Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged House Judiciary Committee Democrats and chair Jerry Nadler to abandon ship on their “Moby Dick”-like obsession with impeaching President Trump, it emerged Wednesday.
The veteran California congresswoman launched the friendly fire broadside in a closed-doors Capitol Hill meeting last week, warning Democratic members and aides of Nadler’s crew that their thirst for impeachment would never survive a floor vote, according to Politico.
“And you can feel free to leak this,” Pelosi told those on hand for the verbal keelhauling, who did just that to the Beltway outlet.
It was not immediately clear whether the attendees included New York’s Nadler, but the message apparently didn’t do anything to curtail his Captain Ahab-esque pursuit of the white whale in the White House.
He hauled in former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to testify before the committee on Tuesday in a display that quickly backfired and devolved into chaotic spectacle.
“Sadly, the country spent over three years and 40 million taxpayer dollars on these investigations,” said Lewandowski in an opening statement that attacked the very process.
“It is now clear the investigation was populated by many Trump haters.”
Asked whether Nadler — whose mutual disdain with Trump dates to well before the real estate scion entered the political arena — should stay the course or give up the chase, sitting Democrats were mixed.
“Someone’s got to show people there’s law and order,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, who also sits on the House Judiciary Committee — and was mocked by Lewandowski on Tuesday as “President Swalwell” in a jab at his aborted 2020 White House bid.
“It’s not pretty what the president did, right?” said Swalwell. “So it’s probably not going to be clean and pretty getting to the bottom of it.”
Freshman fellow New York Rep. Max Rose, who represents Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, reiterated his stance that the impeachment drumbeat is driving partisanship and making Democrats miss the forest for the trees.
“If we do not maintain the focus on those things, the American people will think we are conducting a bait-and-switch on them,” said Rose.
Two Democrats who hope to oust Nadler from his Manhattan-and-Brooklyn district in a primary in 2020 smelled blood in the water and panned his leadership on the issue — and for allowing Lewandowski to run roughshod over them.
“We need to have a clear message and, most importantly, courage to fight as hard as Republicans are,” said Holly Lynch, calling Tuesday’s showing “sloppy. “Right now, it’s not clear that Nadler and the leadership have the courage or the strategy.”
Added Lindsey Boylan, “Jerry Nadler gave Corey Lewandowski the opportunity to snub his nose at the committee and mock the rule of law with no consequences. It’s shameful.
“And hiding behind Pelosi is not leadership and doesn’t excuse his muddled approach.”
A spokeswoman said that Pelosi “supported” the hearing but would not comment on the reported closed-door meeting.
Nadler’s camp did not respond to requests for comment.