Donald Trump’s Impeachment Isn’t Closer, Even After Admitting He Would Take Foreign Assistance
President Donald Trump recently used an ABC News interview with the network’s chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos, to reveal that — even after the Robert Muller subjected his campaign to a slew of criminal investigations for allegedly conspiring with foreign sources — he still has no problem taking dirt on opponents from foreign sources, as The Inquisitr previously reported.
“I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ — oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”
Trump said that the decision to take information does not amount to election interference, suggesting that congressional politicians have accepted dirt on opponents for years in the form of “opposition research.”
Although Trump’s remarks have caused disgust among House Democrats, Politico reports that his statement wasn’t enough to move the party closer to agreeing on impeachment in a significant way.
“It doesn’t move me any closer to anything,” said House Majority Whip James Clyburn. “We’ll find out from our committees. They’re doing the work.”
Others, including Rep. Juan Vargas, believe that the comment adds support to the case for impeachment.
“It shows that he’s completely unfit, and I hope it galvanizes the rest of my colleagues to start impeachment proceedings, because that’s what we need to do.”
“If a Democratic president had said that, Republicans would be yelling, ‘Treason! Treason!'” he added.
Regardless, the majority of Democrats are still opposed to impeachment, as they do not have enough faith that the process would make it past the Republican-led Senate.
Dems think Trump’s explosive comments last night were “Atrocious.” “Unbelievable.” “Wildly ridiculous.” But a majority are not much closer to supporting impeachment. https://t.co/1Cpeoidb0V
— POLITICO (@politico) June 13, 2019
As of now, Republicans remain staunchly opposed to impeaching Trump, with the exception of Representative Justin Amash. As The Inquisitr reported, Amash’s support was likely one of the primary reasons behind the increase in support of impeachment from independents — bringing the national support for Trump to face the process almost even. Specifically, a Daily Kos poll showed independents opposing impeachment by a 52-39 margin on the day Amash called for impeachment. But just two weeks later, the numbers swung to 47-44.
Impeachment aside, Trump’s recent comments caused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call on the Senate to take up House Democrats’ sprawling anti-corruption bill, H.R. 1, which seeks to prevent election interference. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly trashed the bill as a “power grab” in a closed-door meeting Thursday and suggested that there are no plans to take up the Democrats’ bill.
Pelosi also claims that Democrats are planning to push other new legislation, including a bill to criminalize knowingly taking assistance from a foreign government.
