Special counsel Robert Mueller’s cryptic message to Donald Trump’s attorneys—that the president is being investigated but is not currently a criminal target—is certain to intensify talk of impeachment. As Princeton University professor Keith Whittington told the Washington Post in response to the news, while Trump could still become a criminal target, “The president’s personal risk is primarily on the impeachment front.”

But if Mueller believes that Trump needs to be held accountable for any violation of law, he cannot expect Congress to do the accounting. There is only one mechanism that has any chance of working, and it is not impeachment. It’s indictment.

Impeachment is a dead end because the congressional jury pool is tainted. Mueller has been systematically demonized for weeks by Trump and his allies. For example, earlier this week Fox News host Sean Hannity warned of a proverbial “civil war … if Robert Mueller is so pompous and so arrogant and so power hungry and so corrupt” that he would accuse Trump of a crime (as if that’s the only motivation Mueller could possibly have). In turn, more than half of Republicans disapprove of Mueller’s handling of the investigation, giving House Republicans no incentive to get crosswise with their base and support impeachment.