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It's unclear if the mounting support for impeachment proceedings will push Democratic leaders to change their course.

\"I'm not trying to run out the clock,\" Pelosi said at her weekly news conference as the House prepared to leave Washington for six weeks. \"We will proceed when we have what we need to proceed. Not one day sooner. And everybody has the liberty and luxury to espouse their own position and to criticize me for trying to go down the path in the most determined, positive way.\"

\"PHOTO:
Win McNamee/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib listen to testimony from acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan while he testifies before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on July 18, 2019 in Washington.
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Some Democrats argued last week that the process had already started. Members of the House Judiciary Committee argued that an investigation was underway in a petition filed in court last week for the special counsel's grand jury materials, a move endorsed by Pelosi.

Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who has privately voiced support for impeachment, told reporters last week that the committee had \"in effect\" started an impeachment probe with the court filing, a path that would avoid a divisive floor vote to open an impeachment probe.

Progressive groups and impeachment advocates welcomed the caucus approaching the new benchmark, and plan to mobilize support for impeachment this month across the country to pressure more Democrats to back the effort.

\"It's time for Speaker Pelosi to take her foot off the brake, and press on the gas, helping to rally support for the process that our country desperately needs: a full impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump's criminality and abuses of power,\" MoveOn campaign director David Sievers said in a statement Thursday.

Need to Impeach, an advocacy group funded by billionaire Tom Steyer, who is now running for president, ran a pro-impeachment television ad on cable news channels featuring Mueller's testimony during coverage of Tuesday night's Democratic presidential primary debate.

\"PHOTO:
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
PHOTO: Rep. Mike Levin, right, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi leave a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in the Capitol on Jan. 30, 2019.
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\"I don't think the speaker is trying to run out the clock, but I don't think she could even run out the clock if the support among the caucus really becomes overwhelming,\" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said in an interview with ABC News this week.

Notably, some of the new backers of impeachment, including Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, face credible primary challenges from the left -- a concern of many Democrats who are still contemplating whether to openly back impeachment.

Pelosi and other top Democrats have worried that a full-blown impeachment effort without some level of Republican buy-in or overwhelming public support could endanger some Democrats, including many of the freshman members who flipped Republican-held districts. Mueller's testimony did little to build support for impeachment, according to a recent ABC News survey, which found support and opposition to impeachment largely unchanged after the former special counsel's appearance.

Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a leader of the Moderate Blue Dog Coalition, warned constituents that impeachment \"will assuredly consume us all\" and \"grind our national to a halt,\" according to the Orlando Sentinel.Republicans have seized on growing calls from Democrats for impeachment, confident that the push will alienate independent voters who helped Democrats capture the House majority in 2020.

\"Jennifer Wexton's hatred of President Trump has consumed her to the point where she'd rather chase conspiracy theories with her socialist colleagues than work on the issues impacting Virginians,\" National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Camille Gallo said in a statement responding to the freshman Virginia Democrat's support for impeachment after Mueller's testimony.

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