Even with Democrats now controlling the House of Representatives, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been reluctant to discuss the impeachment of Donald Trump. Yet, after a major exposé by BuzzFeed News on Thursday directly implicating Trump in a cover-up of seeming collusion with Russia and a startling cover story in the respected Atlantic Monthly magazine calling for Trump’s immediate impeachment, the possibility of impeaching Trump has suddenly moved to the forefront of Beltway conversation.
Just two weeks ago, Pelosi told NBC News that impeaching Trump would be “divisive,” adding that “we shouldn’t take (the step of impeachment) without the facts.”
The facts, Pelosi said, would come in a yet-to-be-issued report by Russia investigation special counsel Robert Mueller. Earlier this week ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl said his sources claimed that Mueller’s report “is certain to be anti-climatic,” according to a MediaIte report, and that Mueller had not found any “bombshells,” presumably meaning revelations of impeachable offenses.
But the BuzzFeed report Thursday, alleging that Trump directly ordered his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to lie under oath to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project (a project Inquisitr has extensively covered) and that Mueller has been aware of Trump’s order to Cohen for some time, appears to contradict Karl’s sources.
POSTED: Our latest cover story, “Impeach Donald Trump” by @YAppelbaum https://t.co/olIrKAEayQ pic.twitter.com/uL7JEdktZk
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) January 17, 2019
In addition to the BuzzFeed exposé, the influential, 162-year-old Atlantic Monthly magazine published its latest issue Friday with the single word “Impeach” in bright red letters across its cover.
The article by Atlantic Senior Editor Yoni Appelbaum calls on the House of Representatives to “immediately open a formal impeachment inquiry,” arguing, “[s]tarting the [impeachment] process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals—and bring the debate about his fitness for office into Congress, where it belongs.”
Appelbaum discusses his case for Trump’s impeachment in the video below.
“If the BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached,” said House Democrat Joaquin Castro, quoted by Axios .
Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse wrote on his Twitter account that the BuzzFeed report, if accurate, is “plain, slam-dunk, criminal obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. 1505, 1512), subornation of perjury (18 U.S.C. 1622), conspiracy (18 U.S.C. 371) and likely aiding and abetting perjury (18 U.S.C. 2).”
Former United States Attorney General Eric Holder reacted to the BuzzFeed revelations, saying on Twitter , “[i]f true — and proof must be examined — Congress must begin impeachment proceedings and [Attorney General nominee William] Barr must refer, at a minimum, the relevant portions of material discovered by Mueller.”
“If this is true, what it means is this is more evidence that the president has violated his oath of office,” Florida Democrat Ted Deutch said, quoted by the Washington Post . “If he told Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, if he suborned perjury, this is as serious as it gets.”
