Cory Booker beats fast retreat from impeachment talk, despite 'resistance' mobbing Hoyer

Sen. Cory Booker is famous for (or wants to be famous for) his crusades, but following the release of the Mueller report on Thursday, the would-be Spartacus is retreating from his party's long flirtation with impeaching Trump.

On Friday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren became the first 2020 Dem to call for immediate impeachment post-Mueller report. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has also come out for impeachment following the report. But Booker's take was different and more in line with the establishment in the party.

In a response to a reporter from The Hill, Booker said outright there should be no talk of impeachment right now.

"Do you think there should be a conversation about impeachment right now?" the reporter asked.

"No," replied Booker. It's important to note he was not asked if impeachment should begin, but whether they should even be considering it. He answered no, then offered non-specific assurances about extending the investigation.

"I think right now we should continue this investigation, I think Mueller should come before and testify. I don't think we should be having that conversation," said Booker. "I think we should still pursue the facts."

He said the same thing to reporters in Nevada on Friday, as the AP reported.

"There's a lot more investigation that should go on before Congress comes to any conclusions like that," he said. It was a bit of line-walking designed presumably to placate both the base and the leadership.

That waffling is in stark contrast to Warren, who demanded on Friday that "elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty."

"That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States," she said in tweetstorm.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Thursday voiced the establishment Democrat line on impeachment, saying what Speaker Pelosi has said several times since taking the gavel. "Impeachment is not worthwhile at this point," he said, to the near-total meltdown of the "resistance" wing, complete with published rebukes and even a pitch to primary him.

Booker's position was less firm in opposing impeachment than Hoyer's, but the fact that it wasn't full-throated endorsement might still mean fallout from the Democratic base.