House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday after meeting with the House Democratic caucus that there will not be a vote at this time to launch formal impeachment proceedings or to formalize the ongoing inquiry against President Donald Trump.
"There's no requirement that we have a vote, and so at this time we will not be having a vote," Pelosi told reporters toward the end of a press conference called after she met with House leaders to discuss a potential formal vote. "We're not here to call bluffs. We're here to find the truth, to uphold the Constitution of the United States. This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious."
During the press conference, Pelosi seemed more interested in talking about legislation underway in the House, and about recent court awards in Democrats' favor, but she did have sharp words about Trump and the ongoing investigation into his conversation with Ukraine's president about former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
"Last Friday we won five decisions in our favor in terms of Congress' authority under the Constitution, and today another decision came down in our favor in relationship to emoluments...another recognition that our founders had very deep suspicion about foreigners interfering in our government, and, again, in our elections."
Meanwhile, the fact that there is an inquiry of a president asking a foreign government to ask for help with his reelection "by granting or withholding in the timing of military assistance that has been voted on by the Congress has so many violations in it. It undermines our national security."
She added that "all roads seem to lead to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin" with Trump. "When we talk about undermining the integrity of our elections, that's wrong."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said during the press conference
that “the Constitution is very clear: The House will have the sole power of impeachment.”
“Republicans know it, but they don’t want to discuss the president’s conduct,” Schiff added. “They’d rather discuss the process.”
Trump calls the impeachment inquiry "illegitimate" and says the House needs to go on the record with a vote. The White House, along with Vice President Mike Pence, has said it will refuse to respond to House subpoenas unless the inquiry is formalized with a whole House vote.