Shalala: Not Ready to Impeach Trump — Yet

Rep. Donna Shalala, D-FL, speaks during news conference July 29, 2019. The first term congresswoman says she needs to hear from people in her district before deciding whether to call for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, as more than 100 of her Democratic colleagues in the House have done. (Key News/Tony Winton)

Key Biscayne’s representative in Congress, Donna Shalala, said Monday she needs more time to come to a decision on whether to call for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The first-term Democrat and former member of the Clinton cabinet said she planned on using the six week summer recess to speak with people in her district. 

“I’m deeply worried that we will spend the next year talking about impeachment instead of talking about the evil that is going on in the administration,” Shalala said at a news conference Monday in Kendall, mentioning the plight of incarcerated migrant children and efforts to weaken the Affordable Care Act. 

But she also said she supports a recent move by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, who filed a petition with a federal court to obtain secret grand jury material underlying former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into foreign influence in the 2016 election. 

“I agree that we should let the Judiciary Committee run its course, get all the facts for us, and build a story, a narrative, based on those facts,” Shalala said. 

A few days ago, Shalala told The Washington Post she needed to do a “gut check” about how she felt about impeachment, even as 100 of her Democratic colleagues have said they support starting the impeachment process. 

“My gut is coming along,” she said. 

Shalala called the news conference to press for Senate passage of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans who are in the United States because of the chaotic political situation in that country. The House has already passed the legislation. 

“We were able to pass TPS for Venezuelans with every Democratic vote,” she said, and dozens of Republican votes.