Democrats seek to keep focus on corruption, not impeachment

Democrats aren't ready to embrace the I-word. A day after separate legal hammers dropped nearly simultaneously on two former members of Donald Trump's inner circle, Democrats in Washington and across the country faced a delicate balance as they sought to take political advantage of the president's growing troubles without alienating moderates and independents turned off by talk of impeachment.

Instead of calling for the president's removal, corruption is the new buzzword in Democratic circles.

They're not just pointing to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's conviction on tax evasion and other charges and longtime fixer Michael Cohen's plea deal implicating the president in an illegal campaign finance scheme. They've also got the indictment Tuesday of a second Republican member of Congress.

As the party faithful gathered in Chicago on Wednesday for the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting, Chairman Tom Perez ticked off the growing list of legal troubles for Trump and other Republicans.

An "out-of-control" situation, he said, demands that voters "put up guardrails" by returning Democrats to power.

With less than three months before the midterms, that could be a potent political argument. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who could return to the speaker's chair if Democrats pick up at least 23 new seats in November, was in her home state of California, where she recalled that Democrats won the House in 2006 by hammering Republican corruption in the wake of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

"This time, the culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence is so pervasive that it's in the White House," Pelosi told the San Francisco audience Wednesday at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Afterward, she said Democrats "can't be political" in talking about impeachment. Separately, she sent her House colleagues a letter encouraging them to keep emphasizing economic issues, even as she pledged to "hold the president and his administration accountable" by insisting that Congress "seek the truth."