Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, a 2020 presidential candidate and member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Thursday that impeachment might be the only weapon left to rein in the lawless president.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the Democratic lawmaker said what Donald Trump is doing right now – blocking Congress from carrying out their oversight duties – is exactly what Richard Nixon did during Watergate, and the end result could be the same for Trump.
“In Watergate, that was one of the articles (of impeachment) … not cooperating with lawful orders requesting documents,” Rep. Swalwell said.
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Rep. @ericswalwell says impeachment may be the only option left to deal with Donald Trump. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/5zT7rVV9Mi
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 26, 2019
The exchange between the MSNBC host and Rep. Swalwell:
MATTHEWS: Trump doesn’t go for bluffs. You say to him, here’s the deadline, like they did on his taxes. And he goes no. You set another deadline this week. No. You say you’re going to subpoena him and his cabinet people say no. At what point do you run out of weapons?
SWALWELL: We are getting pretty close and the final weapon is not one that he is going to like. It’s impeachment. And in Watergate, that was one of the articles was not cooperating with lawful orders requesting documents. Look, Chris, the way our constitution is set up, the first check, the voters. They elect someone, they vet someone. If that person is abusive, then you have the checks and balances of the Congress. If the oversight and the power of the purse doesn’t work, there is only one remedy. It’s a road none of us want to go down, but it may be the only road to cut off the democracy.
Trump is asking for impeachment
The Democrats have been using extreme caution when it comes to impeachment talk, hoping not to cause a backlash by moving too quickly.
But Trump’s behavior since Robert Mueller’s redacted report was publicly released has been increasingly out-of-control. He is essentially asking Democrats in Congress to move forward quickly on impeachment.
The details of Mueller’s report were damning enough. But now the president is refusing to cooperate with Congressional investigations by attempting to block White House officials from testifying and refusing to hand over requested documents related to his finances.
The more this president acts out, the less cautious Democrats in Congress have to be about moving toward impeachment.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
