Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker of the House for the second time today. I know there were (and perhaps ARE) some grumbles about Pelosi, but look… the lady gets sh-t done. Just look at how she regained the speakership – she negotiated and parlayed and hustled, because she understands how things work. She has an impressive amount of institutional knowledge about how power is structured in Washington. Anyway, to celebrate the new Congress and the Democratic majority in the House, Pelosi gave an interview to the Today Show. And she threw down some interesting pieces of news. As it turns out, the new Speaker of the House believes that presidents can be indicted, and she’s not ruling out impeachment. YAY.

Nancy Pelosi, who is poised to be the next House speaker, said that it remains open for discussion whether the Justice Department could indict a sitting president. Ahead of the new Democratic majority taking control of the House on Thursday, the California Democratic representative was asked whether special counsel Robert Mueller should honor the Department of Justice’s opinion that a sitting US president should not be indicted.

“I do not think that that is conclusive. No, I do not,” Pelosi said in an interview with NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie that aired Thursday on “Today.” Asked if Mueller could legally indict a sitting president, Pelosi said: “Let’s just see what Mueller does. Let’s spend our time on getting results for the American people.”

The Office of Legal Counsel’s guidance, issued in 2000, says, “The indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.”

“It’s not the law,” Pelosi told Guthrie. “Everything indicates that a president can be indicted after he is no longer president of the United States.” Guthrie asked, “What about a sitting president?”

“Well, a sitting president when he is no longer president of the United States,” Pelosi answered.
Guthrie pressed again, asking, “A president who’s in office? Could Robert Mueller come back and say I am seeking an indictment?”

“I think that is an open discussion,” Pelosi said. “I think that’s an open discussion in terms of the law.”

Pelosi also said in the exclusive interview, which aired Thursday, that impeachment “would be” very divisive, adding: “We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason.”

[From CNN and NBC News]

Wait, what? “We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason.” Nancy Pelosi, Queen of Riddles. Speaker Pelosi, The Riddler. We shouldn’t impeach Donald Trump because of politics but we shouldn’t NOT impeach Trump because of politics. We can indict a president but not a sitting president but we could probably indict a sitting president. I will untangle this riddle, I promise.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.