Trump concerned about being impeached: Report
WASHINGTON: US president Donald Trump has appeared concerned that he could be impeached when Democrats take over the House of Representatives in January and has said there is “real possibility” of that, according to a report in CNN.
But, the report added, he is not certain it will happen.
Talk of impeachment and prosecution has dogged Trump right from the time Special Counsel Robert Mueller began probing Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion by members of the Trump campaign. But he was protected from it by Republicans’ control of both chambers of US Congress. That protection went away this November when Democrats won the House and will assume charge in January.
While Democratic leaders have sought to play down the possibility of impeaching Trump, they have not sounded very convincing and threatened investigations and probes.
The president was asked about it at his first news conference after the midterm elections. He asked then, “Do you impeach somebody because he created the greatest economic success in the history of our country?” He went on to rail against those fanning the speculation, calling them “sick”.
Even if the House impeaches Trump, he could still be saved by the US Senate which remains in Republican hands. President Bill Clinton was impeached by the lower chamber, but acquitted by the upper house.
Speculation about impeachment has become stronger since the president’s long-time lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen began cooperating with investigators of four different agencies including the special counsel.
The CNN report, citing a source close to the president, attributed Trump’s new concerns to Cohen pleading guilty to campaign funding law violation by way of payment of hush money to two women to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with him.
Cohen has alleged that the payments were carried out in coordination and at the direction of “Individual-1”, which is President Trump. Federal prosecutors have backed the claim, citing it in a sentencing memo for Cohen submitted last week.
Jerry Nadler, a Democrat who is slated to take over the powerful House judiciary committee in the upcoming session, has said that if proven, Cohen’s allegation implicating the president could constitute an “impeachable offence”.
Trump has pushed back against characterising the payment as campaign contribution — calling it a “simple private transaction” instead — in a tweet. That tweet has joined the expanding gallery of his posts with spelling errors and other howlers, for misspelling “smoking gun” as “smocking gun”.
Trump is protected from criminal prosecution while he is in office, according to a long-time protocol set by the department of justice. But he could face prosecution when he steps down, either in 2020 if he is defeated in his re-election bid, or in 2024, at the end of his second term.