Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX) said Trump committed a federal crime when he tried to intimidate impeachment witness, Marie Yovanovitch.
Rep. Jackson Lee said on All In with Chris Hayes:
Let me say what we witnessed today was an abuse of power, a mountain of abuse of power. Contributing to that, of course, was the most devastating and seemingly senseless tweet attacking the witness as she was testifying. That happens to be a federal crime. I was reading the statute that says that any attempt to stop a witness from testifying in a corrupt and intimidating manner is illegal if they are testifying in a legal proceeding or a proceeding that is official. This was an official proceeding.
And so whatever argument our friends on the other side of the aisle — and let me very clear, Democrats want this to be a process where they put their nation and the people of the United States over themselves and the party. We’re hoping that a light will turn on that they will look at the facts — I don’t know how anyone could not see that a witness that has been sworn to testify and is in the midst of her testimony, and a tweet or a statement comes out that smears her and suggests that she is in quotes, no good, obviously could in that moment intimidate the witness.
So I don’t think that it is in any way a question. I do think that that adds to the facts of this whole umbrella of abuse of power and all the elements that I heard you discuss really play into what the founding fathers established as the one barrier or the one law if I might use that terminology that protects the American people against an abusive leader who is using the power of the office not for himself — excuse me, not for the American people but for himself.
Video:
Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX) says Trump committed a federal crime when he tried to intimidate the impeachment witness, Marie Yovanovitch. pic.twitter.com/l8EmHrzJNb
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) November 16, 2019
Trump committed a federal crime which is almost certain to be a new article of impeachment when the articles are drafted by the Judiciary Committee.
Trump tried to pull from his Russia investigation playbook, but it turned into the commission of a federal crime by the President Of The United States.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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