House Judiciary Chair Nadler says his committee is already doing 'formal impeachment proceedings'

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) publicly confirmed Thursday night that his committee is currently engaged in "formal impeachment proceedings" against President Trump, after weeks of saying as much in court filings. Nadler made his comments on CNN, stressing that "it's important not to get hung up on semantics" and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "has been very cooperative" with his committee's investigation, even if she doesn't publicly back impeachment.

When CNN's Erin Burnett pressed him, "So in your mind, you're saying this is exactly the same as what we all call 'formal impeachment proceedings' by another name?" Nadler replied: "This is formal impeachment proceedings. We are investigating all the evidence, gathering the evidence. And we will [at the] conclusion of this — hopefully by the end of the year — vote to vote articles of impeachment to the House floor. Or we won't. That's a decision that we'll have to make. But that's exactly the process we're in right now."

Nadler said articles of impeachment have already been referred to the Judiciary Committee, but the committee might write its own articles that "more closely fit the evidence," both evidence growing out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report and other possible crimes dug up by the committee's own investigations. As of last week, a majority of House Democrats back impeachment hearings.

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