A day after two men close to President Donald Trump pleaded guilty or were found guilty of a combined 16 felonies, Long Beach’s congressional representative said the investigation into Russia’s influence in the 2016 election can no longer be described as a “witch hunt.”

“It no longer holds,” Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, said of the moniker Trump has used repeatedly to describe special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Lowenthal spoke during a visit to the Long Beach Post while Congress is in recess through Labor Day weekend.

His visit happened to come after perhaps the biggest news day of the year on the national stage: Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was convicted by a jury on eight of 18 felony counts, including bank fraud; and Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including admitting that he tried to influence the results of the 2016 election—at Trump’s direction—in paying two women to keep quiet about alleged affairs with the president.

Though the local congressman expressed shock at the developments, he generally has not taken an outspoken and brash approach to the president, unlike some of his other Democratic colleagues in Los Angeles County such as Ted Lieu and Maxine Waters.

He does not, for example, think the time is right for talk of impeachment—at least not yet. Lowenthal said his focus is on helping Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, particularly supporting candidates challenging vulnerable Republicans in Orange County, and ensuring the Mueller probe is protected.

Impeachment talk only “diverts attention from other things,” Lowenthal said. “We’ll see how things go, but at least not until after the election should we consider that.”

Lowenthal believes the wave of women who are running for office in the November midterm election—some 472 women have entered races for the House alone—will have great influence on the fate of the president, and the direction of the country.

“Women will lead the change,” he said. “Women will lead us out of this.”

Still, he admitted the news yesterday gave him a measure of relief.

“It’s all coming out,” he said.

Melissa Evans is the Chief Executive Officer of the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal. Reach her at [email protected], @melissaevansLBP or 562-512-6354.