Nancy Pelosi says Trump ‘wants us’ to start impeachment proceedings

US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that President Donald Trump is asking he Democrats to launch a “premature” impeachment so he can defuse the potential threat to his presidency.

“There’s no question: the White House is just crying out for impeachment. That’s why he flipped yesterday, because he was just hoping,” Pelosi said.

“I think what really got to [Trump] was these court cases and the fact that the House Democratic Caucus is not on a path to impeachment — and that’s where he wants us to be,” Pelosi said of Trump during a press conference, calling the “cover-up” controversy a White House manufactured distraction.

“And when he saw that that was not happening, that — again, with the cover-up, which he understands is true — just struck a chord,” said the House Speaker.

“I do not intend not to honor my oath of office, nor do my colleagues in the House of Representatives … to protect and defend the Constitution,” she said, adding that Trump’s “cover-up” in regard to investigations related to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US elections was available in the public domain.

“I do think that impeachment is a very divisive place to go in our country. And what we can get the facts to the American people through our investigation, it may take us to a place that is unavoidable in terms of impeachment — or not. But we’re not at that place,” Pelosi added as she talked about the prospect of impeachment.

“We do believe that it is important to follow the facts, we believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover up, ” she said.

Trump had stormed out of a meeting with US congressional Democrats on infrastructure spending on Wednesday.

The meeting had been planned three weeks ago following a decidedly more cordial sit-down between Trump and Democrats where he agreed to begin work on a massive $2 trillion infrastructure package with hopes of moving it this year.