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1. Let's unpack this a little more. Let's think about the Mueller Report as a de facto impeachment referral. Mueller made his decision based on (arguable) premise a president can't be indicted but can be impeached.
2. @emptywheel is at the same place I am: the Mueller report can be read as an impeachment referral. Going further: it actually, in laying out the damaging facts, is a road map to impeachment. The question is: does congress use this road map.
3. There is a political question and a moral/legal question. Politically my position has been since Trump's election that focusing on scandals is of limited utility & the Dems best move is to focus debate on Trump's terrible & unpopular policies.
4. The further political calculation is that Dems might be able to impeach in house but almost certainly won't get GOP Senate to remove. And the election is next year, so why bother? Again: this is not the moral/legal issue but the political one.
5. The moral/legal imperative is different: if you have plausible evidence that a president has obstructed justice & you don't proceed with impeachment hearings, then you've given up on the rule of law.
6. One way to thread the needle between the political imperative & the moral/legal one is to have congress keep investigating but leave impeachment decision for later.
