Republicans, Democrats reject impeachment talk
WASHINGTON (AP) — One day after President Donald Trump was implicated in a federal crime, members of both parties dismissed talk of impeachment, with some Democrats expressing fears Wednesday about such a politically risky step, and Republicans shrugging off the accusations or withholding judgment.
The legal entanglements surrounding Trump — the guilty plea by former lawyer Michael Cohen and the fraud conviction of one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort — delivered a onetwo punch that left lawmakers struggling for an appropriate response ahead of the midterm campaigns.
Trump’s strongest supporters echoed his “no collusion” retorts, suggesting that, absent any evidence that he worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election, there is just no high-crimes-and-misdemeanors case for impeachment.
Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to tamp down expectations from their liberal base of taking on the president for fear that impeachment talk will cause GOP voters to rally around Trump in November.
The dynamic underscored the political difficulty of impeachment proceedings on Capitol Hill, especially for Republicans who have been reluctant to criticize the president but now face a new chapter in what has been a difficult relationship.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brushed past reporters Wednesday without answering questions about Cohen or the possibility that the lawyer’s accusations about an illegal campaign cover-up are grounds for impeachment proceedings.
Other Republicans, though, filled the gaps.
“No collusion=no impeachment,” tweeted the influential radio host Hugh Hewitt, setting the day’s tone.
He explained that impeachment is a political and legal term of art and said there needs to be a tipping point in public opinion that would push Congress to act. It’s not there yet, he tweeted.
Doug Deason, a Texas-based donor and major Trump supporter, said voters simply don’t care that Trump behaves badly at times and has associated with people who broke the law.
“In no way, shape or form did we think we were hiring St. Trump to repair the morals of the country,” he said.
“I’m sure there’s going to be other revelations that come up,” said retiring Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, “and I think we ought to just let the process work.”
The president defended the hushmoney payments Wednesday, saying, incorrectly, that the effort outlined in Cohen’s guilty plea wasn’t “even a campaign violation.” Trump told Fox News in an interview set to air Thursday that the payments “didn’t come out of the campaign, and that’s big.”