The Mueller Report: ‘We’re not there yet’ on impeachment, Pa. U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean says

Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have their work cut out for them as they review Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But the committee is “just not there yet” on an impeachment proceeding, U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, who sits on the panel, said in a cable news interview broadcast Thursday.

Speaking on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd,” Dean, D-4th District, said the oversight panel has to do its due diligence on the report, which revealed, among other things, that President Donald Trump tried to sabotage the probe; that many people swept up in the probe repeatedly changed their stories; and that, despite the White House’s protestations to the contrary, much of the news coverage surrounding the investigation was entirely accurate.

• READ MORE: The Mueller Report: Republicans want to move on, but Pa. Democrats aren’t even close to done

Dean said if the revelations in the report “are as troubling as they appear,” and if the committee’s oversight uncovers additional issues regarding “emoluments or campaign finance errors and payments to porn stars,” there could be “enough evidence that amounts to an impeachment proceeding. But we’re not there yet.”

First up, though, the majority-Democrat committee — whose membership also includes Dean’s fellow Pennsylvanian, U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5th District — needs to get its hands on an unredacted copy of Mueller’s report, Dean said.

• READ MORE: The redacted Mueller Report is out. This is what every member of Congress from Pa. had to say about it

The panel also needs to have U.S. Attorney General William Barr “explain his mischaracterization of the report and his excuses for siding with the president, instead of being the independent voice we expect, as attorney general,” she said.

Asked by Todd to explain what she meant by “mischaracterizations,” Dean pointed to Barr “allowing the president to claim exoneration,” when the report does not exonerate Trump, and by saying Trump fully cooperated when he did not.

Dean said it’s also “critical” that Mueller appear before the committee.

Watch the full interview: