President Donald Trump "richly deserves impeachment," House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, but the New York Democrat did not call for his fellow Democrats to begin a formal inquiry.
"He has done many impeachable offenses," Nadler said. "He's violated the law six ways from Sunday."
Nadler added, however, "That’s not the question. The question is, can we develop enough evidence to put before the American people? We have broken the logjam. The president and the attorney general were lying to the American people consistently, saying that the Mueller report found no obstruction, no collusion, and exonerated the president."
Additional lawmakers came out for starting impeachment proceedings after former special counsel Robert Mueller's congressional testimony last week, bringing the total number of those backing the move to more than 100, according to The New York Times.
However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged caution, as she and other Democrats are skeptical of the political implications of such a move that would almost certainly end with an acquittal in the Senate.
On Friday, the Judiciary Committee asked a federal judge to unseal grand jury secrets related to the Mueller probe.
Following that move, Nadler said, "Too much has been made of the phrase 'an impeachment inquiry.' We are doing what our court filing says we are doing, what I said we are doing, and that is to say we are using our full Article I powers to investigate the conduct of the president and to consider what remedies there are. Among other things we will consider, obviously, are whether to recommend articles of impeachment."