WASHINGTON— House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday he doesn’t support an effort by a small group of conservatives to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, likely dooming the endeavor and easing a months-long standoff between House Republicans and the Justice Department.

Ryan said the tussle over document requests between congressional Republicans and Rosenstein, who oversees the federal Trump-Russia investigation, doesn’t rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that could warrant impeachment under the Constitution.

“I don’t think we should be cavalier with this process or with this term,” Ryan said. He also said he is encouraged by progress on the document production.

Ryan made the comments a day after the group of 11 House Republicans sharply escalated the extended clash with the Justice Department by filing articles of impeachment against Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Their move late Wednesday came after months of criticism aimed at the department — and the Russia investigation in particular — from President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump’s campaign was involved.

The impeachment effort is led by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who talks to Trump frequently and often defends him to colleagues.

The five articles would charge Rosenstein with failing to produce information to the committees, though the department has provided lawmakers with more than 800,000 documents. The resolution notes that Rosenstein was one of several department officials who approved what some Republicans say was improper surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Democrats on the House Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform and intelligence committees called the impeachment effort a “panicked and dangerous attempt to undermine an ongoing criminal investigation in an effort to protect President Trump as the walls are closing in around him and his associates.”