Donald Trump Impeachment: Trump Headed For Impeachment As Russia Scandal Deepens, Political Expert Predicts
Donald Trump is likely headed for impeachment, said the professor who predicted Trump’s shocking win in November’s presidential election.
As Trump navigates through a series of scandals, and evidence continues to mount that Trump associates had ties to Russia during the election, many have predicted that his impeachment would not be far away. While many of these voices come from Trump’s political opponents, one of the clearest predictions of impeachment comes from a professor with a track record of near perfect predictions in the past.
Allan Lichtman, who correctly predicted that Trump would win in November and has successfully called every election since 1984, now said he believes that Donald Trump will be impeached. In a new book titled The Case for Impeachment, Lichtman noted that Trump’s history of putting himself first in all endeavors won’t work out well in the White House.
“The big question is whether this is enduring or not,” Lichtman told the Miami Herald. “The thing that makes Donald Trump’s presidency so dangerous is that, like Richard Nixon, he doesn’t have fundamental guiding principles. The only thing that seems to have driven him throughout his career is what’s good for Donald Trump.”
Lichtman laid out eight different potential grounds for impeachment, chiefly his campaign’s close contact with Russia at a time that Russia was attacking Hillary Clinton using a campaign of cyber theft.
The unraveling connections between the Trump campaign and Russia have already led to one major departure, the forced resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn after he lied about his contacts with a Russian ambassador on the day Barack Obama announced new sanctions on Russia.
As reporters covering the Russian story note, there is a sense that something huge could be ahead.
“The thing we learned very late in the campaign, perhaps too late to make a difference some of you may think, is that the intelligence agencies concluded that in fact there was — and they concluded it unanimously now, all 16 agencies — that there was a deliberate attempt by the Kremlin to interfere with our election,” Washington Post investigative reporter Tom Hamburger told Minnesota Public Radio News.
Hamburger said an “atmosphere of paranoia” has taken over at the Washington Post, which itself has faced a series of attempts at email hacking by a foreign power. That has led to fear among even reliable sources, and forced reporters to take new safeguards on their work, the report noted.
Watchdog group that includes former Obama staffers sues FBI and DOJ over Trump wiretap claims, Russia investigation https://t.co/kzVJWsaoMk pic.twitter.com/yRKk4qTFgx
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 20, 2017
There have also been a series of strange and yet-to-be-explained moves, including the abrupt decision by Congressman Jason Chaffetz to announce that he would not be seeking re-election, and that he could soon resign his position. The Republican Chaffetz, chair of a House committee with broad investigation powers, was one of the harshest critics of Hillary Clinton, at one point vowing four or eight years of investigations if she won in November.
But Chaffetz was reluctant to look into Donald Trump’s potential scandals and business conflicts of interest. His decision to abruptly leave has raised speculation, but there is no clear evidence that he has been involved in any scandals or had advanced notice of what could be coming for Trump.
Ethics Complaint Filed On Jason Chaffetz In October Now To Include Obstruction Of Justice & Fraud—Relating To #TrumpRussia Probe #russiagate pic.twitter.com/4xk3oAI52T
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) April 20, 2017
As Lichtman implied, Donald Trump’s impeachment could come down to a matter of when Congressional Republicans decide to cut him loose.
“Remember, every member of the House has to face reelection in 2018,” Lichtman said. “And remember as well, Republicans love [Vice President] Mike Pence. Trump is a loose cannon. Mike Pence is a predictable, down-the-line conservative.”
And Donald Trump’s impeachment will likely take a major shift in Congress. Because Republican control both the House and Senate, they would need to have a significant number of members turn on Trump in order to pass through impeachment measures.
[Featured Image by Olivier Doulieryl/ Pool/ Getty Images]
