Maxine Waters is apparently backing down from a pledge to impeach President Trump.

Waters, who is also a Financial Services Committee ranking member, joined House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a news conference Monday, where Waters denied having called for Trump's impeachment.

"I have not called for the impeachment yet, he's doing it himself," said Waters. "The statement I made was a statement in response to questions and pleas that I'm getting from many citizens across this country: 'What are we going to do?'"

Waters said Saturday she hopes to lead Trump "right into impeachment" for "what he's done and the way he's defined himself and the way he's acting".

Speaking to reporters Monday, Waters was asked why she's already talking about impeachment less than a month after Trump took office on Jan. 20.

She issued the following statement in response: "How can a president, who is acting in the manner that he is acting, whether he is talking about the travel ban, the way he is talking to Muslims, or whether he's talking about his relationship to Putin and the Kremlin — knowing that they have hacked our DCCC and DNC and knowing that he is responsible for supplying the bombs that killed innocent children and families in Aleppo — the fact that he is wrapping his arms around Putin while Putin is continuing to advance into Korea?"

It wasn't immediately clear what Waters was referring to by stating Putin is "continuing to advance into Korea", but it may have been a botched reference to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

When asked if she agreed with Waters' position, Pelosi said "I'm not here to talk about impeachment today" and
instead shifted to the topic of putting American families back to work.

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