Top House Republican Refuses To Say That The GOP Won’t Impeach President Obama

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On Fox News Sunday, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise refused to take impeaching President Obama off the table when asked about impeachment.

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Host Chris Wallace asked Scalise direct about impeachment, and his non-answer was telling.

Rep. Scalise said, “You know, this might be the first White House in history that is trying to start the narrative of impeaching their own president. Ultimately, what we want to do is see the president follow the laws. The president took an oath to faithfully execute the laws of this country, and he’s not. In fact, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered twelve times, unanimously said the president overreached, actually, did things that he doesn’t have the authority to do.”

There is an easy one-word answer to the question of impeachment. Scalise could have said no. Speaker John Boehner keeps answering the question with a short no, but it seems as if the House majority which he is supposed to be leading has other ideas.

Rep. Scalise’s suggestion that the White House came up with impeachment is absurdly false. Republicans have been calling for the impeachment of Obama for years. They have wanted Obama impeached for Benghazi, the ACA, the stimulus, the auto bailout, and virtually every other thing that has happened for the last six years.

Scalise’s other dishonest statement was that the Supreme Court ruled twelve times that Obama did things that he didn’t have the power to do. In fact, it was only one ruling about recess appointments, and the reason why the Court ruled unanimously is because it found that the Senate wasn’t in formal recess. The ruling wasn’t the giant rebuke of Obama executive power that Republicans make it out to be. Republicans won that case on a technicality.

As I have been writing for months, Boehner’s lawsuit is the first step towards impeachment. It is extremely unlikely that Boehner will have the legal standing to win the suit, but if the House Republicans can find a court that will at least let the case be heard, they can drum their case for impeachment over the next few months.

The latest CNN poll found that 65% of the American people don’t want to impeach the president, but 57% of Republicans and 56% of conservatives do. The majority of Republicans are so desperate to impeach this president that they are willing to risk losing their majority in the House to do so. Instead of rejecting the White House claims that impeachment is a part of their plan, Republicans are embracing them through non-answers.

Impeachment is definitely on the table, and House Republicans aren’t fooling anybody with their claim that this is just a lawsuit.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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